I take Goldie for her well checks, they measure her and plot it on her chart. I write the number down and plot it on my charts for her at home. Sounds simple enough. Apparently not.
Last September (18 mos) Goldie measured 32" (81cm). In March at her 2 yr appt she still measured 32". The ped noted that they must have measured wrong at the 18 mo appt because she jumped up on the curve and was now back where she should be. As spring turned to summer and we had a lot of appointments lined up for Goldie there were many more measurements taken. Always 32". Just for kicks, I measured her myself one day. Lying down, like at her 18 mo appt. I got 34 1/2" (87.5cm).
Mel commented on my last post that maybe Goldie was having a growth spurt. When she felt heavier the other morning and her pj's looked shorter I measured her again. I laid her on the hard floor with her head against the wall. I got 35 1/2" or 90cm. I waited a couple days and measured once more. Still 35 1/2".
We were having trouble getting Goldie's last blood work results from the lab, so I had a call in the ped. I asked about measuring growth when I spoke with her. I thought maybe Goldie's low tone made her shorter when she stood up. She explained that your joints compress when you stand up and they have had children "shrink" when they began measuring them standing up. Glad I asked! I gave her the measurement I had for Goldie and she wrote it in her chart.
Speaking of charts, what do you use? We use the DS charts and the WHO charts. WHO charts are based on the growth patterns of breastfed children. The reasoning for not just using the DS charts are that if they are based on children who may have less than optimal growth for any variety of reasons then they may not show a slow in growth as obviously as the WHO charts. If we want Goldie to grow as typically as possible then we need to compare her growth to a larger population of children. I forget where I first read about this theory, but it made sense to me.
5 comments:
We just use the DS charts, but I didn't even know these WHO charts existed. Thanks for the info. It makes a lot of sense to me.
We chart on both also, well not a WHO chart (Adam unfortunately was not breastfed) but a boy stature and weight chart along with the DS chart. I think I'll measure him laying down though :) thanks for sharing!
We use the ds charts and other standardized growth charts. I am not sure what the second ones are called. I like the ds charst because Wysdom is at the 50th%, while on the other ones he's at the 5%. We get both each time and then the plot a growth curve. Interesting thing about the standing and laying down.
Despite many efforts to change, my pediatrician insists on using a regular chart for Micah. I used both at home for a while (back when I was keeping track of measurements). I guess as long as the doctor's office is consistent in what they use it's all OK.
I use the DS chart for Sean, the ped's office switched to the typical chart when he turned 4 because they didn't get around to printing the DS chart for older kids. I never knew that about standing vs laying measurements!
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