What does the word centile mean?
The term ‘centile’ is short for ‘percentile’. If a child’s height is on the 50th centile/percentile, it means that 50% of children at their exact age are shorter than them. They’re probably in the normal range. If a child is on the 6th centile/percentile, it means that 6% of children are smaller than them.
What is 25th centile?
25 centile means that out of 100 babies 25 will be smaller than yours and remaining 74 larger.
How do you read a centile?
The percentile number means that your child exceeds that percentage of children their age for that measurement.
- If your child is in the 75th percentile for height, they are taller than 75% of other kids their age.
- If they are in the 25th percentile for weight, they only exceed 25% of children their age in weight.
What does 10th centile mean?
The lines of growth on the graph are called centiles (or percentiles), and the number of a centile predicts the percentage of children who are below that measurement at a given age; for example, the 10th centile means that 10% of the age- and sex-matched population will be smaller and 90% will be bigger.
What is 40th centile?
If your 3-month-old daughter is in the 40th percentile for weight, that means 40 percent of 3-month-old girls weigh less than your baby, and 60 percent weigh more. The higher the percentile number, the bigger your baby is compared to other babies the same age.
What are centiles for children?
The lines on the growth chart are called centiles (or percentiles) and show the expected pattern of growth. The numbers refer to the percentage of babies at or lower than the line, for example, a baby whose weight is on the 50th centile means that 50% of babies the same age as her are the same weight or less.
What does a 50th centile weight mean?
A baby on the 50th percentile for weight, for example, is right in the middle of the normal range: 50% of babies their age are lighter, and 50% are heavier. A baby on the 5th percentile weighs less than 95% of other babies of that age.
What does faltering growth mean?
The term ‘faltering growth’ (previously called ‘failure to thrive’) is widely used to refer to a slower rate of weight gain in childhood than expected for age and sex.
Is 9th centile small?
If a parameter such as height is on the 9th centile, this means that for every 100 children of that age, 9 would be expected to be shorter and 91 taller. On the 25th centile, 25 would be shorter and 75 taller.
What does 80th percentile mean?
Imagine that the height of a group of people is the set of data to study. If a height of 1.75 m is at P80 (80th percentile), it means that 80% of the people in the group are 1.75 or less.
What is a good centile?
The centile line curves range from 0.4th centile to 99.6th centile which indicate the normal growth range. However this also means that there will be 4 babies in every 1000 who are less than the 0.4th centile and 4 babies in every 1000 who are greater than the 99.6th centile who are also considered normal.
How do baby centiles work?
The curved lines on the charts are called centile lines. These show the average weight and height gain for babies of different ages. Your baby’s weight and height may not follow a centile line exactly. Their measurements may go up or down by 1 centile line, but it’s less common for them to cross 2 centile lines.
What are normal centiles?
Do centiles matter?
Your baby’s measurements don’t need to fall exactly on the centile line. It’s normal for your baby’s measurements to move up and down, getting closer to one centile or another. However, if the measurements change by two centile lines, your health visitor may monitor your baby’s growth more closely.
What does 1st centile mean?
To illustrate how centiles work consider these examples: If a child is on the 50th centile, she is basically exactly average height for her age. If another child is on the 1st centile, he is shorter than 99% of children his age. If another child is on the 91st centile, she is taller than 91% of children her age.
What does it mean for a baby to be in the 90th percentile?
A baby on the 90th percentile weights more than 90% of other babies that age. Some babies will always be small and others will always be large. The important thing is that they are growing as expected for their percentile. The charts help you track this by showing normal growth curves (i.e. always increasing).