Tracking Your Child's Growth

Within minutes of your baby’s birth, your baby is weighed and measured – weight, length, and head size. The measurements are recorded on the standardized growth chart. Each time your child is seen for a well child visit, weight, length, and head size (for the appropriate age) are measured and charted on the same growth record. (After age 2, the head size is no longer routinely measured.)

All About Growth Records
The Growth Chart

Healthy children grow at very different rates. The standard growth chart uses “percentile lines” to display the wide range of normal measurements for different ages.

Comparing Size to Age

95th percentile – Large, only 4 of every 100 children are larger at this age.
50th percentile – Right in the middle in size at this age.
5th percentile – Small, only 4 of every 100 children are smaller at this age.

The growth chart allows your child’s doctor to:

• Track your child’s growth – height, weight, and head size – over time.
• Compare your child’s growth with the growth of other children of the same sex and age.