Help with centiles!

[babymummy96]

Hi everyone, I am coming on here to try and understand centiles a bit better.

Previously in our old town, I was never told things in 'centiles' so it is a pretty new term to me. My daughter was born in covid so her height and weight were never measured apart from when she was around two weeks old.

Now, I have a 2.5 year old who has just been diagnosed with ASD. I got the formal diagnosis letter through the post today and he mentioned her height and weight centiles.

She is 99.6 weight and 99.5 height.

What does this actually mean? Do I have an overweight child?

She is the height of a 4/5 year old and weighs the same as that age. She hasn't put on weight in over a year now (know her weight from hospital visits) due to slimming down and getting taller. She was always a chunky baby even when she was born.

The paediatrician did not comment on her weight, her health visitor has never said anything about her weight and no doctors that have seen her before have ever said anything either.

When I google it, it just says these centiles for babies so I don't have anything to compare it to!

Essentially it means that she is very heavy for her age (50th centile would be average) BUT she is also very tall for age so you don’t need to worry! If she was 99th for weight but only 50th for height that would be a concern but if they are in line with another there’s generally nothing to worry about.

@Username9898 thank you for the reply! You've put my mind at rest! Xx

Yes as long as they're fairly in proportion there's nothing to worry about. If she was on the 99th for weight and the 50th for height then there may be a problem.

Interestingly my DN as always been around the 99th for both height and weight and has ASD.

Have you found the SN Section yet? They're usually pretty helpful if you need any support or have any questions