Tracking your child’s growth is easy and lets you keep an historical record of key growth measurements – height, weight, and possibly head circumference. Knowing these measurements and the dates of measurement can help you determine your child’s growth percentiles, their body mass index, or just track their growth over time.

Your child’s doctor will periodically take these measurements to make sure your child’s growth is on track. But, you can follow these guidelines for taking measurements at home.

To Measure Your Child’s Height

1. 

   Checking height of a two and half year old boy.

   Remove your child’s shoes, bulky clothing, and any hair ornaments, hats, or braids that might interfere with the measurement.

2. Have your child stand on an uncarpeted floor with feet flat, together, and against a flat wall. Make sure they have they hold their legs straight, arms at sides, and shoulders level.
3. Ask your child to stand with head, shoulders, buttocks, and heels touching the wall. Don’t worry if your child’s body shape prevents some of these points from touching the wall – just get them as close as you can.
4. With your child looking straight ahead, rest a book, or other flat item, firmly on the crown of their head so it forms a right angle with the wall.
5. Make sure your eyes are at the same level as the book, and then lightly mark where the bottom of the book meets the wall.
6. Use a metal tape measure to measure from the base of the floor to the mark on the wall to get the height measurement.
7. Round to the nearest ¼ inch or 0.25 cm.

To Measure Your Child’s Weight

1. Place your bathroom scale on a hard surface, such as tile or wood, rather than carpet. It is best to use a digital scale if you have one.
2. Have your child remove their shoes and any heavy clothing. Underwear only is most acurate.
3. Ask your child to stand with both feet in the center of the scale and wait for their weight to register on the scale.
4. Round to the nearest ¼ pound or 0.25 kilogram.

Special Instructions for Measuring Babies and Toddlers

• Length: To measure the length of a baby under 2 years old, lay your baby down on a flat surface and stretch the measuring tape from their head to their toes. Round to the nearest ¼ inch or 0.25 cm.
• Weight: The easiest way to weigh your baby is to first weigh yourself on a digital scale while holding your baby in your arms; write down this weight. Then, weigh yourself again, this time alone. Subtract your alone weight from the combined weight of you and your baby. The result is how much your baby weighs. Enter the measurement into the Growth Percentile Calculator, rounding to the nearest ¼ pound or 0.25 kilogram.
• Head Circumference: To measure head circumference, first remove any hair ornaments or braids that might interfere with a head the measurement. Then wrap a soft measuring tape around the largest circumference of your baby’s head, typically so the tape rests just above your baby’s eyebrows and the top of their ears. Round to the nearest ¼ inch or 0.25 cm.