Body Mass Index (BMI) Charts

Regular checkups help the doctor monitor your child's growth charts rather than using a universal normal range for BMI as is done with adults. They also use separate charts for boys and girls to account for differences in growth rates and amounts of body fat as the two genders mature.

That information is recorded in your child's medical record, and over several visits, the pattern of measurements allows the doctor to track your child's growth.

BMI is particularly helpful for identifying children and adolescents who are at risk for becoming significantly weight too fast, talk to your child's doctor. A child can also have a high BMI because he or she has a large frame or a lot of muscle, not excess fat. By the same token, a person with a small frame may have a normal BMI but might have too much body fat.

Although BMI is not a direct or perfect measure of body fat, a child above the 95th percentile is considered overweight because 95% of the population has a BMI less than he or she does. A child whose BMI is at the 50th percentile is close to the average of the population. A child below the 5th percentile is considered underweight because 95% of the population has a higher BMI.

Also, it's important to look at the BMI numbers as a trend instead of focusing on individual numbers. Any one measurement, taken out of context, might give you the wrong impression of your child's growth. The real value of BMI measurements lies in viewing them as a pattern over time. That allows both doctor and parents to watch the child's growth and determine whether it's normal compared with that of other children the same age. BMI is an important additional tool that can be used as an indicator that your child is growing and developing in a healthy way.

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