Term Infant Growth Tools

WHO Growth Charts for Infants 0-24 Months

The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics AAP recommend using the 2.3rd and 97.7th percentiles of the WHO growth curves (labeled as 2nd and 98th on the curves, or 2 standard deviations above and below the median) to identify children with potentially suboptimal growth in the first 24 months after birth.

• Reference measures - Weight-for-age; length-for-age; head circumference-for-age; weight-for-length, BMI-for-age
• Reference data – prescriptive, cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (ref, ref, ref), an international sample of healthy children with optimal conditions for growth (eg, breastfed)
• Comments
  
  • For term infants (37 to 41 weeks’ gestational age)
  • Sex specific
  • Do not provide gestational specific assignment of size for newborns
  • 2nd to 98th percentiles
• Weight for length comparisons are independent of age and can differentiate stunted growth from wasting.
  
  • Stunting results in a child who is proportional but small for age
  • Causes of stunting are frequently constitutional but also can be caused by
    
    • Malnutrition
    • Chronic illness
    • Genetic or endocrine abnormalities
  • Weight-for-length measurement is recommended for full-term infants through 2 years of age, although BMI may be a better indicator of excess relative weight in infants younger than 6 months. 
    
    • At 2 months of age, BMI was shown to be a better predictor of obesity at 2 years than was weight-for-length. 
• Growth charts:
  
  • Head circumference-for-age and weight-for-length: percentiles (girls) (boys)
  • Length-for-age and weight-for-age: percentiles (girls) (boys)