It's important to look at the BMI as a trend instead of focusing on individual numbers. Any one measurement, taken out of context, can give you the wrong impression of your child's growth. If you're concerned that your child may be gaining or losing weight too fast, talk to your doctor. Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. We know that children are constantly growing, and do so at different rates. In addition, male and female children have differences in body fat distribution, within a range of normal body shapes and sizes.
Instead of just using the calculated BMI number as we do with adults, BMI percentiles consider children's growth and development to figure out if they are within their healthy weight range. Your pediatrician will measure your child's height and weight with their shoes and heavy clothes off, and then calculate BMI with this formula:. Multiply their height in inches by itself.
Pediatricians plot this number on a standardized growth chart for a visual comparison, and to help track growth trends over time. The best way to know your child's BMI is to have your child's pediatrician measure and discuss the results with you.
Your pediatrician can advise you on ways to strategies that focus on developing and supporting healthy habits at home. The terms underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obese can be another source of confusion for many parents.
For pediatricians, these are useful categories that can show whether a child is gaining weight too quickly or not quickly enough. To find out which category a child is in, pediatricians will use both the BMI number and its corresponding percentile.
The BMI percentile-ranges and weight status categories:. Ideally, children should fall in the target ranges between the 5th and 85th percentiles. Children below 5th percentile could have a nutritional shortfall—either not taking in enough calories or burning up more calories than they are getting, or both.
Likewise, children above the 85th percentile are likely, but not always, getting too many calories in their diet, not burning up enough calories through physical activity , or both.
Although less common, some medical conditions can cause children to gain or lose weight more easily. Obesity is a serious health concern that can put children at risk for complications that can affect their health in the short- and long-term.
We also know that children with obesity tend to be more likely to have obesity later in life as adults. However, it is never too late to make healthy and positive changes for your family! What's next? Healthy weight—It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle! About BMI for children and teens.
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Previous Section: What do the results mean? Top of the page Next Section: References. Previous Section: What's next? Top of the page Next Section: Credits. They may be able to refer you to your local healthy lifestyle programme for children, young people and families. Find out more in underweight children aged 6 to 12 and very overweight children. Get tips on how to encourage your child to be more active and eat well.
Your BMI can tell you if you're carrying too much weight, but it cannot tell if you're carrying too much fat. Pregnancy will also affect a woman's BMI result. Your BMI will go up as your weight increases. You should use your pre-pregnancy weight when calculating your BMI.
Apart from these limitations, the BMI is a relatively straightforward and convenient way of assessing someone's weight. If you have an eating disorder , the BMI calculator results do not apply. Please get further advice from a GP.
You can use your BMI result as a starting point for further discussion with a GP about your weight and general health.
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