Growth Chart training resources. (2024)

FAQs

How do you fill a growth monitoring chart? ›

This is for recording the weight of the child from birth onwards and is called 'weight axis”. The horizontal lines from bottom to top of the growth chart reflect the weights from 0 to 21 kg at 100 gm interval. The vertical lines from left to right of the chart reflect age from 0 to 5 years at one month interval.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends cutoff values of +2 standard deviations, which correspond to the 2.3rd and 97.7th percentiles, to define abnormal growth.

In routine clinical practice, height is assessed by using normative data based on growth charts and operationalized through percentiles. However, the cross-sectional nature of existing growth curves causes low accuracy in the prediction of final height, particularly during puberty.

The most commonly employed methods by researchers to obtain age and sex specific growth data are either cross-sectional or longitudinal. Both types of methods are required for a full understanding of the growth processes.

Growth and size are not equivalent. Whether or not the individual is growing normally is more complicated and not part of the information content that a growth chart aims to provide. This is not always appreciated by the manner in which growth charts are employed.

Height or length is the best method of measuring linear growth (stature) as it reflects growth over a longer period than does weight. Measuring height is therefore particularly important in older children. Head circumference can be used to assess brain growth in children under 36 months of age.

Gastrointestinal diseases that impair nutrition, such as inflammatory bowel disease and celiac can affect growth, can also be a cause. Many other conditions can also delay the growth rate, including hypothyroidism, heart disease, kidney disease, immunological disease and several other endocrine disorders.

Below the 3rd percentile is at risk for underweight. In the 3rd percentile to below the 85th percentile is at a healthy weight. In the 85th percentile to the 97th percentile is at risk for overweight. Above the 97th percentile to the 99.9th percentile is overweight.

To plot length/height-for-age: Find the child's age in completed weeks, months, or years and months on the x-axis (e.g., a child 5.5 months of age would be 5 completed months). A vertical line will extend from the child's completed age. Find the child's length/height on the y-axis.

Do kids always follow growth charts? ›

Children's height and weight usually, though not always, follow a given percentile from birth to adulthood. During the first two to three years of life, it is not uncommon to see a child's growth deviate from its previous percentile, either upward or downward.

CDC recommends that the BMI-for-age charts be used to screen for underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obesity in all children and teens.

Growth rates are computed by dividing the difference between the ending and starting values for the period being analyzed and dividing that by the starting value. Time periods used for growth rates are most often annually, quarterly, monthly, and weekly.

Why Do Doctors Use Growth Charts? Growth charts are a standard part of your child's checkups. They show how kids are growing compared with other kids of the same age and gender. They also show the pattern of kids' height and weight gain over time, and whether they're growing proportionately.

If the fetal weight estimate is below the bottom 10 per cent line on the graph, it is considered to be small for gestational age (SGA). If the fetal weight is above the top 10 per cent line on the graph, it is considered to be large for gestational age (LGA).