Smaller Than The Average Baby?

CNN has something for new parents to chew on:

There are few issues that preoccupy new parents more than this: Is my baby growing normally? When the percentiles seem off-kilter, we worry -- but experts say there's rarely reason for concern.

For starters, healthy kids come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, and they don't grow at a steady rate, either.

Your child can look very different from your friends' kids -- or from his own siblings at the same age -- and still be completely normal.

What influences growth

At birth: A baby's size when he's born is based partly on genetics. Firstborns tend to be smaller than subsequent children because the uterus is smaller and tighter in first-time moms.

Boys are larger than girls, and multiples, boys and girls, are smaller than average.

Some environmental factors that can influence a newborn's size:

I've always found it intriguing how much my seventh-grade students physically change over the course of a year.