Dear all:
Having worked in both worlds, I really have to say that most of the errors I have seen made in estimated appropriate growth come from math errors using base 16.  Pounds and ounces doesn't make sense.  I cannot tell you how many times I have caught the math errors from a weight that slips over from one pound to the next when I have miscalculated or when other health care practitioners have miscalculated the weights.  I actually find it faster and easier to do the math on a piece of paper than the aps.  

The best of all is to just click your scale over to grams.  I really do not understand why any developed country is still using pounds and ounces which causes a great deal of confusion in the minds of parents and health care practitioners alike.  I cannot tell you how many times parents misinterpret the extra zero -- for instance for a baby that weighs 6 pounds 6.0 ounces (but looks like 6.06.0 as weighing 6 pounds 0.6 ounces instead of 6 pounds 6.0 ounces.  Then there are some pediatricians who appear to have scales that measure in tenths of pounds and give parents weights such as 6.5 pounds which some parents interpret as 6 pounds 5 ounces as opposed to 6 pounds 8 ounces.  

Unfortunately, since I work in the US I have to use the pounds and ounces so I have practically memorized how many ounces in 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and of course 10 pounds since I have multiplied all those numbers by 16 so many times.  

The decimal system rocks.  No need to order charts.  You can just see that a weight loss is over 10% without taxing your brain at all.  I always love it when a mom comes from a country where the decimal system is used and I can put it all in decimals for her (but then I feel I also have to do pounds and ounces for the pediatrician).

Best, Susan Burger

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