I have found a wonderful resource for families: a free BMI calculator (
https://mygrowthcharts.com). A family account saves data, tracks growth online, uses standard World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) growth charts. This account also includes specialty charts including infant growth charts,
Down Syndrome,
Turner Syndrome,
Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy,
Diastrophic Dysplasia. And charts can be shared with treatment
team professionals.
I had to search high and wide to find a workable BMI calculator that would let me track my patients’ progress. I finally found MEDDA, a Wisconsin-based company, which develops software for healthcare professionals, In 2011, MEDDA developed "My Growth Charts," a free tool for patients and families and $175/year for healthcare professionals. It program is easy to use (professionals get to trial it for 30 days), it saves data for individual patients, tracks growth online, print charts, calculates percentiles and BMIs for age. MyGrowthCharts is password protected so you can keep an ongoing record of your child’s weight progress. BMI growth charts are used in Family-Based Treatment (FBT)/Maudsley Approach to track progress in restoring an anorexic child’s historic growth curve (per CDC growth chart percentiles). In this kind of treatment parents (usually with the help a professional) are in charge of feeding their anorexic child at home. I included below a MyGrowthChart for one of my patients. You can see how dramatically an eating disorder affected this child’s natural development.
Marcia
Nutritionist Marcia Herrin and Nancy Matsumoto, co-authors of The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders, Gūrze Books. Marcia is also author the soon to be published Nutrition Counseling in the Treatment of Eating Disorders (September, 2012). Read more from Marcia and Nancy by clicking here.
Copyrighted by Marcia Herrin and Nancy Matsumoto
