So confused by percentiles

[Growthexpectations]

My pre schooler got measured today. Just gone four and is 108 cm. Since two he was on upper percentiles (80+) but last two measurements has been quoted as 25th and 30th percentile. He's really tall compared to some of his friends and the same size as others, not many taller so I queried how he could be on the lower range and was told it was because of calculating months. Fair enough. I them went on the internet and can only really find things that say he's closer to my original estimation of 80%.

Am I wrong here? Every time I bring it up they just dismiss it, but I'd like to know as it'll obviously effect if he is a healthy weight or not. Again, not worried as such but just to monitor.

Can someone explain to me?!

Is 108cm that tall though? I have a 4 year old, he is 4 years and 6 months and is 115cm tall, he has been tall for his age since his 10 week check but he is heads and shoulders over the rest of the boys in his class so 108 would be average. But I can see how it's confusing if the who chart says otherwise for your son, maybe the school use one adapted for race and demographics?

I honestly have no idea. Anecdotally, he is taller than all his other friends. He has only just turned four. I'd be less surprised at say 50 percentile than 25/30th though as it's less dramatic than 90th to 25th.

There is an app you can download. Search growth charts who-uk on the play store.

I am a pediatrician and use it all the time.

You put in date of birth and measurements. If he is 4yrs and 1 months, he plots on 88th centile.

The doctor just made a mistake. I used to make mistakes on growth charts all the time.... It's all the lines. Hence why I always check with my app now. I have to check several times even i have to plot.... Don't know why it is so difficult for me, I have a medical degree ffs

I had DD measured and they started talking to me about childhood obesity. I wtf'd as she has always been in or under the 25th centile.

Turns out they'd somehow recorded her measurements as 5th centile for height and 95th for weight...redid the meaurements and she was 25th for both.

Centiles are easy, but appear confusing.

A centile is 1% of the population being measured, eg kids at age x. Things like height follow a normal distribution pattern known as the bell curve. It's called a bell curve because it's shaped like a bell with most of the kids at the same height in the middle while very few kids (outer centiles) are really small or really tall or at the edge of the bell.

Height can be affected by things like genetics, so really tall parents and grandparents are unlikely to have small kids and vice versa. Alternatively if mum was starving whilst pregnant or the kid is mal nourished then they won't grow up to their full potential height, which is calculated with mum and dad's heights. It could also be there's a shorty in the family woodwork but has been hidden in recent generations.

Health visitors love every kid on 50% which is the standard average, but health visitors are nazis. I had trouble because my lad started out bang on 505 to shoot over to the max centile for height and weight. He's now a strapping 6'4". in the same room I saw a teeny tiny lady being berated because her baby was tiny and therefore 'failing to thrive.' It was fine, but the health visitor was being a bitch.

if you know your kid to he happy and healthy ignore that nonsense. It's an admin thing for populations not individuals.

Does this help?

You keep going back to his taller than all his friends. They use the same charts as the red book.
he is on the 88th centile .. the doctor has for his height wrong somehow
which is a pretty easy fix.
4 year old here ( 4 and 5 months ) is 104 cm
what actually is more important is what their height Vs weight is
as long as there is not 2 centiles better these you are fine.

DS is same age and same height as yours. Definitely high centile, taller than average. The doctor who told you he's around 30th centile must have read the chart wrong.

Have you got the nhs app set up to give you access to his records? (you need to fill in a form at your GP surgery if you haven't already done it) - the measurement they took may show up in that somewhere so you could check what it says?

This happened with DD once, she went from being over the 75th centile to 25th at the appointment. The health visitor was sat there saying ‘but she seems so tall it’s odd’. When I got home and looked at the red book she’d plotted it as 10cm smaller than she’d measured DD, her actual centile was still 75th. I’d get the red book out and have a look yourself

Almost every single doctor and HV I have met (across 3DC) has shown a staggering inability to plot or interpret centile charts correctly so I wouldn't worry.
Yes, 108 cm at 4.1 is tall. DC3 is 4.4 and 99 cm (he is tiny - sits on 9th centile line).

The centiles shouldn't change with change in age bands.
That's the whole point of them.
To be able to pinpoint failure to thrive or excessive weight gain if a child changes from their usual percentile in a relatively short period of time.

Ds2 was 95th percentile for height and weight up to 1 year old. Then got ill and dropped to 50th percentile, but because it was being charted on the next page of his red book (1-5 year) it took ages to get his illness taken seriously and investigated. "He's perfectly normal". Not for him he wasn't.

One of my dcs on their 4th birthday was 110cm. On 6th birthday was 129cm. Wears age 10 clothes as tall.
They were born on 9th centile. I haven't charted it for ages though.

Yet my now 4. 3m old Is just 101cm. Born on same centile as other dc.
Their birth weight and lengths were half an oz different and 1 cm different.

WHO is worldwide so will include children genetically or nutritionally destined to be shorter. They are likely using more local indecies.

Dropping 5 centiles is very minor.

I would not worry.