Self Help Health Tools:Child Health BMI Calculator

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Child Health BMI Calculator

 
 Calculate Child Health BMI!  For children and teens, BMI calculated based on age and sex and is often called BMI-for-age. The BMI is not used by itself when evaluating possible obesity in children and teens. Percentiles are the most commonly used indicator to assess the size and growth patterns of individual children.

 Instructions for this Child Health BMI Calculator

  No physical exertion is required for this Child Health BMI Calculator. You simply need to enter your Gender, Birth Date, Date of Measurements, Height, Weight, into the form below.
 
 You can use the BMI calculator below to find your child's BMI, but it's also important to have your doctor do regular BMI measurements. That way, you'll know the number is accurate and the doctor can discuss the results with you.
 

Tracking BMI

  Starting when your child is 2 years old, the doctor will determine BMI at routine checkups and plot this measurement on a chart against those of other kids the same age.

  Because what is normal changes with age, doctors must plot children's BMI measurements on standard growth charts rather than using a universal normal range for BMI as is done with adults. They also use separate charts for boys and girls to account for differences in growth rates and amounts of body fat as the two genders mature.

  That information is recorded in your child's medical record. Over several visits, the pattern of measurements allows the doctor to track your child's growth.

  BMI is particularly helpful for identifying kids and adolescents who are at risk for becoming significantly overweight as they get older. In older kids and teens, there is a strong connection between BMI and the amount of body fat. So those with high BMI readings — and, probably, high levels of fat — are most likely to have weight problems when they are older.

  By identifying these at-risk kids, doctors can monitor their body fat carefully and try to prevent adult obesity through changes in eating and exercise habits.

What the Figures Mean

  BMI percentiles show how kids' measurements compare with others the same gender and age. For example, if a child has a BMI in the 60th percentile, 60% of the kids of the same gender and age who were measured had a lower BMI.

  BMI is not perfect. For example, it's very common for kids to gain weight quickly — and see their BMI go up — during puberty. Your doctor can help you figure out whether this weight gain is a normal part of development or whether it's something to be concerned about.

  Kids also can have a high BMI if they have a large frame or a lot of muscle, not excess fat. And a kid with a small frame may have a normal BMI but too much body fat.

  Although BMI is not a direct or perfect measure of body fat, kids at or above the 95th percentile are considered obese, a term doctors use to indicate excess body fat, which increases the risk of weight-related health problems.

  Kids who measure at the 85th to 94th percentiles are considered overweight, because of excess body fat or high lean body mass. A child whose BMI is between the 5th percentile to 85th percentile is in the healthy weight range. A child with a BMI below the 5th percentile is considered underweight.

  Also, it's important to look at the BMI numbers as a trend instead of focusing on individual numbers. Any one measurement, taken out of context, can give you the wrong impression of your child's growth.

  The real value of BMI measurements lies in viewing them as a pattern over time. That allows both doctor and parents to watch a child's growth and determine whether it's normal compared with that of other kids the same age.

  While BMI is an important indicator of healthy growth and development, if you think your child may be gaining or losing weight too fast, talk to your doctor.

Body Mass Index for Children:

  For children and teens, BMI calculated based on age and sex and is often called BMI-for-age. After BMI is calculated for children and teens, the BMI number is plotted on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) BMI-for-age growth charts (for either girls or boys) to obtain a percentile ranking. The BMI is not used by itself when evaluating possible obesity in children and teens. Percentiles are the most commonly used indicator to assess the size and growth patterns of individual children in the United States. The percentile shows the relative position of the child’s BMI number among children of the same sex and age. The growth charts show the weight status categories used with children and teens (underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obese). BMI tables for adults are not accurate for children and teens.

  BMI-for-age weight status categories and the corresponding percentiles are shown in the following table.

  

Weight status category	Percentile range
Underweight	Less than the 5th percentile
Healthy weight	5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile
Overweight	85th to less than the 95th percentile
Obese	Equal to or greater than the 95th percentile

  Body Mass Index (BMI) is used as a screening tool to identify possible weight problems in children. BMI is calculated from a person's weight and height.

  This calculator can help to determine whether a child is at a healthy weight for his/her height, age and gender. The amounts of body fat, muscle, and bone change with age, and differ between boys and girls. This BMI-calculator automatically adjusts for differences in height, age and gender, making it is one of the best tools for evaluating a growing child's weight.

  Keep in mind that BMI is not a diagnostic tool. BMI and BMI-percentile-for-age do not directly measure body fat. Very athletic kids can have a high BMI-for-age due to extra muscle mass, not necessarily excess body fat. As a result, a child may have a high BMI for their age and gender, but to determine if excess fat is a problem, a health care provider would need to perform further tests. Therefore, it's important that children with a BMI-percentile-for-age over the 85th percentile be evaluated by a health professional.

  

BMI for Age - Weight Status Categories
A BMI Percentile of:	Suggests that a child is:
Less than the 5th percentile	Underweight
5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile	Healthy Weight
85th to less than the 95th percentile	Overweight
Equal to or greater than the 95th percentile	Obese

  The tools provided here are based on publicly available data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Individual results, when compared to other children, can be affected by many factors such as the parents' body sizes and the child's level of physical maturity. Thus, this software should not be used for medical diagnostic or treatment purposes. Additionally, the authors and their affiliated institutions are not liable for any damages to users or third parties arising from the use of this software.

 Edit date:Dec 1st 2018 at 14:30