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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To start to worry about those centile charts

41 replies

embeddedclaws · 18/05/2014 21:29

DHand I have been very lax on weighing children or seeing the hv, dd4 (18months) has been officially weighed twice, despite meaning to go more as she was a little early.

Her brother has got quite into the height and weight measuring after he did it at school. We've dug out red books and plotted everyone a few times. We're all about 75th centile height, 25th weight give or take. Looking at family we're all similar.

DD however is:

head: nearly 95th
weight: 9th
height: below 0.2nd

She was about 50th centile ish for all when checked at birth and three months. She does seem small, she wears 6-9 months mainly and draws a lot of comments about size, healthy though and happy.

I'm asking here first as seeing a hv means time off work, for potentially a disinterested look and being told it's all normal. Is it normal? I don't know when she slowed down, but she does grow out of clothes slower than the others, she's wearing babygros from last autumn for example and is too small for most walking shoes. I'd say looking at her her growth has been slow and steady rather than trailing off. She eats fine, loves food, but eats little portions (proportion to her being little I guess).

OP posts:

bronya · 18/05/2014 22:15

If she was mine, I'd get it checked out. Just for peace of mind really. I tend to go by whether they're (roughly) in the right size of clothes. For example, my DH and I are both small (2nd centile for height) and DS is following that centile. He still fits into 12-18 month clothes at 20 months, but 18-24 month clothes aren't stupidly over-large. If he was wearing 6-9 or 9-12 month clothes, I'd have probably got him checked out just to be sure.

pianodoodle · 18/05/2014 22:18

I was in baby clinic once and the mum ahead of me was being told by the HV that according to their measurements her child had got shorter since the last visit

Original poster

embeddedclaws · 18/05/2014 22:22

I went to baby clinic with ds1, it was a church hall whilst you sat in silence whilst listening to the hv shout everyone's business. I'd come to say I had pnd but left as I knew some of the others who were also waiting and would over hear. It was generally an awful place and I'll admit I'm not inclined to go back, even though I'm bigger and braver nowadays.

OP posts:

PassTheCakeitsbeenatough1 · 18/05/2014 22:23

FlipFlop I can see why you're defensive because you've obviously had rigorous training but it hasn't always been that way. And as usual, everyone judges a profession based on it's worst examples. The problem with HV is that the care is so inconsistent across the country that a HV can't always be relied on to make an accurate judgement/assessment. My HV was great, but she still told me to go the the GP when my DS's fontanelle hadn't closed at 14 months.

OP, I'd be going to the GP at this point rather than the HV as at 18 months they are usually developed enough for a medical diagnosis to be made should anything be an issue. On the other hand, the growth charts are about development rather than the actual outcome. At 18 months she's much more likely to be nearing her 'proportions' than she was as a baby so she might have been following a steady line all along. I wouldn't worry about it, do get her checked though just incase.

YoHoHoandabottleofWine · 18/05/2014 22:24

HV raised concerns for my DS2 at 2 year check re height because:

it looked like he had fallen down the centiles (but early measurements of length are very very inaccurate so I wasn't sure about that)
DH and I are not short, we are above average, and DS1 is a 75th centiler.

We were referred to GP who didn't know what to do and referred to paedatrician. By this point several months had passed and he could see he had grown since measured by the HV, so will just see him every 6m. I have more recently been studying DH's elderly aunties and I think they are really short (possibly below 5ft), so probably is in the genes.

Worthwhile getting her checked just to stop you wondering/ worrying. It will also help you every time questions get raised at nursery/pre-school/shool etc.

allisgood1 · 18/05/2014 22:27

If she's fallen on the charts, i would take her sooner rather than later to the GP (sorry flipflop, I don't think a HV would be much use here). GP surgeries can be open later so you wouldn't have to book time off work.

If, however, she is staying on her centile then I would leave it. Of course if you never get her weighed like me then you won't know and in that case I would take her in.

