Names and Trends -

 by: Sarah Veda

All mothers watch their children’s development closely. We get worried if they’re too small, or too big, too short or too tall. But, just like adults, babies come in all shapes and sizes. When you take your baby to the pediatrician for her well baby checkups, they will rank your baby’s size. Here’s some idea of how it will work.

When your baby is weighed and measured, the pediatrician will tell you where your baby’s weight and length rank in terms of a “percentile”. This simply tells you how your baby compares to other babies of the same age. For example, if your baby’s weight falls into the 80th percentile, it means she weighs more than 80 percent of babies her age. Some people seem to think ranking in a high percentile is a good thing, because it means the baby is thriving. However, this is not necessarily the case. A baby in the 40th percentile might be thriving, but just destined to be a small person. For example, my daughter has consistently ranked in about the 50th percentile, and she is very healthy, and has plenty of meat on her bones. My husband and I are not very large people, and it seems that she has simply inherited our body size.   (continued...)

Is Your Baby’s Size Normal
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