Dear Magda, I think the growth charts are appropriate to use for one child
over time.  You get an overall picture of the "groove" the child  is in and
an upward trend in the same groove indicates appropriate growth for this
child.

My boys were all over 99 % during infancy and early toddlerhood.  By age
4-5 they were all more in the middle.  I've had little patients who settle
at 3% and stay there.  Some of them make a very gentle curve up  and
eventually even get onto the chart :-), but as long as their progress is
steady, they are developmentally on target it doesn't matter what
percentage line (in comparison to the whole population) they are on.

I struggle with this all the time as the techs who weigh the baby or the
people at WIC tell the mom her baby is under/over weight.  Then mom asks me
in panic if baby is OK.  I show her the chart and the steady progress and
explain her baby is just fine, following his/her own groove.

The chart also helps see a trend for a baby who is slowly  dropping into a
lower groove over a period of time.  If it is several grooves down,  this
is FTT and needs to  be investigated.  I have used this  to show a dad that
his anorexic wife isn't feeding their toddler appropriately and convinced
him that he has to take up the slack if mom can't/won't feed toddler.

Maybe Kathy D will comment, but I think I am using the charts
appropriately. Sincerely, Pat in SNJ

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