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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To not understand why baby's weights are converted from kg to lbs by midwives and health visitors

75 replies

reallytired · 22/08/2010 22:08

I was born in 1975 and decimelisation happened in 1974.

My daughter (who was born in 2009) is very small for her age. We have had the health visitor come out to weigh her because she is on 0.4th centile and I find it really hard to get to clinic.

I have a lovely health visitor who converts her weight (in kg that I understand) to lbs (which is gobbly gook to me!).

My health visitor is also concerned about my weight and asked me what I weighed. I told her that I was 169cm tall and weighed 54kg. Her next question was "What that in stone?" I had to go and get a calcuator to convert it for her.

My health visitor is very talented at job. I can't fault her in any way. It does seem weird that she uses imperial units for her job. Especially as she trained after decimelisation.

OP posts:

sloanypony · 23/08/2010 07:31

I think a lot of people use stones and pounds for their own weight because they know what it really "means" - i.e "I felt so good at 9 stone back in 1984"!!!

When really they could just learn that that means uh 57kg

OP you are probably on the cusp of being slightly underweight as is your baby. No expert but slight people have slight babies (sometimes anyway!). Doesn't sound like much to worry 'bout (not that you probably were)

belgo · 23/08/2010 07:34

I was born in 1976 and can roughly convert kgs into pounds and kms into mile etc. In my generation we are used to using them both.

The only one that confuses me is Fahrenheit - I can only use Celsius.

sloanypony · 23/08/2010 07:36

Me too, I dont do farenheit - was born the same year.

All I know is over 100 is Scorchio

belgo · 23/08/2010 07:37

54kg at 169cm is very slim but I don['t think that is underweight. Of course general health also needs to be taken into consideration.

My dd2 was under the 0.4centile, again this is normal for some babies but the HV obviously does need to check her.

belgo · 23/08/2010 07:43

Sloany I have a friend the same age who can only use Fahrenheit, pounds, stones etc - but then her dad is very old and probably influenced her.

sloanypony · 23/08/2010 07:47

The reason I said was because I know that at 165cm I can go as low as 52kg or something

Yep she's 18.9 BMI - if she were 18.5 or less she'd be underweight

Sorry OP to talk about you like you are not here

If it helps, I am a little

sloanypony · 23/08/2010 07:48

Its the adult equivalent of being on the 0.4th centile! i.e most people are fatter than ya

bebejones · 23/08/2010 07:49

I was born in 1982, and use both! Our HV measure in kg & convert to lbs if you ask them. I measure myself in feet & inches but measure everything else in cm. I weigh everything and cook, using imperial even though I was only really taught metric. Metric means very little to me I think because my mum & grandma taught me to cook & they taught me in imperial. Don't know anyone who weighs themself in metric or knows their height in cm. It's a British thing isn't it? FWIW I have absolutely no idea about Farenheight (imperial) or km (metric) so am really messed up! :o I personally don't think it matters.

mousymouse · 23/08/2010 07:58

I grew up in germany, which is probably the most metric country in the world. when I moved to the us I had to learn the imperial system and it was hard, because for me it was just not logical. especially when baking reg converting my recipes so I could bake them with cups etc. (that was before internet was widely available).
then moved to the uk where I was suddenly confronted with stones for weight as well.
but I must say, 11 stone sounds so much less fat that 70 kilos :)

5DollarShake · 23/08/2010 08:00

I'm a Kiwi and think purely in metric, and weigh myself in kilos, but when it comes to babies, I find it easier to think in pounds and ounces!

Conversion to metric is such a recent thIng over here, and even now it's not fully complete (distance is still measured in miles), that it's no great mystery than many parents and healthcare professionals (HVs) still think in imperial.

sanielle · 23/08/2010 09:06

I'm American I can do kilo or pounds.. But stones just seem to random a measurement to bother with!!!

sanielle · 23/08/2010 09:07

I also think its REALLY weird they way you all use centigrade to show how bloody freezing it is.. Then farenheit to show how bloody hot!

