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WHO Child Growth Standards

The WHO growth charts for children from birth to 5 years. They show how healthy children grow when they are breastfed and raised in conditions that do not hold growth back. CDC advises US clinicians to use them for children younger than 24 months.

  • Technology
  • In this atlas

Overview

Technical summary

Percentile and z-score curves for boys and girls aged 0 to 60 months for weight-for-age, length/height-for-age, weight-for-length/height and body mass index-for-age, published in 2006 and built from the sample of a multicountry growth study. The WHO tool page presents the standards, documentation and training tools. Growth standards describe growth of healthy children under optimal conditions; the CDC growth charts are a growth reference, describing how certain children grew in a particular place and time (CDC 2010). This record is an addition to the plan's list so that the CDC recommendation has a technology to point at.

How it works

Reference curves of healthy children's growth, derived from healthy breastfed infants and young children raised in environments that do not constrain growth, against which a child's measurements are compared.

Strengths

  • Built from an international sample of healthy breastfed infants (2006 paper abstract)
  • The authors say the standards can be used to assess children everywhere, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status and type of feeding (authors' conclusion)

Limitations

  • Describes growth under optimal conditions, which is not the same as how all children in a population grow
  • CDC notes that fewer US children will be identified as underweight with the WHO charts than with the CDC charts
  • Only abstracts and the WHO tool page were read; the charts and percentile values are not recorded here

Required infrastructure

  • A measured length or height and weight for the child, and a chart or software that applies the curves (the WHO tool page lists software and training materials)

Claims and evidence

Context Children younger than 24 months in the United States (CDC 2010 growth chart advice)

Recipient
Child
Population
Children in the United States younger than 24 months, for whom CDC advised the 2006 WHO growth charts. The same advice keeps the CDC growth charts for people aged 2 to 19 years, who are outside this context.
Care setting
Clinical settings in the United States where clinicians assess growth (the abstract addresses clinicians).
Geography
United States (CDC advice for US clinicians)
Life stage
Infants and toddlers, from birth to younger than 24 months
Gestational age
Not reported
Postnatal age
Not reported
Follow-up
Not applicable (advice about which growth charts to use)
Eligibility: 1 inclusion criterion; 1 exclusion criterion
Included
  • Children aged younger than 24 months
Excluded
  • People aged 2 to 19 years (CDC advises its own growth charts for them)

  • Recommendation Guidance Certainty not assessed

    In its 2010 recommendations for clinicians in the United States, CDC advised using the 2006 WHO international growth charts, rather than the CDC growth charts, for children younger than 24 months, and keeping the CDC growth charts for people aged 2 to 19 years. The advice rests partly on the recognition that breastfeeding is the recommended standard for infant feeding. CDC advised that, when the WHO charts are used to screen for possibly abnormal growth, the 2.3rd and 97.7th percentiles (or 2 standard deviations) be used rather than the 5th and 95th. CDC also noted that fewer US children will be identified as underweight with the WHO charts, that slower growth among breastfed infants at ages 3 to 18 months is normal, and that weight gain faster than the WHO charts indicate might signal early signs of overweight.

    Source problem. A cited source is corrected. Check the sources before relying on this claim.

    Applies to Child
    • Children in the United States younger than 24 months, for whom CDC advised the 2006 WHO growth charts. The same advice keeps the CDC growth charts for people aged 2 to 19 years, who are outside this context.
    • Clinical settings in the United States where clinicians assess growth (the abstract addresses clinicians).
    • United States (CDC advice for US clinicians)
    • Infants and toddlers, from birth to younger than 24 months
    • Gestational age Not reported
    • Postnatal age Not reported
    Follow-up Not applicable (advice about which growth charts to use)
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    Limitations
    Only the PubMed abstract of the MMWR report was read; the report itself was not (cdc.gov returns HTTP 403 to scripts, per the plan's host checks). PubMed links a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep. 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number and was not read, so the source is marked corrected; a published correction exists and whether it changes this claim is not known. The advice is from 2010 and is for clinicians in the United States; whether CDC has changed it since was not checked. The abstract says CDC based the advice on input from an expert panel convened in 2006 by CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (14)

    1. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 6, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 6, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 7
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 8, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    5. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 10, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    6. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 10, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    7. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 11, fragment 1 of 3
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    8. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 11, fragment 2 of 3
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    9. Supports Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 11, fragment 3 of 3
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    10. Background Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 3, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    11. Background Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 3, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    12. Background Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      CommentsCorrectionsList, ErratumIn, RefSource
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    13. Background Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 5, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    14. Background Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States

      Publication · MMWR. Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Recommendations and reports · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected. · Published 2010-09-10 · PMID: 20829749

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 5, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Corrected
      Snapshot hash
      0a80e64e3f31ea2f2929545f783353427095c945b2d79f443d9ddeb790bfc1e7
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

Context Healthy children aged 0 to 60 months (WHO Child Growth Standards)

Recipient
Child
Population
Boys and girls aged 0 to 60 months. The curves come from healthy breastfed infants and young children raised in environments that do not constrain growth, and the authors say the standards can be used to assess children everywhere.
Care setting
Not stated in the abstract (an international growth study sample).
Geography
International sample (the abstract does not name the countries; the six MGRS countries are on the WHO MGRS page)
Life stage
Infants and children from birth to 60 months
Gestational age
Not reported
Postnatal age
Not reported
Follow-up
Not applicable (reference curves, not an intervention trial)
Eligibility: 1 inclusion criterion; 1 exclusion criterion
Included
  • Healthy breastfed infants and young children raised in environments that do not constrain growth (the sample the curves were built from)
Excluded
  • Not stated in the source that was read

  • Description Evidence synthesis Certainty not assessed

    The WHO Child Growth Standards were derived from an international sample of healthy breastfed infants and young children raised in environments that do not constrain growth. The authors report percentile and z-score curves for boys and girls aged 0 to 60 months for weight-for-age, length/height-for-age, weight-for-length/height and body mass index-for-age. They conclude that the standards depict normal growth under optimal environmental conditions and can be used to assess children everywhere, regardless of ethnicity, socio-economic status and type of feeding. The WHO tool page says the standards were developed using data from the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study.

