Health Tip: Measure Your Child’s Height and Weight Correctly

• Tweet
• Pin It

To correctly calculate your child’s body-mass index (BMI), you’ll need accurate height and weight measurements.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these guidelines:

• Remove shoes, hair accessories and any heavy clothing that could affect the measurement. Have the child stand on a flat, uncarpeted floor against a flat wall.
• Have the child stand against the wall while looking ahead with shoulders level, arms at sides, legs straight together and feet flat.
• The head, shoulders, buttocks and heels should touch the flat surface of the wall. Measure with a flat surface pressed securely against the crown of the head, making a right angle to the wall.
• With the measurer’s eyes level with the measuring piece, mark the wall, then use a tape measure to calculate height.
• Measure weight with a digital bathroom scale placed on a hard, flat surface with both feet placed in the center.

Source: HealthDay

Copyright © 2026 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

• Tweet
• Pin It