Newborn baby's length

[Pandora88]

DS was born two weeks ago and no one took his length measurement since, whenever I ask midwifes or health visitor they all say that is just "not something they routinely do." I've got a family in Italy and Germany and over there it is one of the very first things they check - together with baby's weight etc. Also it seems that there are percentile charts for length contained within the red book, so one would think this stat is supposed to be tracked?

What are your experiences with this? Is it normal in the UK not to track baby's length from birth? If I wanted to have him measured who should I turn to? (I asked one of the midwifes and she's done some sort of a measurement but DS was kicking and screaming at the time and she herself said "my measurement is probably as good as yours" :-/ )

@LatinForTelly I agree with you, and personally find it quite surprising (and a bit scary) how things are just left up to Mother Nature and luck in some parts of the UK It is what effectively happens if the simplest checks are abandoned, and all issues dismissed as "nothing to worry about" until they become extremely serious...

I don't want to seem ungrateful, we very much value all the help and healthcare that the NHS provides but I and partner recon we'd be going private for DS to ensure he gets a more involved, complex and wholistic care experience.

Both of mine were measured for weight, head circumference and length at birth. They were also weighed at every follow-up check and measured for length and head circumference every few checks. My most recent was less than a year ago so I don't think much would have changed since then. Perhaps it depends on your local health authority?

Mine were measured during the paediatrician check before we left hospital. Apparently at 55cm they were above average whereas dh and I are short. The dc now adults are taller than dh and I but aren't exceptionally tall (6ft for ds) so not sure that the length at birth tells you much.

Dd wasn't (Berkshire) but ds was (hampshire). Some health visitors carry round those yellow mats to measure them, you could ask?

I would do as cestlavielife suggests. A tape measure on the changing table is not that different to how the hv does it anyway. There's a chart in the red book you can plot height on so you could keep an eye on his percentiles yourself.

DS is 9 months and I think he was measured at birth but it wasn't really noted anywhere (possibly in the maternity notes that the hospital keep, I think). DS was born by CS and DH went with him while they did the cleaning up/first checks and he said he remembered them mentioning a length then but couldn't remember what if was.

I'm curious about what "going private for DS" means? As in seeing a private paediatrician for regular health checks, instead of using the HV/GPs?