Baby Weight and Length Record

Who this is for

Your own copy of the measurements somebody else took. Each row holds the date, the weight as it was read out, the length and head measurement if they were taken, where it happened and who did it. The only arithmetic is the difference between one weight and the one before it.

Parents who want the figures in their own hands as well as in a red book or a clinic system, families moving practice or moving country, and anyone who has been asked what the last weight was and had to guess.

What this helps you track

• Every measurement with its date, copied as it was read out
• Length and head measurement where they were taken, and blank where they were not
• Where the measurement happened and who took it
• The change in weight since the entry before it, by subtraction
• What you were told at the time, written down in the words it was said

How to use it

1. Fill in the child's details and the units at the top, so every figure below means the same thing.
2. Write each measurement down on the day, copying the number exactly as it was read out to you rather than rounding it.
3. Say where it was done and who did it — clinic, health visitor, GP, hospital, at home — because scales and people differ.
4. Leave the length and head columns empty when they were not measured; a blank is honest and a guess is not.
5. Use the last column for what you were told at the appointment, in their words, not your summary of it.
6. The change column subtracts the previous weight from this one and does nothing else with it.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Does this sheet have a growth chart or centiles on it?

No. There is no chart, no centile, no expected gain and no range of any kind. It records the measurements you were given. Reading them is a job for the health visitor or doctor who took them.

What does the change column mean?

It is this weight minus the previous one on the sheet. It is subtraction and nothing more — it does not say whether a change is large, small, expected or otherwise, because the sheet has no view on that.

Which units should I use?

Whichever you were given. Put them in the units field at the top and stay with them, so the subtraction is comparing like with like. Mixing units in one column is the one way to make this sheet useless.

Should I weigh at home between appointments?

That is a question for your health visitor, not for us. If you do record home figures, say so in the where and by columns so nobody later mistakes them for clinic measurements.

Does this replace the book the clinic writes in?

No. Their record stays theirs. This is the copy you keep, which is handy when you have left the book at home, moved area, or want the run of dates in one place.