01Growth & Height
Reading your child's growth chart
What a centile actually means, why the shape of the line matters far more than the number, and the four patterns that make a paediatric endocrinologist sit up.
5 min read
Consulting in Kolkata & across West BengalPaediatric & adolescent endocrinology
Every child grows
on their own curve.
I am Dr. Sayan Banerjee, a DM-trained paediatric endocrinologist. I look after children and teenagers whose growth, hormones, thyroid, sugar or puberty need a specialist’s patience, and I explain every step to the people who love them.
- Training
- DM, PGIMER Chandigarh
- Focus
- Growth · Diabetes · Thyroid
- Practising at
- Neotia Bhagirathi, New Town
सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाःMay all be free from illness.
ScrollAreas of expertise: DM Paediatric Endocrinology, PGIMER Chandigarh, MD Paediatrics, R. G. Kar, Growth & Short Stature, Type 1 Diabetes, Thyroid in Childhood, Puberty Disorders, Adolescent Endocrinology, Bone & Calcium, Neotia, New Town.
Height check
Is my child
growing well?
Enter a date of birth and a height. This plots it on the same chart a paediatric endocrinologist would use.
Worked out on your own device. The date of birth and the height are never sent anywhere, and nothing is saved.
It uses the WHO Child Growth Standards up to 5 years and the Indian IAP 2015 charts from 5 to 18, switching between them at the age each one is built for.
- Height only, which is the measurement that matters most for growth
- Tells you which chart it used, and why
01The practice
Endocrinology is the
speciality of time.
Most of medicine asks what is wrong today. Hormones ask what has been happening for years, and what will happen for years more. That changes how a consultation should feel.
In the consulting room · Kolkata
A child who is not growing well has usually not been growing well for some time. The clue is rarely a single number. It is the shape of the line those numbers make. That is why the first thing I ask for is not a blood test but a history: every height you have ever recorded, on a wall, in a school diary, on the back of a report.
My training was built around exactly this way of thinking. An MD in paediatric medicine at R. G. Kar in Kolkata, a fellowship in paediatric endocrinology at Regency CDER in Kanpur, then three years of DM at PGIMER Chandigarh. Rare conditions, complex ones, and the far more common worry that turns out, after careful work, to be entirely normal. Ruling something out properly is a result, not a wasted visit.
In practice that means longer appointments, charts explained on screen rather than described, and a written plan you can carry to your paediatrician, your school and your family. Children are spoken to directly. Teenagers get their own time.
- Super-speciality training at PGIMER Chandigarh
- DMSuper-speciality training at PGIMER Chandigarh
- Endocrine conditions of childhood managed
- 50+Endocrine conditions of childhood managed
- Years of age, newborn through adolescence
- 0–18Years of age, newborn through adolescence
- Chart that follows your child for years
- 1Chart that follows your child for years
02Conditions treated
Eight territories,
one long conversation.
If what brings you here is not on this list, it is still worth asking. Much of paediatric endocrinology begins as a question nobody has been able to answer yet.
When a child is shorter, taller or growing faster than expected, and when that difference is worth investigating.
- Short stature
- Growth hormone deficiency
- Constitutional delay of growth & puberty
- Small for gestational age with poor catch-up
- Tall stature & rapid growth
- Skeletal dysplasias affecting height
- Turner syndrome
- Faltering growth in infancy
01 / 08
Growth & Stature
When a child is shorter, taller or growing faster than expected, and when that difference is worth investigating.
- Short stature
- Growth hormone deficiency
- Constitutional delay of growth & puberty
- Small for gestational age with poor catch-up
- Tall stature & rapid growth
- Skeletal dysplasias affecting height
- Turner syndrome
- Faltering growth in infancy
See every condition in detail
Not sure which applies? Describe the concern and the clinic will guide you.
03Read the chart with me
The most useful thing in this clinic is a piece of graph paper.
01
A centile is a queue, not a grade.
If your child is on the 25th centile for height, it means that among 100 children of the same age and sex, roughly 24 are shorter and 75 are taller. That is the entire meaning. It is a position in a queue, and there is no prize for standing at the front.
02
Most children choose a line and stay near it.
Healthy growth is remarkably loyal. From about the age of two, a child settles onto a centile and travels along it year after year, like a train that has found its track. Where the line sits matters far less than whether it keeps its direction.
03
The signal is crossing the lines.
A line that drifts steadily downwards across centiles deserves attention even while the child is still technically ‘within normal range’. This drift is what brings most families to a paediatric endocrinologist, and it is invisible unless somebody is plotting.
04
Which is why we measure, and plot, every time.
One height is a number. Six heights are a story. Bring every old record you can find: a school health card, a vaccination booklet, a pencil mark on a doorframe with a date beside it. It can be worth more than a blood test.
04What the clinic does
Care that is measured in years, not appointments.
Six things this practice does properly, rather than sixty it does adequately.
