Height check
Is my child
growing well?
Enter a date of birth and a height. This plots it on the growth chart a paediatric endocrinologist would use, and tells you plainly whether it sits in the expected range.
Worked out on your own device. The date of birth and the height are never sent anywhere, and nothing is saved.
Three things that change the answer.
A growth chart is only as good as the measurement you put into it. These are the mistakes that most often send a healthy child to clinic, or keep an unwell one at home.
- 01
Measure properly
Under 2, measure lying down: that is what the chart expects, and standing a toddler up reads about 0.7 cm short. From 2, measure standing, heels and back against a wall, shoes off, heels together, looking straight ahead.
- 02
Use the real dates
Enter the date of birth rather than an age in years. A child's centile moves fast in the first two years, and rounding to the nearest birthday can shift the answer noticeably.
- 03
Read it as a prompt, not a verdict
One height is a single dot. What a paediatric endocrinologist actually reads is the line those dots make over years, so keep the old records and measure again in six months.
The same question, in Bengali.
A number on a chart is a starting point, not an explanation. This podcast is the conversation that usually follows it: why a child's height stalls, what is worth checking, and when it is time to see someone.
উচ্চতা বাড়া থেমে গেলে পিছনে কী কারণ থাকতে পারে, আর কখন ডাক্তার দেখানো দরকার — সহজ বাংলায়।
What this does, and what it cannot.
- Which growth charts does this use?
- Two, because no single chart covers all of childhood in India. From birth to 5 years it uses the WHO Child Growth Standards (2006), the international standard built from children raised in optimal conditions, including an Indian cohort. From 5 to 18 years it uses the IAP 2015 growth charts (Khadilkar et al, Indian Pediatrics 2015;52:47-55), the reference Indian paediatricians plot on. The tool tells you which one it used.
- What does the centile actually mean?
- If a child is on the 25th centile, then out of 100 children of the same age and sex, about 25 would be shorter and 75 taller. It is a position, not a score. Healthy children occupy the whole range, and a child on the 9th centile who has always been on the 9th centile is usually growing perfectly well.
- When is a height low enough to need review?
- The conventional cut-off is below the 3rd centile, which is 2 standard deviations under the median. Below the 0.1st centile (3 standard deviations) is further out again and worth reviewing without waiting. But the single most important signal is not the number at all: it is a child crossing downwards through the centile lines over time, and that needs previous measurements to see.
- Should I use this instead of seeing a doctor?
- No. This checks one measurement against a reference. It cannot examine your child, look at the growth trajectory, assess puberty, or order the tests that separate a normal short child from one with a treatable condition. Use it to decide whether to raise the subject, and take the number with you when you do.
- Is my child's information stored?
- No. Everything is calculated in your own browser. The date of birth, the height and the parents' heights are never sent to this website or anywhere else, and nothing is saved when you close the page.
In an emergency
This website is for information, not diagnosis. If your child is drowsy, breathing rapidly, vomiting persistently, having a seizure or has a blood sugar you cannot correct, go to the nearest emergency department now.