WurzelBoot · 23/08/2010 09:14

I (born in 76) am confused by lots of things. When I'm running, I prefer to run in Miles. I'll use MPH in the car, and not KPH (surely everyone does this in the UK?). When I'm baking I'll use KG, but when I'm weighing a person I'll use Stones but not pounds, but when weighing a baby I'll use pounds and not KG.

Taking a temperature (person) I'd prefer to use Fahrenheit, but temperature everywhere else is in Celsius.

All I can say is I was pleased the midwife gave me the conversion, because everyone who wanted to know the weight had a framework they could understand.

TrillianAstra · 23/08/2010 09:19

Because everyone knows that if a baby is over 8 pounds then it's a whopper, under 7 and it's a tiny little thing.

Tee2072 · 23/08/2010 09:34

Well, being from the US I often wonder why people here still use stones! Talk about archaic!

What's wrong with pounds and ounces?

Or kilos?

And I absolutely can't do body temp in C. My thermometers are all set to F.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 23/08/2010 09:35

I was born a long time ago in London, we moved to the middle east ten years ago and DD was born there. Her weight was recorded in kilos and her height in centimetres. that's the way it has always stayed as we have remained outside of the UK. I have no idea what she weighs in imperial, only metric. My DM asked me how many inches her chest is a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have the foggiest idea nor in centimetres either. Who measure their childs chest? I suppose in olden times when there was more knitting going on you would, but nowdays, I tend to buy DD's clothes based on height.

VoldemortsNipple · 23/08/2010 09:37

I was born 1975 and was taught metric measures in school but at home everything was spoken about in imperial measures.

"Go to the shop and get me 5lb potatoes and a pint of milk."

You have grown, you are now 3 foot 6 inches tall and weigh 4 stone.

The only thing I can convert easily without thinking too much is centemetres and inches, because they had both measures on my school ruler.

Didn't we Brits fight a couple of years back to keep our pint measurement. Im sure we took it the EU and won.

VoldemortsNipple · 23/08/2010 09:44

Sanielle That just makes us feel better

To convert centigrade to farenheit;

Centigrade x2 +28 = farenheit

So 22 degrees centigrade

22 x 2 + 28 = 72 degrees farenheit

ManicMother7777 · 23/08/2010 10:43

It's so that we mothers of whoppers can be proud you see, if I tell people my baby was 4626g, they look at me blankly.............

Lizkin · 23/08/2010 10:58

Hmm...

if you want to be reaally accurate, the centigrade to fahrenheit ought to be:

centigrade /5 x9 +32

just being pedantic.

Personally, now I live on the Continent, I've just got used to my weight and height in metric, and my DH (foreign) thinks Brits are a bit nuts for sticking to imperial. But when it comes to cooking, I still trust pounds and ounces better than grams for baking!

sweetnitanitro · 23/08/2010 11:00

I was born in 1981 and use imperial for almost everything.

When DD was born and the MW told me she weighed 3.5 I replied 'oooh no, she's much bigger than that'. MW was Aussie and was talking kg, not lbs In my defence, I was still huffing on the G&A at that point.

I have to have a converter widget on my mac dashboard to stop me getting confused. I shall have to learn metric before I emigrate, the first time I went to Canada I was very surprised that the speed limit was 100.

BabyDubsEverywhere · 23/08/2010 11:36

Rockbird - I was born in 1971 after decimalisation and weigh in stones and pounds. Kilos are for meat. Agree it's a non issue.

I wa born in 1984 and thats how i think too, get very confised otherwise

LibertyGibbet · 23/08/2010 11:45

I was completely out of it when they told me dd weighed 3.5kg and I just kept muttering 'how many bags of sugar?' I was trying to convert it into something I could understand. I was having hallucinations of scales with packaged baking goods on one side and a newborn perched precariously on the other.

The older obstetric consultant leaned over the screen and said '7.12 in old money' and I breathed a sigh of relief.

My scales aren't big enough to put a baby on and I was getting worried.

PYT · 23/08/2010 11:47

Stones, pounds, ounces. I was born in 77. I cannot fathom kilos.

sanfair · 23/08/2010 11:55

As a South African, I find the whole stone/lbs/ounces thing a bit bewildering. I always have to always convert back into kg. I have no idea what I or DS weigh in lbs.

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