Get CDC Growth Charts 2009-2024

Growth charts consist of a series of percentile curves that illustrate the distribution of selected body measurements in children. Pediatric growth charts have been used by pediatricians, nurses, and parents to track the growth of infants, children, and adolescents in the United States since 1977.

A normal rate of growth means the child's growth points closely follow a percentile line on the chart. We usually don't worry about insufficient (or excessive) growth until a child's growth rate has crossed at least two percentile lines (e.g., from above the 90th percentile to below the 50th).

No. Girls and boys are measured on different growth charts because they grow in different patterns and at different rates. And one set of charts is used for babies, from birth to 36 months. Another set is used for kids and teens ages 2 20 years old.

Whereas the WHO charts are growth standards, describing the growth of healthy children in optimal conditions, the CDC charts are a growth reference, describing how certain children grew in a particular place and time. However, in practice, clinicians use growth charts as standards rather than references.

The C.D.C. is a branch of the United States government and answers to the president, Congress and the courts, while the W.H.O. is a United Nations agency and answers to an annual assembly of the world's health ministers.

Whereas the WHO charts are growth standards, describing the growth of healthy children in optimal conditions, the CDC charts are a growth reference, describing how certain children grew in a particular place and time. However, in practice, clinicians use growth charts as standards rather than references.

Whereas the WHO standards are based solely on breast-fed infants (2), the CDC charts, like the NCHS reference, are still based on relatively few infants who were breast-fed for more than a few months.

Growth charts are used to compare your child's height, weight, and head size against children of the same age. Growth charts can help both you and your health care provider follow your child as they grow. These charts may provide an early warning that your child has a medical problem.

To plot length/height-for-age: Plot completed weeks, months, or years and months on a vertical line (not between vertical lines). For example, if a child is 5 ½ months old, the point will be plotted on the line for 5 months (not between the lines for 5 and 6 months).

Suggested citation Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. CDC growth charts: United States. http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/.