From the moment that you hold your new baby in your arms, you may find yourself wondering how he will grow and develop over the years. You may want to know if he is growing at a healthy pace and whether or not he is developing normally. As your infant becomes a toddler who turns into a preschooler, a school-aged child, an adolescent, and finally a young adult, you may still wonder about how he is growing and maturing. One tool that can help you keep track of your child’s growth and development is his height and weight percentile.
Top 7 Reasons Why You Need to Track Your Baby’s Height and Weight
Every parent needs to check their child’s height and weight regularly. Doing so allows them to compare their child’s actual height and weight with their age’s desired height and weight. Below, we will discuss the importance of keeping a close eye on your child’s height and weight. However, please keep in mind that these are all relative. Some of my children were born “small” and were considered extremely underweight for quite some time. However, as they grew, they surpassed these benchmarks and are all healthy and thriving now!
1) Increases Chance of Proper & Timely Medical Treatment
Regularly tracking your child’s height and weight allows you to determine whether or not he is growing at the correct rate, which will enable you to see your doctor for any issues that may arise. Your doctor can provide advice on how to help him develop properly if his growth seems abnormally slow or fast. This also helps doctors diagnose any conditions that could be affecting his development. In addition, folks at www.heightcomparison.com advise on using a height comparison tool that can be used to keep track of the growth percentile. You can easily track your child’s height and compare it to the popularity percentile by entering his current height with the device.
2) Helps Identify Any Issues That May Arise During Development
Parents need to be aware that their child is growing at an appropriate pace for his age so they can seek medical attention when needed. By keeping track of your child’s height and weight, you may catch any potential issues with his development that could arise, such as a delay in walking. Hence, you may get him the needed medical treatment faster than if you hadn’t regularly tracked growth. Your doctor might even be able to prescribe some exercises that will help him develop properly and encourage healthy habits that he can use later on in life.
3) Prevents Shunted Growth
If your child is short as an infant, he may be diagnosed with a condition called “shunted growth.” It occurs when growth is restricted due to kids’ spinal fluid being forced into their heads and away from the lower body. Shunted growth is typically caused by congenital problems such as spina bifida and neurofibromatosis (a tumor disorder). However, shunted growth can also occur after medical treatment for conditions like tumors or hydrocephalus. Shunted growth can also be triggered by malnutrition during childhood development. If you’re concerned that your child might have this condition, take them to see a doctor immediately so that they can begin treatment before it becomes life-threatening.
4) Easily Identifies Some Diseases
It can be challenging to diagnose certain conditions when children are still small because their symptoms may overlap with other common childhood ailments. For example, if your child is overweight or underweight, it could lead to having high blood pressure or high cholesterol later in life. If you regularly track your child’s height and weight, you have the opportunity to see if there are any concerning deviations from his regular growth pattern. Once you spot a potential problem, take your child to see a doctor without delay so that they can get proper treatment before their condition worsens.
5) Helps You Track Development Later In Life
If you have always kept track of your child’s height and weight percentile throughout their development, you can easily track their growth as they get older. This is an excellent way to establish whether or not your child might have any health problem affecting their development – such as an underactive thyroid gland – and seek the appropriate medical treatment. In addition, this will also help parents spot any potential problems with puberty early enough to prevent them from becoming severe issues later on in life.
6) Helps Doctors Track Potential Pattern of Diseases
Every time your child visits the doctor, height and weight measurements detect any potential disease patterns in children. Measurements are often recorded in medical charts for further study. This makes it possible for doctors to discover what diseases or illnesses affect people at different ages, which helps them prevent future problems with the diagnosis since they will know what to look for when treating their patients.
Regular growth measurements can help doctors determine how aggressive a patient’s cancer is, for example, and if treatment is working to keep their condition under control or whether or not there are signs that their condition is worsening or improving.
Tracking your child’s height and weight regularly while still young can help your child get the medications and treatment they need to grow into a healthy adult.
7) Prepares Children for Puberty and Adulthood
Since most sexual maturity occurs as a result of puberty, it’s a good idea for parents to track their child’s growth from when they are small because it will help them know when this crucial developmental stage will take place. This way, children can get the appropriate treatment and counseling if puberty occurs too early or too late. When a child becomes an adult, he must learn to care for himself independently and to live a healthy life full of physical activity and dietary habits that promote growth and development. Keeping track of your son or daughter’s height and weight regularly goes a long way toward helping him get ready for adulthood so that he can enjoy all of his pleasures responsibly with minimal risk involved.
The importance of keeping track of your kid’s height and weight can be a lifesaver in many situations. It’s great for the early identification of potential health problems so that you can catch them before they become serious. Still, it also helps prepare children for adulthood to know how to care for themselves properly as adults. If you want to keep track of your son or daughter’s growth as they grow up, take regular measurements and talk with his doctor about any concerns you might have. This is one habit that will provide immense benefits over time, both now and well into the future.
