Are the predicted growth charts in the 'red book' 100% accurate?

[jujumum78]

I hope not because unless I've measured wrong (which is always a possiblility as I'm sleep deprived!) at the rate he's growing DS (19 mths) is only going to be about 5 ft 3 as an adult!

[HauntedLittleLunatic]

There were accurate when first published, but I think they were based on bottle fed babies and I think they were charted in the 70's/80's.

I think there are inserts which can be supplied for breast fed babies...

[HauntedLittleLunatic]

Oh and I thought they only went up to 5yrs old...so how can you predict when he's an adult?

[KatieMiddleton]

In DS's red book there was a calculation using mother's height and father's height to estimate future height of child. I would say it was fairly accurate, simply because the predicted height had a range of about a foot! Ie DS is "predicted" according to the calculation to be between 5'6 and 6'5. I forget the details but dh and I both thought it very funny because if asked we could probably estimate his height to within 12 inches when he's older just by guessing.

[DeWe]

No they can't be. Children grow at different rates.
In my dh's family they measured once a year, and his younger brother followed exactly the same growth pattern as dh until he was 14. At 14 dh had a huge growth spurt and his db didn't, so they're now about 4" different.

My dd1 was on the 91%+ from when she was born until she was about 5yo. She's now on the 25%, and I suspect that's more likely where she'll end up.

My dsis was tall at 11yo, and then stopped growing. I otoh was small at 11 and am now taller than her.

[Lilicat1013]

My mother did this with my younger brother when he was two and was worried he was going to be really short. He turned out to be 6ft 3.

[FredFredGeorge]

Our red book is breast fed charts not bottle. And no they're not at all accurate for an individual baby.

[nickelhasababy]

no, it's a "line of best fit" chart.
even the lines will have children who grow at odd rates.

imagine it as a line that joins up lots and lots of stars.

[jujumum78]

thanks for all the reassuring comments. I know I'm probably worrying unnecessarily - the red book now looks a tad ridiculous! I remember the health visitor saying they needed to update it because of the number of polish babies now born here who are in general apparently a bit bigger....just to confuse matters!
DS was breastfed til six months and is now on a No meat but lots of fish and everything else diet so I know he should be growing ok, but he's on the 25th% and as DH is 6ft he thinks DS should be bigger already.

[Liskey]

Remember children grown in growth spurts - so he'll go through a stage of growing - its not a constant rate. We know this with DD who was prem and then didn't put weight on - got referred to paedtrician who said he wasn't in the slightest bit concerned about her weight it was her height that worried him.

She's still not on any line but grew 13 cm from age 1 to 2 (and the average is 12 cm) so she's now growing slightly faster than the average. There's no point taking them to be weighed/measured very frequently the paedtrician said as they grow at an uneven rate. DD is still predicted to be smaller than me though - it also depends on the genetic family history how tall both of your parents were etc. DH is is 5"10 and I'm 5"3 so you'd think she should be taller than me - however both mine and DH's parents are short so its likely she will end up predisposed to be small.

[MedusaIsHavingABadHairDay]

None of my children have grown according to their 'predicted' heights, if I go by their red books ! They are all older teens /adult now.

I'm 5 ft 7, DH is 5 ft 9... kids are..

DD1 5 ft 8...
DS 5 ft 9
DD2 5 ft 2
DS2 6 ft

DS1 was 25 the centile all the way so ending up 5 ft 9 was expected. DS2 however was also a small guy but at 14 is 6 ft!

DD1 has kept growing... ridiculously she grew another inch at 19 years of age...she should have stopped years ago!

DD2 got DH's family size.. the women are all short!

DS 2 just got lankier and lankier!!

Charts are just that.. charts. In my experience you have to just wait 20 years to see how big they are going to get;D

[sashh]

Well she will be 3 ins taller than me.

[jujumum78]

All the women in our families are 5ft 3 and all the men 6 ft, so I suppose ds has a chance of ending up anywhere in between in 20 years time! Tho dh is hoping he won't take after the women ;-)

[joshross12]

hi could anyone tell me if they have had a growth chart result of midwifes and its been wrong. i just got bk,i,m currently 35/1/2 weeks pregnant but only measuring 32,they said i was engaged but there still sending me for a scan