Re: What is Weight for Height

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

Weight for height is a way to measure 'skinniness'. So, if you are

tall, you would need to weigh more to keep from being underweight.

If you are quite short, you can weigh less and still not be 'skinny',

even though you might be quite a bit under the ideal weight for your

age.

Conny, 's great-aunt

> My daughter is 4 1/2 years old and she has only been

diagnosed

> with RSS in the last 9 months. I am keeping my fingers crossed to

get

> an appointment with Dr. H in the near future to learn more.

However,

> I am reading different messages posted and have come across a lot of

> people talking about weight for height. I don't understand what

that

> means, if someone could explain that. I have a growth chart from

the

> magic foundation which has the curve for non-rss kids and a curve

for

> rss kids. Is there something else I'm missing?

>

>

> ( 4 1/2 rss and Kelli 2 non-rss)

[Guest guest]

,

Weight for height is an indicator of the child's weight in relation

to his/her height. For example, an RSS baby could be 23 " long and

weigh 10 pounds. That would put him in a very low weight for height

percentile, probably in the 10% or lower. (I don't have a chart in

front of me.) That is not good. It means the child is underweight

for the size.

To determine the percentage, just mark the height of the child on

the weight for height graph and then the weight. Where the two

lines intersect is the %ile of w/h.

I hope this makes sense.

Jodi Z.