New growth standards

December 1, 2010

The CDC has issued the following bulletin:

WHO Growth Standards Are Recommended for Use in the U.S. for Infants and Children 0 to 2 Years of Age

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a new international growth standard statistical  distribution  in 2006, which describes the growth of children ages 0 to 59 months living in environments believed to support what WHO researchers view as optimal growth of children in six countries throughout the world, including the U.S. The distribution shows how infants and young children grow under these conditions, rather than how they do grow in environments that may not support optimal growth.

GPC comment:  We will be adopting the new growth curves for 0-24 months shortly.  If you are interested in plotting your child’s past growth on the new curves you may print out your own copy @:

http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/who_charts.htm