National Center for Health Statistics

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.

CDC recommends that health care providers:

• Use the WHO growth standards to monitor growth for infants and children ages 0 to 2 years of age in the U.S.
• Use the CDC growth charts for children age 2 years and older in the U.S.

Growth charts are not intended to be used as a sole diagnostic instrument. Instead, growth charts are tools that contribute to forming an overall clinical impression for the child being measured.