Is Your Baby S Size Normal

Is Your Baby’s Size Normal

All mothers watch their children’s development closely. We get worried if they’re too small, or too big, too short or too tall. But, just like adults, babies come in all shapes and sizes. When you take your baby to the pediatrician for her well baby checkups, they will rank your baby’s size. Here’s some idea of how it will work.

When your baby is weighed and measured, the pediatrician will tell you where your baby’s weight and length rank in terms of a “percentile”. This simply tells you how your baby compares to other babies of the same age. For example, if your baby’s weight falls into the 80th percentile, it means she weighs more than 80 percent of babies her age. Some people seem to think ranking in a high percentile is a good thing, because it means the baby is thriving. However, this is not necessarily the case. A baby in the 40th percentile might be thriving, but just destined to be a small person. For example, my daughter has consistently ranked in about the 50th percentile, and she is very healthy, and has plenty of meat on her bones. My husband and I are not very large people, and it seems that she has simply inherited our body size.

Your baby’s length will be ranked in exactly the same way, and can give you an idea of whether your baby will be tall, medium or average in height. If both you and your husband are short, don’t expect a baby to rank in the 90th percentile in height, though it can happen.

One thing you do need to look for is a major difference between the height and weight percentiles. They should be pretty close. If your baby is in the 40th percentile in height, and 90th in weight, you might be feeding her a bit too much. On the other hand, a baby in the 90th percentile in height that ranks in the 30th percentile in weight is probably a bit on the thin side. Your doctor will advise you if your child’s diet needs attention.

The most important thing you can do to monitor your child’s development is to attend those well baby visits with your pediatrician. Your doctor will be monitoring your baby’s progress, and in the event that any area needs attention, he will be able to alert you to the issues. This first year of development is critical, and it is good to keep tabs on the progress.

BONUS : Is Your Child Ready For Kindergarten?

It is that time of year again. If you child is already 5 or will be turning 5 on or before Oct. 1 (date depends on your state) then it is time to start thinking about registering your child for kindergarten. However this is also the time that many parents begin worrying about whether or not their child is ready for kindergarten.

First, it is important to note that entry to kindergarten is based primarily on age. In most U.S. states that simply means that if your child is or will be 5 years old on or before Oct. 1 (date may vary in some states) then your child must start kindergarten that school year.

The good news is that most primary programs are designed to take children with a variety of social, emotional, and academic needs and work with them based on their strengths.

However we also know that children who start kindergarten with a good grounding in six skill areas have a head start and a higher success rate than children lacking these basic skills.

The skills that ease transition into kindergarten and help lead to a successful kindergarten year fall into these basic areas: cognitive skills, listening and sequencing, language skills, fine motor skills, social emotional skills, and gross motor skills.

Cognitive skills that will help your child be better prepared for kindergarten include the usual suspects such as knowing the alphabet, primary colors, shapes and being able to count to ten.

You should also work with your child to make sure she knows her phone number, address, birthday, and age.

Some emergent literacy skills also include being able to identify his own name in writing, writing his own name, answering questions about a story, understanding that words are read from left to right, knowledge of some nursery rhymes, recognizing written numbers, and vocabulary.

Listening and sequencing are also important skills and this includes the ability to follow simple directions, paying attention, retelling a simple story in sequence, repeating a sequence of sounds, and repeating a sequence of numbers.

In addition to the emergent literacy skills connected with cognitive skills, there are also language skills connected to relationships such as big and little, short and tall, more and less, up and down, top and bottom, in and out, over and under, front and back, and slow and fast.

While we often associate school simply with cognitive skills, it is important that children also have fine and gross motor skills as well as social emotional skills.

Fine motor skills include being able to tie shoes, hold crayons with fingers, copy a straight line, copy a vertical line, copy a circle, hold and use scissors correctly, cut on a line, button buttons, work a simple puzzle (six pieces), and zip clothing.

Gross motor skills include hopping, jumping, walking a straight line, skipping, galloping, throwing a ball or bean bag, catching, clapping hands, and kicking a rolling ball.

Social emotional skills include sharing with others, getting along with others, maintaining self control, verbal self expression, and the ability to take care of toilet needs independently.

If your child has all these skills mastered then they are well on the road to success in kindergarten. Don't worry if your child has not yet achieved success with all these skills. You can continue to work on the skills right up until the start of school and certainly after school has started you can team with your child's teacher.