The (Nonexistent) Obsession With Percentage Charts
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on
November 14th, 2006
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We went for a checkup yesterday with Annika who just turned three months. Our midwife gave her the first batch of vaccines, weighed her, and had a chat with us. Everything is fine and she's gaining weight at a good pace. But I once again had to reflect over how unbelievable relaxed infant and child care is over here. You really feel like everyone cares and has plenty of time for you. I'm sure the part of being relaxed, and assuring mothers that everything is alright with their little one, is a major reason why women and children over here are the healthiest in the world.
One of many things I like with the care over here is the nonexistent infatuation with percentage charts. I can't tell you how many parents, in other countries, who have told me of the stress related to percentage chart. About the obsession with numbers and weekly changes, no matter how small and insignificant. And how much stress and worry it created. Worries about breastfeeding, enough food, and overall health. I've never heard a parent, doctor, or midwife talk about percentages over here. Not once. Of course we look at the charts as well but no numbers are ever mentioned. Parents are always informed, or shown, roughly how their their child place on the chart. Not by number, simply by the reassuring words "Everything looks fine". It is after all unusual in the modern and civilized world that babies don't do well. No need to worry parents for small changes in the numbers.
Midwives look at sudden changes that might indicate problems but those are often apparent without any charts. And when they do happen, appropriate action is of course taken. But it's usually enough to talk to the mother to get a feel of how things are going. A mothers instinct is often right unless you are one of those who believe the sky is falling. I would say a midwives main job is to listen to the parents and make sure they feel comfortable with the whole process. Keeping it simple and relaxed is one of the most successful ways for a healthy pregnancy, delivery, and start of an infant life. But is also seems to be underrated. Most countries look at child delivery as a medical process and not a natural one. Which means more focus on tests and charts and less attention to the important psychological and human side. I wish they kept it a bit more simple, but I guess the profit incentive is too great to decrease all those unnecessary tests.
One depressing fact about child care is the huge differences between good and bad care. It's incredible how poor the care is in many countries. It's so unfair that mothers and babies in poor and underdeveloped countries face obstacles early on. It reminds me how lucky we are to be over here in our relatively sheltered part of the world. Just take a look at these two quick depressing stats from Save The Children.
- Compared to a mother in the top 10 countries, a mother in the bottom 10 countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die in the first year of life and over 750 times more likely to die herself in pregnancy or childbirth.
- In the bottom 10 countries, nearly 1 out of 3 children is not enrolled in school and only 1 out of 4 adult women is literate. In the top 10 countries, virtually all children go to school and all women are literate.
Keep that in mind the next time you're really pissed of because your child is crying, is stomach sick, or arguing with you. Things could be a lot worse.
Good $deity, the damn charts! Here in germany they don’t do the numbers thing either but we have this graph of average child growth/weight that shows a median line and a 3% line and a 95% line. My first son was always close to the median line but my second son started out at quite heavy and then lost a lot of weight and moved more to the 3% line.
So yes he was skinny but he seemed to have no problems but my pediatrician got really nervous and had me come in almost every week to check on him. Major hassle.
But maybe he was right, I should give him credit for being attentive. Better be safe than sorry.
Oh good gravy do they go overboard with the percentages here. But that is just so they can start offering to sell you stuff as quickly as possible. It also feed the crazy nature of “perfect parents” (there is a reason for those quote marks).
These parents go overboard to ensure eveything is exactly “perfect” more because of how it reflects on them rather than what it means for the child. It is that type of arrogance that feeds the percentage obsession. Most parents would be fine with knowing that everything is “fine” but not these clowns. They are the parents that need to know that my child is 1.5% “better” than fine. That their child is walking 6.1 minutes faster than the national average, etc.
It is a sickness I tell you.