Why children should not use the BMI calculator
The BMI calculator is meant for adults and not children. Healthcare professionals rather point to a percentile referring to how your child compares to other children of the same age and gender. This means that an 8-year-old with a 75th percentile BMI has a higher Body Mass Index than 75 out of 100 peers in the healthy weight range
BMI for children can be useful for assessing body fat, but may also be misleading as it does not factor in the amount of muscle. It is important from the very start to underline the fact that we do not recommend measuring the BMI for children, and that if you do have any worries you should contact a pediatrician
If you’ve read our post “Can BMI be misleading?” you already know that Body Mass Index or BMI is based on the weight and height of an individual and does not necessarily take into account the density of bones, amount of muscle mass versus fat, or overall body composition
As such, the BMI range is a good tool for adults to know if they are at risk of being obese in order to avoid lifestyle diseases, but for children… it is an entirely different matter
Thing is, the difference between children are so wast that providing them with a tool telling them what’s normal and not may very well do more harm than good
Sure, you should focus on healthy habits and staying active, but this can be accomplished through moderate portions, eating together as a family, staying away from sugary drinks, and implementing exercise or sports into your daily routine
Should be unnecessary to point out, but children are subject to massive peer pressure and if they are overweight they already know it… They DO NOT need a calculator verifying an unfortunate state, perhaps further enabling serious conditions such as bulimia or anorexia
Due to the above, BMIrange.com will not post a calculator on this site for calculating the BMI for children and adolescents, but we will, however; post a link to an external resource later in this post for those who wish to pursue the matter
Why even post a link? -Because there are plenty of calculators with the wrong multipliers, and we want to make sure that you have access to the appropriate tool from the appropriate authority
The standard BMI calculator is not meant for children
In fact, the BMI calculator is meant for adults and not children – even expressed by the inventor of the BMI index, Adolphe Quetelet
Because of this, you will almost never hear a doctor or healthcare professional mentioning a specific value when they discuss the BMI of children, rather; they will point to a percentile. The percentile they are talking about refers to how your child compares to other children of the same age and gender
This means that an 8-year-old with a 75th percentile BMI has a higher Body Mass Index than 75 out of 100 peers that are in the healthy weight range
Healthcare professionals then sort the data as follows:
Underweight
Under the fifth percentile
Healthy/normal
From the fifth percentile to the 85th percentile
Overweight
From the 85th percentile to the 95th
Obese
Over the 95th percentile
Now, there are calculators available for determining the BMI score of children, and the most accurate we’ve found is available via Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
However, they do point to the calculator not being meant as a source of clinical guidance and that it is NOT meant to substitute medical advice as it is based on weight and height and is purely meant as a tool for assessing body fatness
