subject: Its Easy To Calculate Your Childs Bmi [print this page] Not sure what the weighing scale is telling about your child? Not sure if your child is overweight, underweight or at optimum weight? Then, you should calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI), which will weigh your kids height against his weight and will give you a clue of whether your child is obese, too thin or at finest weight.
Also called as Quetelet index, it is important to know about the percentage of extra weight of your child, judging his height and weight. If you have decided to calculate bmi of your child, then you should know the right ways to do so. Though it may look similar, but the fact is that the computation of BMI for adults somehow differs from calculation of BMI for children. You should estimate the BMI percentile for children and teenagers aged between 2 and 20 years. It has been established that BMI percentile calculation helps the parents to identify the problems of underweight or overweight. All you have to do is follow some simple steps and get your childs actual BMI.
Know your childs height: To compute actual BMI, it is vital that you determine the height of your child. There are two ways in which you can measure the height. You can put one end of the tape to the feet and stretch it out to the top of the head. The other way is that you can lean your child alongside a wall and mark the place the head touches the wall. Then, gauge the distance from the floor to the mark. Record the figures carefully.
Calculate bmi according to the formula: Once you get your childs exact height and weight, use the correct formula to get his bmi. There are different formulas for pounds and kilos. Thus, it is important that you calculate accordingly. In case you use pounds for measurement of your childs weight and inches for your childs height, then you should multiply the weight with 703 and divide it by height squared. To determine the weight in kilos, divide pounds by 2.2, as for the height, you should multiply inches by .0254.
Look at the table for calculating BMI for children, taking into account his sex and age. Once all the above-mentioned steps are done, you should find BMI percentile according to the rules. If the child is underweight, then BMI will be below 5th percentile; If the child has optimum weight, then, the BMI will be between 5th percentile and 85th percentile; If the child is at the danger of being overweight, BMI will be in the interval from 85th to 95th percentile; If the child is obese, his BMI will be from 95th percentile and higher.
The fact is that this entire process will not take more than ten minutes and you should on regular basis calculate bmi of your child, so as to ensure that he is fit and healthy.