FlipFlopWaddle · 18/05/2014 22:34

The thing is I'm not even sure a GP would have a set of baby scales , what is it you think a GP will do that a HV can't in this case? If they are concerned they'll either refer you to a paediatrician (as would a HV) or refer you to baby clinic for regular weights

It's the head circumference in relation to height and weight that would concern me - her height and weight are in proportion. The guidelines say that a drop of 2 centile lines are a reason for close monitoring but there's been such a long time gap between measurements it's hard to say without actually seeing her.

MrsMook · 18/05/2014 22:34

DS1 is wildly disproportionate with a great big head, but 9th centile for height these days, having started on the 75th. He's had food allergies, but I suspect that he's just got a random combination of genes as DH and I are opposites. The dietician was never concerned. The onoy thing that bothers be about it, is getting a tshirt on, without the shoulders sagging off to the elbows.

I'd say it's an instinct thing. Keep an eye out, and check it out if you're concerned.

3boys3dogshelp · 18/05/2014 22:38

I would go to the gp if she was 50th at birth and o.2nd now. When one of ours was very tall we were told if they cross 2 centile lines on the chart they need further assessment.

oohdaddypig · 18/05/2014 22:45

Having had a child whose head size did require monitoring for growth can I ask two questions? Firstly, does her head look relatively in proportion to her body? Secondly can you and DH measure your heads the sane way and plot them on an adult graph which you can get online? Ie do her parents have large heads?

I would seek reassurance from doing these things and, if not, would see my GP. My DD's head dropped from 50th centile to 0.2 and the paediatrician was reassuring as she looked in proportion and I have a small head too. She was right - DD is bright as a button, with a small head :)

I think health visitors will have more experience of measuring head sizes than a GP. They do it all the time and it's easy to get wrong....

SueDNim · 18/05/2014 22:51

I'd take her to the GP with the aim of getting a paediatric referral.

Why is it so hard for you to take time off work to get her checked out? I think you might need to prioritise this. Your DH could take her if you can't or even one of your parents. Or you could ask for a phone consultation which you could have at work to see how important a GP or HV thinks it is.

cestlavielife · 18/05/2014 23:50

Just start monitoring properly from now.
Birth weight height etc doesn't equate to future as such.
Measure now.
Height weight.
Family big heads is probably reason for big head.

Measure in three months and in six months. See if following the line.
If not, go to gp.

If you go to gp they will also just monitor for next three months or six months. Unless she obviously unwell which you say not. You say happy and healthy. If you trust your own scales and measuring for height weight then do it yourself. Otherwise go to get measured at gp and yes of course g p have weighing and measuring tools and equipment . As do hv clinics...

My dd dropped off charts completely and grew only in mm in stead of in cm every few months... Eventually diagnosed coeliac.

StrawberryGashes · 19/05/2014 00:41

My daughter is on the 50th centile for height, 9th centile for weight and 5th centile for head. The health visitor said this wasn't a problem, but she's always stuck to roughly the same centiles since birth. I'd perhaps speak to the HV, not because of the low centiles but because your daughter has went down so many centiles since birth.

cestlavielife · 19/05/2014 09:53

it is the rate of growth now that counts. is she growing three cm every six months? six cm per year? if she been in 6-9 month clothes for six months or a year then yes get her referred. look at things like sleep suits tho, as tops etc can vary. growth clinic will just monitor for first six months (they want to make sure height and weight readings are accurate) but might take routine blood tests.

parallax80 · 19/05/2014 10:38

FlipFlop Just out of curiosity, why do you need baby scales?

a) she's 18 months, so might be able to stand on normal scales anyway

b) if she can't or the normal scales aren't calibrated for low weights, can't you weigh adult on them, weight adult holding baby and then work out the difference?

ChatEnOeuf · 19/05/2014 10:54

GP should always have a method of weighing kids accurately, (almost) all paeds prescriptions are weight-based. I'd take her, simply to get a general check up and mark your place. The likely outcome is to measure again in 4-6 months, they may consider some baseline bloods now, they may wait.

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