Healthy weight and growth for children.

What is a healthy weight?

It is not always easy to tell if a child is a healthy weight for their age
and height.

Children and teenagers need to grow, but they are healthiest if they stay
within a certain weight range as they grow. This is called a healthy weight
for their age.

How can a growth assessment help?

Growth assessments help health professionals see if your child is growing as expected, or if there are any potential growth problems. Growth charts help us look at your child’s growth in relation to the average growth of children their age.

All of our Child & Family Health teams perform growth assessments as a routine part of care. For example, if your child comes to see one of our speech therapists, their height and weight will be measured and assessed.

The growth assessment results will be recorded in your child’s Blue Book (My Personal Health Record) and discussed briefly with you if needed. This helps us to see how your child's height and weight are tracking over time.

You can find out if your child is a healthy weight for their age using the healthy weight calculator.

If you are concerned about your child’s growth, please speak to your health professional or GP.

Programs & resources

On the Western Sydney Healthy Kids website, you will find child friendly recipes, ideas for physical activity and practical ways to improve nutrition, as well as specific factsheets for families and children that are translated into Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Persian, Hindi and Tamil.

8 Healthy Habits

There are eight simple steps you can take to help your child lead a healthy lifestyle. These vary depending on the age of your child. Find your child's recommended 8 age appropriate healthy habits here.

Designed for NSW children aged between 7 and 13 years who are above a healthy weight, Go4Fun is a fun way to learn more about healthier living.