Girl’s stature is no worry to parents

She’s not measuring up to her peers.

We’re not too concerned about it, either.

There are many milestones in the growth progression of an infant. The key standouts are the simple things like lifting one’s head, rolling over, walking, talking, etc.

While Baby Schanz isn’t articulating actual words yet, she certainly is verbally communicating, and she’s getting better and better with each passing day.

Some of the growth metrics that are lagging behind, however, are the most noticeable.

Her height and weight.

During her 6-month checkup in October, she weighed in at 15 pounds, 12.5 ounces, and measured 25.6 inches in height. Those landed her in the 29th and 15th percentile, respectively, amongst her peers.

At her 1-year checkup, she added nearly five pounds (which put her in the 60th percentile) and she grew a little less than 2 inches. Her height, or lack thereof, dropped her down to the second percentile, meaning she’s shorter than 98% of children her age.

And earlier this month for her 15-month checkup, she was 23.2 pounds (74th percentile) and 28.35 inches tall (1st percentile). She’s also above the 99th percentile for body mass index (BMI), although it’s not typically used as a growth metric for infants.

Her weight is growing faster than her height.

And we’re getting a kick out of it.

We don’t put much value into her height and weight numbers at this point, though, because they don’t always dictate how tall or short someone may be as an adult.

Case in point: I have a brother who is 6-feet, 6-inches tall. I’m 9 inches shorter than him.

Yet I was a “longer” baby.

Because I’m an older parent, I don’t have many friends with children who are close in age to my daughter. One of my coworkers, Austin, had his second daughter a month after mine was born, so I at least have someone I can talk to about what we’re experiencing raising a child.

His daughter, Penny, is growing much faster than mine.

Despite being just a month younger than Baby Schanz, Penny is more than 3 pounds heavier, and almost 4 inches taller. She’s also had greater measurements every step of the way so far, too.

But again, we’re not too concerned about it.

I mentioned before that I’m not exceptionally tall. A quick Google search yields that the average height for men in the United States is 5 feet, 9 inches. I’m a little below average.

My wife Chrissy, is barely 5 feet tall and more than 3 inches shorter than the average American woman, according to another quick Google search.

Needless to say, we’re not tall people.

Austin, though, is about 6 feet, 1 inch. His wife is close in height too. And as he put it, “We make big babies.”

(He has a 4-year-old girl, too.)

We know Baby Schanz is small. There’s a good chance she’s not much taller than either one of us when she’s an adult. Or, she gets lucky and will eventually surpass us.

With each measurement during her checkups, we get laughs, not worries.

Because her height may be lacking right now, that’s just about the only thing she’s behind on so far.

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Chris Schanz is a former CR Sports Editor. He may be reached at [email protected].