Stupid question about "percentile"

You know - when the dr. tells you what percentile your child is in regarding weight, height, etc....

So, Cailen's weight and height puts him in the 50th percentile... does this mean that he is smack dab in the middle? Or that 50% of 4 mt olds are his weight/height? His head size is in the 25th percentile... Ped says these are all in the normal range, but these all sound low to me... but, is that good, bad, indifferent? I don't get it....

Re: Stupid question about "percentile"

Message edited 11/10/2011 7:55:28 PM.

Re: Stupid question about "percentile"

Re: Stupid question about "percentile"

Don't worry about the exact percentiles. The main thing is that they stay in their own curve. Both of our DC were on the low side for weight, but Dr. wasn't concerned, since they were on the same percentile for a long time.

I also don't worry about percentiles, since I see how "accurate" the measurements are (it's a wriggling little baby, how accurate can you get?), and what the difference is between 25th and 75th percentile.

Re: Stupid question about "percentile"

That was really helpful! DS is consistently in the 50th percentile for all 3 categories and my DH is always saying that means he's small. No, just means he's growing at a constant rate and half the babies in the country are likely to be bigger and half smaller.

ETA yeah, wriggling babies don't make it easy for an accurate measurement! Supposedly, DS was 20" when he was born, but was 19.75 at he 1st ped visit and 19.5 at his 2 week visit? So I have the incredible shrinking baby? No, just a wriggler

Message edited 8/22/2007 8:18:23 AM.

Re: Stupid question about "percentile"

50th percentile means that 50% of the babies his age are the same size or smaller than your baby!! I am a math teacher - couldn't resist answering your question. So when you think of it, 50% is TOTALLY the norm :)