01
Consultation & Diagnosis
History, growth records, examination and a clear explanation of what we are looking for and why.
- Growth chart plotted from birth
- Plain-language diagnosis
- Written plan to take home
02
Dynamic Hormone Testing
Stimulation and suppression tests interpreted with paediatric reference ranges, because a child is not a small adult.
- Growth hormone stimulation
- GnRH & ACTH testing
- Oral glucose tolerance testing
03
Long-Term Growth Monitoring
Endocrinology is a longitudinal speciality. Every visit is plotted against the last, so trends surface before problems do.
- Serial auxology
- Bone-age assessment
- Predicted adult height review
04
Diabetes Technology
Pump starts, CGM interpretation and download reviews, with school-day and travel plans written down for the family.
- Pump initiation & titration
- CGM report review
- School & sick-day protocols
05
Adolescent & Transition Care
Teenagers get their own consultation time, their own confidentiality, and a structured handover to adult services.
- Confidential adolescent time
- Transition planning
- PCOS & menstrual health
06
Second Opinions & Teleconsults
Reviews of an existing plan, and video consultations for families outside Kolkata who need continuity, not a repeat workup.
- Structured record review
- Video follow-up
- Written summary after every visit
05Your first visit
Nothing here will
be a surprise.
This is exactly how a first consultation goes, so you can tell your child in advance, in their own words.
- 01
Before you come
Gather the immunisation card, every old prescription, all previous reports, and most valuable of all, any record of your child's height and weight over the years. School records count.
- 02
Measurement
Height on a wall-mounted stadiometer, weight, and where relevant sitting height, arm span and head circumference. Measured carefully, because millimetres matter over years.
- 03
The conversation
Pregnancy and birth, milestones, family heights, diet, sleep, school, and what worries you most. Children are spoken to, not just about.
- 04
Examination & charting
A gentle, explained examination, then plotting on the growth chart together on screen. You will see the same picture the doctor sees.
- 05
The plan
What we think is happening, which tests will answer the question, what each one involves, and when to return. Written down before you leave.
- 06
Afterwards
A summary you can share with your paediatrician. Reports can be sent ahead of the follow-up so the next visit starts where this one ended.
06Across West Bengal
Once a month,
somewhere else in Bengal.
Paediatric endocrinology is thin on the ground outside the metro, and a growth problem does not wait for a family to be able to reach Kolkata. So the clinic travels: six visiting OPDs, every month, at centres that already know their own patients.
Chandipur
Little Hearts Nursing Home
Call Little Hearts Nursing Home in Chandipur to book: +91 97339 82526Mankundu
Sunshine Child and Family Clinic
Call Sunshine Child and Family Clinic in Mankundu to book: +91 90629 97705Serampore
Narcissus Medical Centre
Call Narcissus Medical Centre in Serampore to book: +91 90736 96486
Please note. These clinics run once a month and the date moves. Always call the centre to confirm the next sitting before travelling. Each number above belongs to the host centre, which keeps that clinic’s diary.
Regular consultations run from Neotia Bhagirathi Woman and Child Care Centre, New Town.
07In his own words
Ten minutes, no jargon.
Recorded at the hospital for families rather than for colleagues. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.
How DKA hides in plain sight, and the signs that mean go now.
08The Blog
Written between clinics.
Long-form notes for parents on the questions that come up most often. Written carefully, dated honestly, and revised when the evidence moves.
09For parents
Things worth having before you need them.
Guides, checklists and one-page templates you can print, sign and hand to a school or a lab.
- Guide
The growth chart, explained
What a percentile actually means, why crossing lines matters more than the number itself, and when to seek review.
- Checklist
Preparing for a hormone test
Fasting rules, timing, what to bring, and how to keep a child comfortable through a long morning at the lab.
- Template
Type 1 diabetes: the school plan
A one-page plan for teachers covering hypoglycaemia, sports, exams and who to call. Print it, sign it, send it.
- Guide
Puberty: what is normal, and when
The usual sequence and age range for girls and boys, and the specific signs that deserve an endocrine opinion.
10 / AppointmentsBring the old
Bring the old
reports. Bring the
questions too.
The quickest way to reach Dr. Banerjee is WhatsApp, which goes to him directly. Consultations themselves are held in the diary at Neotia Bhagirathi Woman and Child Care Centre in New Town, so slots are booked through the hospital.
WhatsApp +91 98366 65566, or call the hospital on 033 6640 5000
- Neotia Bhagirathi Woman and Child Care Centre, New Town
Department of Paediatric Endocrinology, Premises No. 27-0327, Plot No. DG-20/17 & DG-20/21, Street No. 327, Action Area 1D
New Town, Kolkata 700 156By appointment · Please call the hospital for current OPD timings
Appointments can be booked through the hospital, by phone or online.
Open in Maps
Monthly OPD clinics
Chandipur · Kolaghat · Malda · Mankundu · Serampore · Tamluk
Numbers for each centreसर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः