Two days ago we brought you the growth charts by percentiles to know how much the babies measured in relation to the rest of the children. As height is not the only thing to consider when growing a baby, since we must also assess the weight, today we do the same with the growth charts to know how much babies weigh in relation to other babies.
In fact, as I explained the other day, height is one of the parameters that have less to do with regard to what children eat or stop eating while weight is the opposite, it is closely related to the amount of food the baby eats. That is why it is important to look at the tables, take them into account and, above all, know how to interpret them so as not to end up doing crazy things (nutritionally speaking).
Growth charts by percentiles: weight
Again, and by the explanation that I already offered you the other day, we will make use of WHO growth charts, published in 2006, achieved thanks to a study of more than 8,000 children from different countries of the world, which took much more into account the natural feeding of a baby, breastfeeding, above which was used mostly in previous decades, when most babies drank artificial milk.
Growth chart by percentiles for children
The tables can be seen on the same page of the WHO, but I leave the links in case you want to print them. If you have a child under two years of age I recommend this table that goes from birth to 24 months. If you have more than 2 years you can download this one, which reaches up to 5 years.
Growth chart by percentiles for girls
Similarly, we can also see, download or print the growth charts for girls. If you are under 2 years old, I recommend this one. If it is older than two years, the table that reaches up to 5 years can be found here.
How tables work
Looking at the weight of our son or daughter on the tables is very simple. We just need to know how much you weigh in each moment and look at the table according to age.
If for example we have an 8-month-old child weighing 10 kg, we look at the table and see that it is in an intermediate percentile between 50 and 85. It is said that it is in the 50th percentile (because it does not reach 85), although in reality it would be, more or less, in an 80th percentile. What about "percentile? In case you didn't read it the other day I explain it again: percentile means percentage. When we talk about percentile it's like saying" percent "(percent) and that is why the tables talk about values between 0 and 100.
If they tell you that your child is in the 15th percentile, they are telling you that of every 100 children, he is in the 15th position, with 85 children weighing more than him and 14 weighing less. That is, of all children, 14% weigh less and 85% weigh more.
On the contrary, if they tell you that your child is in the 97th percentile, they are telling you that 3 children weigh more than your child and that 96 weigh less (out of 100).
The children studied to make the tables they are healthy children, so it is really unimportant where we place our son on the table. Come on, the pediatrician does not have to care that our child is in the 15th percentile or is in the 75th. One thing is not better than another. What you should look at, what you should keep in mind, is the evolution and compare the point where you are with the height.
If with one month a child is in the 97th percentile, but with 5 months is in the 3rd percentile, the child will always be within the graphs, but the evolution will be a problem of weight gain that must be studied (this means that the phrase "while inside the curves there is no problem" makes no sense). That is why we must see evolution, rather than where it is at all times.
Children's weight
I know that I am repeating things from the previous entry, but I prefer to repeat and that everything is very clear, that I go short and that someone who has not read the previous entry begins with it (or just read this one) and the message is incomplete.
If you look at the graphs, the 98 to 100 and 1-2 percentiles do not exist, they do not appear. However, in the normal studied children there were also those children. What happens is that they are removed from the tables so that serve us as low limit and high limit from which professionals must assess whether to carry out any type of study. That is, being outside the graph does not mean not being normal or being sick, but it must be confirmed.
Below average
There are professionals who mark the good line on the average, the 50th percentile and who consider that everything that is below is a thin child who is still eating little. They look at the mother, they put on the face of "I don't like this" and they say "it's below average, it's just right", as if you had to start fattening the child to get more fat.
The error is twofold. First, in the absence of comparing the weight with the height, the child in the 15th percentile is as normal as the one in the 75th percentile. Simply, one weighs more than the other. Some pediatricians (and nurses) tend to point to the 15th percentile (and those who are under 50) as being underweight and from 50 onwards as a "is great." However, it may happen that a child in the 40th percentile has more kilos than he needs and that a child in the 50th percentile is thin.
How is that possible? Because the weight must always be valued based on the size. If a baby is in the 3rd percentile of height (it is the shortest), but is in the 40th percentile of weight, maybe he is eating too much, or perhaps the food he receives is too high in calories. If another baby is in the 97th percentile in height (the highest), but is in the 50th percentile, you may be eating less than you need, or receiving food with insufficient calories. A third child, in the 15th percentile of height and the 15th percentile of weight (of those of "go, go justito"), could be feeding better than the previous two and really need less attention and less follow-up.
The second mistake is to use the mean as the ideal line that every child should reach. If all mothers with children with a weight percentile below 50 are told to do their best to reach that 50 we will be causing obesity. If normal children who weigh less manage to reach or approach the average, the average will be moving up, because for there to be an average there must be children with more weight and others with less. So if children who measure "percentile 3" we weigh "percentile 50", we will be getting them to be short (because they will not grow more by eating more) but fat. Not short and with a correct weight, but short and fat. And the average of the Spanish population will no longer be that line seen in the graph, but a higher one. Said fast and concise: 50% of children must have a weight below the 50th percentile. If this does not happen, the children of our population eat too much, or eat badly.
But my son changed the milk and gave porridge
In the second paragraph I said that a bad interpretation of the tables can lead professionals to commit crazy things. Well, I will explain these crazy things. Hundreds of children, thousands, have suffered the words of professionals who have not been able to correctly interpret the tables and who have also erred in their recommendations.
Mothers who have been urged to exchange breast milk for bottle milk because "your milk is not feeding enough, we are going to switch to canister milk", in what is a basic error for a very clear reason: artificial milk has the same calories as breast milk. By law, it has to be that way. Yes it is true that it has more proteins, basically because being of lower biological quality, they have to replace that lack with a higher concentration, and that this could make babies gain more weight, but in exchange for that hypothesis you are taking the Baby breast milk. Come on, you're changing milk for milk, when the alternative is worse than the original. If you suspect that the baby is drinking little breast milk, just investigate this: if there is a bad grip, if the baby does not get enough milk, if the mother is producing little milk, etc.
Other mothers have received the recommendation of start complementary feeding early. We know that it is ideal for babies to receive breast milk up to six months exclusively. Well, some babies have started eating cereals and fruit after four months, some even vegetables and meat, with the intention of gaining weight. Give fruit, vegetables and meat to a baby to gain weight it's stupid. The fruit has very few calories (less than breast milk), the vegetable and meat porridge, as well (it approaches 50 kcal per 100 ml, when the milk has about 70 kcal). What do people who go on a diet eat? Well, that: grilled fruit, vegetables and meat.
The only thing that would be of any use are cereals, which do have more calories than breast milk. The problem is that at a nutritional level they don't approach, and therefore it is better to leave them until 6 months. Again, if you suspect that the baby eats little, you have to find out why. And if we talk about a baby who takes a bottle, you have to find out why you gain little weight, if it is a normal matter (because by constitution there are thin people and thin babies) or if there is any pathology that should be diagnosed.
The important thing about the tables
So, as I say, the important thing is to see how is the evolution of the percentiles over time and see what is the relationship between height and weight. Again, as with the height tables, it is not necessary to always be in the same percentile, since most children change percentile as time passes, sometimes going up to the next percentile, sometimes going down to the previous one. In addition, the weight is usually closely linked to the change in height percentile: on one visit the baby has grown less and it turns out that he gains less weight as well. Then in another it grows more and the weight accompanies it.
Photos | Thinkstock
In Babies and more | How and how much a child grows during childhood (I), Interpretation of weight and growth charts by Carlos González (I) and (II), How to know if the baby drinks enough breast milk: weight
