CDC CHILDRENS BMI CALCULATOR HOW TO

“As is true for adults, BMI can be a useful tool to assess whether a child’s weight puts them at risk for health problems, but further analysis is often needed,” says Linda Anegawa, MD, a Honolulu-based double board-certified physician in internal medicine and obesity medicine and medical director with PlushCare, a virtual health platform.

“There are times when we’ll start an intervention before a kid gets to the 85th percentile because BMI is going up quickly,” he says. Regardless of your weight, everyone in the household can benefit from eating nutritious food and exercising. Ganjian doesn’t advise waiting for BMI to get into the trouble zone before you make healthy lifestyle changes. Record their weight as it appears on the scale to the nearest decimal point.Have your child take off shoes and any heavy clothing, and stand with both feet in the center of the scale.Use a digital scale that’s placed on hard, even flooring.Then use a measuring tape to measure from the bottom of the floor to the mark. Make a mark on the wall where the bottom of the flat surface touches the top of your child’s head.Using a flat surface, such as a ruler or a piece of cardboard, make a right angle on the wall and lower the item until it reaches the top of the child’s head.Your child’s body (head, shoulders, butt, and heels) should be flat against the wall.Their line of sight should be parallel with the floor. Make sure their legs are straight and their arms are at their sides with level shoulders.Stand them on a flat floor against a flat wall with no floor molding.Have your child take off shoes, hats, or hair accessories.You’ll need to take accurate height and weight measurements first, as the CDC notes. For example, the CDC's online BMI calculator allows you to plug in a child’s age, sex, height, and weight. To calculate your child’s BMI percentile on your own, Marisa Censani, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at New York-Presbyterian Komansky Children's Hospital in New York City, recommends using online resources, like apps and calculators.

CDC CHILDRENS BMI CALCULATOR HOW TO

How to Calculate Your Child’s BMI Percentile on Your Own The red portion is associated with childhood obesity. As a child gets older, weight, height, and amount of body fat change, so the best practice is to compare children with other children of the same age and sex, per the CDC.Ī chart from the CDC (linked above) compares a child’s BMI (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) with their age. Overweight children may face bullying and develop low self-esteem, anxiety, or depression.īMI for children is sometimes referred to as “BMI-for-age,” because age is one factor that’s considered. Your child’s weight can affect more than just their physical appearance, according to Mayo Clinic. Working with your child’s pediatrician to identify healthy-eating and exercise strategies can help reduce their risk for childhood obesity. People in low-income communities often lack safe places to exercise and have limited access to supermarkets, so they may be more likely to reach for unhealthy convenience foods like frozen meals, crackers, and cookies, per the Mayo Clinic. On the flip side, your socioeconomic status can affect your child’s risk of being overweight or obese, but is less controllable than other factors. But the more time children spend in front of screens, the less likely they are to get the exercise they need to burn off extra calories, per the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. That can be tough in this day and age, when tablets, laptops, and gaming systems abound. Your child also needs to get enough exercise to ward off excess weight gain. Ganjian says eating at a restaurant or having fast food more than once a week and not eating fruits and vegetables can put you and your family at a greater risk for obesity. While you may rely on convenient fast foods, baked goods, vending machine snacks, sweets, and sugary drinks to feed your child, it’s important to keep in mind that these eating choices can result in unhealthy weight gain, according to Mayo Clinic.ĭr.

Cdc childrens bmi calculator