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Growth and measurement

Baby growth percentile calculator (WHO, birth to 5 years)

Enter one measurement and see where it falls on the WHO growth standards, with a chart and a plain explanation. Free, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Written by the Babymind editorial team · How we write our guides · Updated · 2 min read

Enter one measurement to see where it falls on the WHO growth standards, from birth to 5 years.

Measurement
Sex
Age

Calculated in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent or saved.

Born early? Doctors usually use corrected age until about 2 years: subtract the weeks born early and enter that age. Length is measured lying down under 2 years, height standing from 2 years. This is information and does not replace your doctor's assessment.

Enter your child's weight, length or head circumference, sex and age, and this calculator shows the percentile on the WHO Child Growth Standards, from birth to 5 years. It runs in your browser and saves nothing. A percentile compares your child with healthy children of the same age and sex. It is not a score.

How to read the result

If your baby is on the 25th percentile for weight, about 25 out of 100 healthy babies of the same age and sex weigh less and about 75 weigh more. A low or a high number is not bad in itself: healthy children sit all along the chart, and most fall between the 3rd and 97th percentiles.

What doctors look at is the line over time. A baby who stays close to the same percentile across several measurements is usually growing as expected, even if that line is low.

When to talk to your doctor

  • A value below the 3rd or above the 97th percentile, especially if it is new.
  • Weight that crosses two or more percentile lines downward and stays there across more than one weighing.
  • Weight falling away while length and head circumference carry on, or head circumference crossing lines quickly in either direction.
  • Any worry about feeding, wet diapers, energy or development, whatever the number says.

How this calculator works

It uses WHO's daily tables for boys and girls and the same method as WHO's own anthro software, including WHO's adjustment for very high and very low weights. We checked the results against the WHO percentile tables published by the CDC. The Babymind app uses the same tables.

It does not correct for prematurity and does not cover BMI or weight-for-length. Your clinic may use a different chart, for example the CDC chart after age 2, so its number can differ slightly from this one.

Keep your baby's line in one place

Babymind saves each weight, length and head circumference you enter and shows its WHO percentile, so you can follow the trend and bring it to the next appointment. It does not diagnose anything and does not replace a measurement taken in clinic.

Get Babymind

Read our guide to growth percentiles

Sources

Facts and figures in this guide were checked against the sources below. More on our process: How we write our guides.

  1. Child growth standards. World Health Organization
  2. Child growth standards: Weight-for-age. World Health Organization
  3. Child growth standards: Length/height-for-age. World Health Organization
  4. Child growth standards: Head circumference-for-age. World Health Organization

Frequently asked questions

What is a normal percentile for a baby?

There is no single normal percentile. Most healthy children fall between the 3rd and 97th, and a child on the 10th can be just as healthy as a child on the 90th. Doctors care more about whether your child keeps growing steadily along their own line.

Should I use the WHO or the CDC chart?

Use the one your clinic uses. Most countries use WHO-based charts from birth to two years, and in the US both the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend WHO charts under two, with CDC charts afterwards.

How accurate is a measurement taken at home?

Home scales and tape measures can differ from clinic equipment, and length is especially easy to mismeasure by a centimetre or two. That can move the percentile noticeably, so measure twice, use clinic readings when you have them, and do not act on one number alone.

Do you store what I enter?

No. The calculation runs in your browser, and the values you enter are not sent to us or saved.