This post brought to you by babycalculators. All opinions are 100% mine.
Being a mom to a preemie, I know all about growth rates, percentiles, and wondering if your child is on track. Our daughter was 4 weeks early and until she started on solid foods had problems with weight gain. In turn it equaled lots of doctor visits to check weight, supplementing breast milk with formula, and even condensing her formula so she could take in more calories. At 3 years old she is right on track for height and weight and I couldn't be happier, but that first year was such a pain and filled with worry.
I wish I had a program like the Baby Height Chart and Baby Weight Chart. The online growth chart uses international standards developed by the World Health Organization. The percentiles in the growth chart represent child growth rates in an optimal environment and let's you track your child's growth without a doctor's visit. It's easy to use, understand, and can be used with the metric system or US measuring system.
Now, why do you need this calculator? Knowing that your baby is gaining weight as he or she is growing is very important to moms. By using their baby weight percentile calculator, you can create your baby’s weight chart to see her weight gain and how well she is growing based on the WHO baby growth chart (http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/who_charts.htm).
This chart tells you your baby’s weight percentile (one of a baby’s growth percentiles). Now, what is this for? First, the percentile baby weight will tell you how your baby’s weight gain compares to national averages. For example, your baby has a 50% baby weight percentile. It means that 50% of babies, living in an optimal growth environment and are of the same age and sex as your baby, weigh the same or less than your baby.
In addition, you get to see if your baby is following a healthy weight gain pattern: does her weight percentile change radically or is it stable? If there are drastic changes in your baby’s weight percentile, you may want to bring it up with her pediatrician.