Pediatricians determine percentiles for height and weight by using a pediatric growth nautical chart, which is a handy tool for keeping tabs on babe growth and telling you when it'due south drifting from the norm. Merely no matter what end of the pediatric growth chart your baby falls — whether it's the 95th or the 15th percentile — don't let that number get a source of anxiety for y'all.

Growth charts for babies substantially testify you lot how your baby'southward acme and weight compares with other babies. This information is collected from a large number of both breastfed and formula-fed children by the National Middle for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Earth Wellness Organisation (WHO).

What does it mean to be in the 95th percentile for meridian and weight?

What falling on the 95th percentile of a pediatric growth chart means is that your babe is currently both taller and heavier than 95 percent of all other babies her age (of the same sexual practice).

Even though that number may audio high, that doesn't necessarily mean your baby'southward excessively hefty. She might simply exist having a growth spurt (which is common amongst 6-calendar month-olds) that temporarily has her outpacing other babies her age.

And if you're nursing, deport in mind that breastfed babies tend to outweigh their counterparts fed with infant formula for the first vi months. Or perchance, she might simply be genetically programmed to exist bigger than her peers (which is probable if y'all or her other parent are larger than boilerplate).

In other words, it's very hard to tell what factors contribute to the measurements shown on growth charts for babies, which is why your doctor volition exist more interested in the overall patterns in her height and weight gain. If her weight continues to go along footstep with her acme, and then chances are she'south perfectly fine.

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Be sure to discuss your concerns with your baby'south pediatrician during her half dozen-month checkup. If he'due south not worried about what growth charts for babies say nigh your daughter's weight and growth, so you shouldn't be either.

Keep in mind: It is both unadvisable and potentially very unsafe to underfeed a baby or to limit her calories and fat intake. In fact, fats are a vital function of a baby's diet and eating habits. If your baby's weight gain does outpace her overall growth over time, your pediatrician may evaluate your kid in example there'south an underlying trouble.

The lesser line: Ignore the comments well-nigh your daughter's chubbiness, and savour her sweetness cocky!

Here's to big, beautiful babies, Heidi Murkoff