Is my 18 month old short?

Question

My son is 19 months now but when I took him to his 18 month old check up he weight 24 lb 15 oz and he is 34 1/4 inchs. People that see him say he is short but the doctors said he is tall and skinny. He falls in the 90 to 95 percentile for his height and 40 for his weight. Can someone please explain this percentile thing too me. If he is in the 90's does that mean he is average or above average

Answer 1

If your son is in the 90 to 95 percentile in height, no, he's not short. He would be skinny, and sometimes that can lead people to think he's "small", imagining he's actually shorter than he is.

The "percentile" thing is basically if you take all the kids his age out there and chart their height, your son would be taller than around 90 percent of the kids charted. When talking about weight, your son would be just below halfway up, heavier than about 40 percent of the kids charted, but lighter than about 50-60 percent.

The fact that your son is really high on height, but only about 40 percent up on weight, indicates that he is a tall, relatively skinny kid.

If his measurements were 90th percentile in weight, but only 40th percentil in height, he would be a pretty short, chubby kid.

If the height and weight percentiles are close (like he's in the 80th percentile in height, and the 75th percentile in weight), he would have a pretty well proportioned body, that is neither "skinny" nor "chubby", but he would be bigger as a whole than around 75 to 80 percent of the kids his age.

Answer 2

If your son is in the 90-95 percentile for height then that means he is taller than 90-95 percent of all 18 month olds. He may seem short to you but if the doc says he is tall then he is tall for his age.

Answer 3

greater than 50th percentile (90th, in your case) = above average.

50th percentile = average

less than 50th percentile = below average

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When you look at the standard growth charts, you will see seven curves that follow the same pattern. Each curve represents a different percentile: 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th. The 50th percentile line represents the average for a particular age group. Your child's measurements will be plotted on the charts, so that the doctor can see how your child's measurements compare to the average for his or her age group. This helps the doctor determine whether your child is growing as expected.

To better understand how to interpret those readings, consider these examples. If the measurement for an infant's head circumference is in the 90th percentile, that means that the child's head measurement is greater than about 90% of children that age in the country. Only 10% of infants that age have head measurements that exceed those of your child.

Answer 4

Listen to the doctor!

My daughter is 33 1/2" at 19 months, and falls into the 85th percentile for her height. Her weight - the 20th percentile. She is "tall and skinny", like her daddy (thank God. . .).

Your son is above average - the percentile means that 5 to 10 percent of the kids at his age measure this height. My doctor told me to stop worrying about the growth - as long as she is doing some growing, there is no need to worry. Of course, my obsession with my daughter is her weight. She tends to eat very little, which of course concerns me. My doctor told me she will eat what she needs, and as long as she is growing at each appointment, then she is fine.

Answer 5

I always got confused by percentiles too. I believe, if I'm correct, that he would be above average for his age. He is taller than 90-95% of most kids his age. Let's put it another way. My daughter is 2 1/2 yrs., and is 33 inches tall. She is somewhere around 10th percentile for her age, which means she is quite shorter than most kids her same age. (She takes after me, no surprise.) I think your doctor is accurate, he is tall and skinny for his age.

Answer 6

My daughter is 19 months to and weighs the same as your son she is 36 1/2 Inches Tall She is way above avarge your son is right on the money with height and under avarge on weight docs would like to see 19 months old at 30 to 35 pounds but again they are active Kids they lose weight Don't worrie honey he is normal I swear

Answer 7

The percentiles mean he is taller than 90% of other children his sex and his age. So, that would make him tall. The same for weight..if he is in the 60% for weight he is heavier than 60% of other children his sex and his age. What you really need to be concerned about is YOUR childs growth. Is it steadily rising? Are the weight and height within the same range? That's all you really need to look at. Good Luck!!!

Answer 8

90-95th percentile for height is well above average. Average is 50%. Sounds like your son is tall and slim!

Answer 9

If he's in the 90% then out of 100 kids his age he is taller than 90 of them, so he is taller than average. But out of 100 kids his age he is only heavier than 40 of them so on that scale he is smaller than average. They just think he is short because he isn't heavy so I guess he looks small. My daughter was in the 5% for weight and the 75% for height and people always told me she was tall.

Answer 10

90s means that only 10% of kids are taller or bigger than him. My son just turned 1 and is 22 pounds and 31 inches tall. To me it sounds like he's right on track.