growth charts

littlebug · 11-04-2007 3:43pm #1

Can anyone direct me to Irish or UK child growth charts?

I weighed my two kids at the weekend and noticed that there's only a 3lb difference between my nearly 5 year old girl and 2 1/2 year old boy. So off I go to the good old internet to see what weight they should be, found an american thing where you input the childs height and weight, age, gender etc and I'm told that my daughter is below the 5th percentile and is seriously underweight! Huh? Do they make 'em big over there or something?

Thus wanting the Irish growth charts if they exist (before I start really worrying!).

Edited to say... I have googled but I just keep getting american charts.... just thought someone here might know offhand, I don't expect anyone to go searching!

ArthurDent · 11-04-2007 4:19pm

I've always just looked at american ones tbh. Also it's not that useful just to look at a childs growth at one point in time - it's much better to look at it over a significant period - every couple of months - growth isn't linear in children and nearly all grow in spurts. If yu are concerned go and talk with you gp. Good luck nbgb

Crea · 11-04-2007 4:35pm

Looking at the Irish health record book that I got from my PHN the average weight for a child between the age of 5-6 is 18-21kgs.
At the 25th percentile it's 17-19kgs
At the 9th percentile it's 15-17kgs.
If you are worried call into your public health nurse and she'll do a height and weight check for you.
Hope this helps.

littlebug · 11-04-2007 5:05pm

Man do I feel foolish now

I just re- checked their weight and it appears that I mis-read the scales. Instead of seeing 2 st 8 I read it as 28 lbs. I'm pretty sure I read it on Saturday night after their bath and I had been up since 4.30 am with the little one so my eyes and brain just were not working.

So instead of having a normal 2 year old and a very underweight 5 year old I've got a perfectly normal 5 year old and a fat little lump of a 2 year old.

Phew! Thanks anyway for your feedback folks.

Mental note to self: do not post on boards when sleep deprived.

ArthurDent · 11-04-2007 7:10pm

Don't worry we've all been there (sleep deprived) as parents. I remember being back at work about two weeks when DS2 was about 5 months old and teething up a storm and I had to take some clients out for dinner - was seriously tuned out 'cos I was so knackered when suddenly I noticed that all the conversation dried up at the table - I looked down to find I was absentmindedly cutting up my clients steak into nice tddler bite sizes (had a 2 year old too!) :eek: I have still not b een allowed forget this.