Do you want to know if your little one is growing well? Are you scared of stepping out due to COVID?
Even 8 years back, when there was no pandemic, I was paranoid about taking my first-born to the hospital just for a weight & height check. Hence, I can easily understand your pains & worries.
Well, you can simply follow their growth at home, using these growth charts. These are standard growth charts for Indian Children created by the Indian Academy of Pediatrics.
How to use the growth charts
There are separate charts for boys & girls. You can download & print images from this link
Put them in a folder. Whenever you take your child’s weight or height, put a mark on the chart at that point against her age. For example, if your daughter is 5 years old, you will use the pink chart. Lets assume that her weight is 17kilos & her height is 107cm, you will mark it on the growth chart as I have marked with the circle here.
Any value between 10th to 90th centile for that particular age is normal for the child. If you have any difficulty in interpreting your child’s growth, you can reach out to me through book now
How frequently to monitor
In first two years, weight should be checked every month & height every 6months. Once the baby crosses two years, you can monitor weight 3monthly while continuing to check height 6 monthly.
When to consult your doctor
If at any point, weight or height is falling below the previous line (check this), you need to consult your Pediatrician who will look for the cause of growth failure in your baby.
How to measure weight & height
Now comes the hundred dollar question! We have to visit the doctor to measure weight and height too. Its scary in the pandemic times as the weighing scale & height chart would have been touched by so many workers & other children. You don’t know which one of them was suffering from boils, COVID or something else.
Don’t worry, here is the solution to that also. You can buy a weighing scale. Once the baby is 6months old, she can be made to sit on the scale to take her weight accurately. Older kids can of course stand on it & check. Kids enjoy this activity at home , while many of them create a fuss in the doctor’s clinic.
I purchased Sansui electronic weighing scale from Amazon some 5years ago & its doing a good job for me.
Likewise, you can paste a height chart on a wall in your kiddos’ room. These charts are really attractive & add to the wall decor. To measure height, make him stand barefoot against the chart, look straight while you mark the height. If you don’t want to spend on a height chart, a simple measuring tape can also do the job. There is a good option available on Amazon. Check this out.
For me, I got a free height chart with one of my flintobox subscriptions & it decorated my kids’ wall for good 3years. Unfortunately, my younger one peeled it off. Otherwise, I would have shared a pic with you for reference. However, you can’t be sure which of the Flintobox will have the height Chart , so better go for a wall sticker.
Dear parents, this is how you can track your kids’ growth at home. If you have any concerns regarding the growth of your little one, you can surely reach out to me through my app
Join my Facebook community for parents for daily updates.
Keep growing, keep smiling!
Disclaimer. This post contains Affiliate links. If you buy products using these links, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This small earning will help me to maintain this blog , providing you quality content free of cost. I assure you that I have recommended only those brands which I have myself used during my parenting journey.