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Height - weight charts for children under 2

Q: Could you provide me with a growth chart or a height and weight chart for children upto 2 years? I have two kids in my family one is 2 months and the other is 17 months and their doctors want to make sure if it is wise to compare them to the American standards and the growth charts used here. As far as I remember we also referred to NCHS charts but I am not sure if those were adapted versions.

A:For children upto 2 years, I have two suggestions: 1. Dr KN Agarwal and his group published some all-India data in Indian Pediatrics: way back in October 1992 for older kids and in April 1994 (p 377-413) for 0-6 years. Check their website www.indianpediatrics.net; if you cannot get it there, you could try emailing them at jiap@hub.nic.in. 2. The CDC (NCHS) 2000 growth charts are available on www.cdc.gov/growthcharts. They have BMIs in addition to heights and weights. There are separate charts for 0-2 years, and for older kids. They have used a medley of kids, from different ethnic backgrounds. Whichever chart you use, first mark the MID-PARENTAL HEIGHT, also called TARGET HEIGHT, on the right edge of the chart. You can calculate it by adding the moms and dads heights, and then adding 13 cm if the child is a boy, or substracting 13 cm for a girl, then dividing by two. Eg if mom is 160 cm, dad is 170 cm, then a girls MPH is (160 + 170 -13)/2 = 158.5 cm. The MPH will give you the percentile line which your child should follow. Using this, you can use pretty much any chart, just so long as your child is following the band appropriate for the two of you, i.e. the childs genetic potential. So if the MPH corresponds to the 5th percentile line on the chart, and your kid is following the 5th percentile line, thats fine. If the kid is climbing up or dropping down on the percentile line, (i.e. growing faster / slower than expected), you should be concerned.

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