Growth & Weight Checks in Gurgaon

Usually not, and it is the most common thing parents ask us about. Height and weight rarely move at the same rate, and weight gain slows sharply in the second year while height carries on. What matters is the trend across several visits rather than one reading: weight that is simply tracking along a lower line is a different picture from weight that has crossed centile lines downward or stopped moving altogether. Bring any earlier measurements you have and we will plot them together.

Poor weight gain means a child is gaining more slowly than expected for their age. Faltering growth, still widely called failure to thrive, is the term used when that slow gain shows on the chart as weight crossing centile lines downward over time instead of tracking along its own line. It describes a pattern, not a cause. The reason can be as ordinary as one minor infection after another, or it can be something that needs a specialist opinion, which is why the first job is to establish the pattern and then decide who else, if anyone, your child needs to see.

How long is too long without weight gain depends on age. Under 6 months, come in after 2-3 weeks of no gain; between 6 and 12 months, after about a month; between 1 and 2 years, after about two months; over 2 years, after about three months. Come in at any age if your child's weight is below the 3rd centile, if they have crossed centile lines downward, if they have lost weight, or if their height is tracking well below what the family would predict. Outside those, growth is checked as part of routine well-baby and annual visits.

Short height on its own is often simply family height, and a child who is short but growing steadily along their own line usually needs nothing beyond continued measuring. What warrants a closer look is height that is slowing down: less than about 5 cm a year between age four and the start of puberty, height crossing centile lines downward, height well below what both parents' heights would predict, or a child who has stopped outgrowing clothes and shoes. Those patterns are worth an appointment, and we refer on to a paediatric endocrinologist when the chart calls for one.

Weight, and length or height taken the same way each time, plus head circumference for children under two and BMI from two years. Every reading is plotted on WHO growth standards up to five years and IAP charts after that, then read as a trend against your child's own earlier points rather than on its own. We also work out the height both parents' heights would predict, because that is what separates a child who is small for the family from a child who is small for a reason.

Frequency follows age. Newborns are weighed within the first week and again in the early weeks, infants are measured at each well-baby visit through the first year, toddlers roughly every three to six months, and school-age children once or twice a year. A child being watched for poor weight gain or slow height gain is seen more often, because the interval itself is part of the answer: two points close together tell you very little.

KinderCure plots WHO growth standards for children under 5 years and IAP (Indian Academy of Pediatrics) charts for children aged 5 to 18, which are built on Indian children's growth data. The WHO standards describe how healthy children grow in optimal conditions, so they are a standard to measure against rather than an average of the local population.

Yes, bring whatever exists, from any clinic or hospital. The immunisation card, a discharge summary, a school health record or a photo of an old chart on your phone are all usable. A growth chart is only as good as the number of points on it, and readings taken elsewhere are still valid points. If nothing survives, we start the chart at this visit and the second reading gives us a direction.