Growth Charts

Tiger Lily is very petite.

Despite nursing around the clock her first few months, she never seemed to grow all that quickly. She finally put on a delightful chub, but her height/length ticks along at a snail's pace.

According to the charts, she's in the 4th percentile,

But I tucked my manners away for a second and said, "Fuck those charts."

The charts don't measure how she's hit every milestone ahead of schedule despite being sorta diminutive.

The charts don't measure how she eschews typical snacks but devours mango and avocado with big girl gusto.

The charts don't measure how she manages to keep up with her brother and sister despite her small stature.

Hell, the charts never revealed anything, except that 96% of the kids her age in Georgia were growing faster than she.

Before she got a medical all-clear, I was concerned about those charts, y'all. I used to bug our pediatrician because I was terrified they would want her on formula (I am against formula for my babies because I make plenty of milk!), or that they would insist she needed medications or interventions with no guarantee she would ever grow to their prescribed rate.

She probably won't grow as fast as we would like.

We also won't be terrorizing ourselves with those damn charts.

Note: As long as a child is thriving and meeting the milestones in their pace, the charts are merely a tool to compare their growth in relation to the growth of other children in their age range and/or local demographic. They're not iron clad. They also don't take into account breastfed babies, who actually tend to be leaner than their formula fed counterparts.