Centile vs future adult height?

[HazelEagle]

Our newborn is 3 weeks out and is between 25th to 50th centile for weight. He was 7lb8oz when born and has been weighted today and is 8lb6oz

Apparently he is inline where he needs to be due to being born around that centile.

But will that mean he won’t be tall etc? We’re tall parents you see and I assumed he would be bigger on the centile. However HV says that he is where he needs to be as he was on that centile when born so if he was on 75th it would be bad?

No, it doesn’t. I had twins at 37 +1. They were 5lb 7oz and 6lb 8oz, they were petite. Now they are toddlers then they are one of the tallest from antenatal peers but l am tall and so if their dad. Being a small baby / child doesn’t necessarily mean small adult

No definitely not. My LO was born on the 1st centile at 37 weeks , dropped off the chart completely and is now a chunky 11 month old on the 98th centile and has been in 12-18 month clothes for 6 weeks already. Hes crazy tall!

I think the HV means he is following his curve on the chart but at 3 weeks there wont be a pattern emerging yet. They look for a smooth curve upwards and only worry if there is a sudden deviation and it’s usually if they drop weight quickly as opposed to gaining weight. My LO jumped most of his centiles in the first 5 months before it tailed off to a more gradual climb.

I think you need to hear from people whose children are grown.

Ds1 was 50th to 75th for weight.
Ds2 was always between 25th and 50th,

Ds2 is taller at 5'11" and 18 years old. Ds1 is 5'10" and 21.

Dh is 6'3" and I am 5'4". Ds1 followed his centile line for weight and height for ages, Ds2 went up and down within his 25th-50th range. I think it is completely normal to worry about these things but he will be the height he will be, you can't stretch them. Enjoy your lovely new baby.

I was about 10th centile as a baby, 25th as a child then shot up as a teen and 5'8" now, which i think is a fair bit above average for a woman.

My 50th centile son is 6 ft 2.

That's tall to me because I am over a foot shorter and his dad is 5ft 11.

My 25th centile baby is 4ft11 as an adult. So yes she followed her line

It doesn't really mean much of anything at that age. Dd was between 2nd and 9th centile for length at birth (born at 37 weeks). I'm 5'9 and dh is 6'5. She was a smaller than average baby and toddler, but she's 11 now and while she isn't the tallest, she is certainly taller than a lot of the kids in her year. She has adult sized feet already. She will be tall. She's just still growing. Babies come in all shapes and sizes and unless there are health issues that mean some ongoing growth issues, he will be similar in height to his you and his dad.

From the HV perspective she is using the chart to see if your baby is putting on an appropriate amount of weight. If they are tracking the centile line then they are generally feeding fine and no cause for concern. If they are dropping down centiles at this age then it could point to an issue feeding / putting on weight for whatever reason, which might be a cause for concern. However, it isn't uncommon for babies/children to 'jump' between the lines e.g. ds was born slightly early on 6th centile, cluster fed like mad and jumped up to 25th a few weeks later. Also bear in mind that the centile line predicts adult height plus or minus quite a big margin of error (from memory 4 inches either way), so if the chart says adult height 5ft 6 for example, they could be anywhere from 5 ft 2 to 5 ft 10, which is quite a big range.

A 25th centile female should be 5 foot 3

My dc are 15(ds) and 12(dd). Both have pretty much tracked their birth centile all their lives. Both were born at term-ish. 36+5, and 39+0.

Have you calculated predicted height using the red book method. It's been pretty accurate for my children.

He’s 3 weeks old, I’m not sure you can predict adult height from his weight at 3 weeks old.
But in terms of anecdotes… my eldest and youngest were born at the same weight and both tracked the 50th centile for the first year or so. Eldest (10) is now really small for her age, one of the shortest in her class and youngest (5) is one of the tallest.

This has worked so accurately it's spooky. He's around 6ft1 at nearly 19 and will grow a little more. He was 98th centile at birth then 75th at 2 then small until 16 when he started the growth spurt.

ETA: I can't add the next diagram to this post as pressed POST too soon but his adult height is now at the 91st centile so he may make it back to his birth one.

DD was born on the 75th centile and by age 2 was between the 2nd and 9th I suspect they might have measured her wrong at birth. She was always so tiddly growing up that I got tired of the comments and took her to the doctor who found nothing wrong with her. She’s now 15 and bang on the 25th centile, I think she still has some growth to do. I was the same, v short as a child and did all my growing as a teenager. I would have been very surprised if she had tracked on her birth centile, I’m on the 50th and DH is on the 25th - so DD being on the 25th is much closer to the calculation on the red book PP mentioned.

What centile is his length? My elder one was a low centile for weight, but high for length... and still is as she approaches her teens!

Just re-read the OP and realised you’re talking about weight centile - so no, no relation to how tall he’s going to be!

Loveriver. She's 4ft 11 and an adult now. Everything has always petite with her features and hands and feet too

Mine was born (slightly early) on the 6th centile. By six months he was on the 91st and my HV kept telling me sternly that he'd 'crossed another line' as if I was giving him pureed Mars Bars instead of EBF. He towered over the others at toddler group, was just on the tall side of average throughout primary, but absolutely shot up at about 13-14. He's now 17, 6 ft 1, and absolutely towers over me and his dad.

I have an older child, he was a 33 week premmie, he's now 6 foot 2

You can't extrapolate to adult weight/height from baby weight. It's more accurate to look at mid parental centile- but remember siblings can be different heights!

For reference, I was an obese baby (actual description by doctors) and remained at over 95th percentile throughout babyhood and young toddlerhood.

Ever since my teens I've been a slim, average height woman. Just like my mum, sister, aunts etc.

So just look at the adults in the family

Hi all - apologies I should’ve added that the centile is purely based on his weight. They’ve never measured his length yet!

Parents are 6ft1 and 5ft7 if that helps?

I’m not sure why you think his weight as a newborn will have any bearing on his height as an adult?

No, it doesn't mean anything at all for individuals, though it might turn out that way "on average".

Plenty of anecdotes, but I know of one baby girl born at 5lb 6oz who is now 5' 11". My DD was born at 5lb 13oz and is tall and solid at 13 years old (and has size 8.5 feet ). Her twin brother was born bigger but is now very slim and on the shorter side for his year group.

As long as your baby is holding their centile or at least not dropping more than 2 lines, don't fret. The future will take care of itself.

But surely that's not 25th centile in length for an adult female ?