What should your child weigh? It's important to remember that a child's ideal weight is not merely a number on a chart, but the place where she feels self-confident, healthy, and strong. Your child's doctor can help you determine a weight range that is physically healthy for her age.

There are national averages — known as standardized growth charts — that help your pediatrician determine if your child's specific growth patterns are on track with that of other children of the same age. However, issues such as whether your child was bottle- or breastfed (and how long), born preterm or at was bottle- or breastfed (and how long), born preterm or at was considered very low birth weight (VLBW), and any history of chronic disease or medical problems can all have an impact on your child's growth patterns and how the standardized growth chart applies.

Don't get too focused on a single “magic number” for your child. A wide range of weights may be considered normal for a single age, and that range can change based on the factors already listed above. In some cases, particularly those in which weight increase suddenly outstrips height growth, with no apparent changes in activity level or diet, weight gain may be a simple matter of the body needing to play catch-up.