    Applies to Child
    • Boys and girls aged 0 to 60 months. The curves come from healthy breastfed infants and young children raised in environments that do not constrain growth, and the authors say the standards can be used to assess children everywhere.
    • Not stated in the abstract (an international growth study sample).
    • International sample (the abstract does not name the countries; the six MGRS countries are on the WHO MGRS page)
    • Infants and children from birth to 60 months
    • Gestational age Not reported
    • Postnatal age Not reported
    Follow-up Not applicable (reference curves, not an intervention trial)
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    Limitations
    Only the PubMed abstract was read; the full text was not. The statement that the standards can be used to assess children everywhere is the authors' own conclusion. The abstract describes how the curves were built; it does not report how well any national population matches them, and CDC's separate advice for the United States is on its own claim. The standards describe how healthy children grow under optimal conditions; they are not a statement of how all children grow.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (8)

    1. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      Abstract, METHODS, sentence 1, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      Abstract, METHODS, sentence 1, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      Abstract, RESULTS, sentence 5, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      Abstract, RESULTS, sentence 5, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    5. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      Abstract, CONCLUSION, sentence 1, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    6. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      Abstract, CONCLUSION, sentence 1, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    7. Supports WHO Child Growth Standards (who.int tool page)

      Webpage · World Health Organization · Edition The tool page as shown on 2026-10-15. The page carries no edition date; it links a press release of 27 April 2006.

      Locator
      Overview, paragraph 1, sentences 1 and 2
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f97e12dcb12ed9c44b78a51efc67d090b094545798834faeea2433af45529693
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    8. Background WHO Child Growth Standards based on length/height, weight and age

      Publication · Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). Supplement · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Acta Paediatrica Supplement, April 2006 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.tb02378.x · PMID: 16817681

      Locator
      AuthorList, collective name
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      ede64c46502223f7c5d91e9ad7f6ef1e2990d8a44818bc964d65b8a61b594343
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

Guidance

Recommended: WHO Child Growth Standards

Applies to Child
  • Children in the United States younger than 24 months, for whom CDC advised the 2006 WHO growth charts. The same advice keeps the CDC growth charts for people aged 2 to 19 years, who are outside this context.
  • Clinical settings in the United States where clinicians assess growth (the abstract addresses clinicians).
  • United States (CDC advice for US clinicians)
  • Infants and toddlers, from birth to younger than 24 months
  • Gestational age Not reported
  • Postnatal age Not reported
Follow-up Not applicable (advice about which growth charts to use)
Issued by
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Guideline
CDC 2010: use of WHO and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States; Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched. PubMed lists a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number; the correction was not read, so this snapshot is marked corrected.
Strength
Recommended by CDC (MMWR Recommendations and Reports. The abstract words the advice as a CDC recommendation and names no grading scale or certainty rating.)
Effective
2010-09-10 (The date in the PubMed record of the MMWR report, 2010 Sep 10. PubMed also lists an erratum that was not read.)
Jurisdictions
United States; note: United States (advice for clinicians in the United States).
Supersession
Not checked
Basis
In its 2010 recommendations for clinicians in the United States, CDC advised using the 2006 WHO international growth charts, rather than the CDC growth charts, for children younger than 24 months, and keeping the CDC growth charts for people aged 2 to 19 years. The advice rests partly on the recognition that breastfeeding is the recommended standard for infant feeding. CDC advised that, when the WHO charts are used to screen for possibly abnormal growth, the 2.3rd and 97.7th percentiles (or 2 standard deviations) be used rather than the 5th and 95th. CDC also noted that fewer US children will be identified as underweight with the WHO charts, that slower growth among breastfed infants at ages 3 to 18 months is normal, and that weight gain faster than the WHO charts indicate might signal early signs of overweight.

Source problem. A cited source is corrected. Check the sources before relying on this claim.

Limitations. Only the PubMed abstract of the MMWR report was read; the report itself was not (cdc.gov returns HTTP 403 to scripts, per the plan's host checks). PubMed links a published erratum (MMWR Recomm Rep. 2010 Sep 17;59(36):1184) that has no PubMed number and was not read, so the source is marked corrected; a published correction exists and whether it changes this claim is not known. The advice is from 2010 and is for clinicians in the United States; whether CDC has changed it since was not checked. The abstract says CDC based the advice on input from an expert panel convened in 2006 by CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Clinical links

Each link reports what one cited claim says about one population. "Evaluated for" means studied, not shown to work. These links do not show that anything is effective or right for you.

Record details

Record id
maternal:who-child-growth-standards
Content hash
c3f1e34d30aed896d81be91d50c2e5a703bdd6de4fb64ec3b0a8df7b42e28adf