Measurement and assessment tools for newborns and infants to use in your practice.

Anthropometric Measurements

Anthropometric measurements are an important tool to chart growth and growth charts can assist physicians in forming an overall picture of the nutritional status of an infant.

Preterm Infant Growth Tools

Intrauterine growth curves are generally accepted as the best tool for assessing the growth of preterm infants at birth and postnatally up to 50 weeks post menstrual age (PMA).

Term Infant Growth Tools

The CDC and the AAP recommend using the 2nd and 98th percentiles of the WHO growth curves (or 2 standard deviations above and below the median) to identify children with potentially suboptimal growth in the first 24 months after birth.

BMI-for-age

BMI charts can be used to screen for overnutrition and growth faltering in term infants <6 months of age. However, there is no accepted definition of underweight, overweight, or obesity for children <2 years of age.

Incremental Growth Charts

Growth increments are sensitive to the time interval between measurements because growth occurs as a series of intermittent small or large spurts, which vary in magnitude according to age, sex, maturational status, and season.

Last Updated

05/31/2022

Source

American Academy of Pediatrics