Children's childhood is the moment in life when a person grows the most (logical if we consider that they are born measuring 50 cm) and, within childhood, the first year is when this growth is greater, since in such only twelve months reach a size of about 75 cm.
Some grow more, others less, some will be tall and others short, and so the first differences between babies begin to form.
Let's see with this entry how and how much boys and girls grow during their childhood to know what we can expect, what could influence growth and what factors do not influence (although many people think they do).
How much they measure at birth
The average size of boys at birth is 49.9 cm and 49.1 cm in the case of girls. But of course, this is average and it seems that everything that is far from it is not normal.
To clarify this I will say that the 1st percentile of newborn children is 45.5 cm and the 99th percentile is 54.3 cm. This means that any child with a height between 45.5 cm and 54.3 cm is considered, a priori, as a normal child (and there is no less than 9 cm difference!).
If we talk about girls, the 1st percentile is 44.8 cm and the 99th percentile is a size of 53.5 cm, with normal sizes also being those between those values.
What are percentiles?
Maybe I started with a lot of theory and some of you have already had the first doubt about the percentiles. I make this subsection to explain what they are.
Percentile means percentage. When we talk about percentile, it is like saying “percent” (percent) and that is why the tables talk about values between 0 and 100.
To make the growth graphs, thousands of healthy children of different ages are measured and from the data obtained the tables are created in which the expected growth is observed.
Making an example of this, we would say that 100 healthy children are taken and ordered in a row, from lowest to highest.
If they tell you that your child is in the 10th percentile, they are telling you that he is in the 10th position, with 90 children taller than him and 9 younger.
On the contrary, if they tell you that your child is in the 97th percentile, they are telling you that 3 children are taller than your child and 96 are shorter.
As we have said that the 100 children are healthy, whoever is in one or another position has little relevance at a specific time. The It is really important to assess what evolution a child has over time.
If with one month it is in the 97th percentile, but with 5 months it is in the 3rd percentile, the child will be within the graphs equally, but the evolution will be a growth deficit that must be studied (this means that the phrase “while be within the curves no problem ”makes no sense).
To end the issue of percentiles, the growth charts used by pediatricians have limit values of 3 and 97 percentiles, which mark the turning point at which perhaps we should look if something really happens.
Being off the graph does not mean not being normal or being sick, since the 1st and 2nd percentiles and the 98th and 99th percentiles can still be healthy children who are part of those 100 children we put in order, however some of the children that could not have any pathology would also be in these percentiles and that is why we must devote more attention to all children who leave the curves (and more attention does not necessarily mean having to do analytics and tests, although growth deficit is suspected for any possible disease, better to rule out possible problems).
How much they grow during the first year
Going back to the topic we are dealing with, during the first year they grow an average of about 25 cm (half of what they measured at birth), the boys measured an average of 75.7 cm (70.2 cm, those in the 1st percentile and 81.3 cm in the 99th percentile) and the girls averaged 74 cm (68 cm those in the 1st percentile and 80 cm those in the 99th percentile).
This growth is not uniform, but is greater in the first months. To put some data and taking as a reference the average (although all, higher or lower have a similar growth), in the first month a baby boy grows about 4.8 cm, in the second about 3.7 cm, in the third about 3 cm, in the fourth about 2.5 cm, in the fifth about 2 cm, in the sixth about 1.7 cm (adding the first six months about 17.7 cm of the 25 that grow the first year), in the seventh about 1.6 cm, in the eighth about 1.4 cm, in the ninth about 1.4 cm also, in the tenth about 1.3 cm, in the eleventh about 1.2 cm and in the twelfth about 1.1 cm
What is the use of knowing how much they grow month by month
What a good question (and what I ask myself). Well you're welcome. It's no use because babies, fortunately (or unfortunately, as you look at it), they are not robots that grow all in the same way and at the same time.
Growth patterns are lines that mark an expected evolution over time, but "in time" does not mean month to month, but in the longer term.
All the measures that I have given you every month on the growth of male babies are average, measures in which some children will be in one month and will cease to be the next to perhaps re-enter months later.
There are children who grow very much in the first semester and then stop doing so (perhaps they had taken a run), there are others who grow very little at the beginning but then pick up speed. Others grow 4 or 5 centimeters a month and then grow millimeters the next month to grow again another 4 or 5 centimeters the next and others grow little during their childhood but then continue to grow in the post-adolescence when others have long stopped growing.
Definitely, the important thing is to see that, in general, they are growing in a more or less uniform way, but leaving room for nature to act. If one month a baby does not grow what is expected of him, it can (and should) be expected because it is likely that in two or three weeks, or even in the following month, he will gain height.
If instead it seems that there is a stagnation that could continue over time (2-3 months without growing hardly anything), it is necessary to investigate possible causes to remedy.
As it is a bit long topic we will finish it tomorrow talking about how much do the rest of the years grow, what factors influence growth and how much it will measure in adulthood.
Photos | Flickr - OakleyOriginals, Ccarlstead, Raúl A. In Babies and more | How much will you measure ?, Interpretation of the weight and growth tables by Carlos González (I), Growth speed in children
