Are WHO growth charts based on breastfed babies?

Understanding WHO Growth Charts: A Focus on Breastfeeding
The World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts are a crucial tool used by healthcare professionals worldwide to monitor the growth and development of children. One of the key aspects of these charts is their foundation in data collected primarily from breastfed infants. This emphasis on breastfeeding is significant and has implications for understanding child growth patterns.
The Basis of WHO Growth Charts
The WHO growth charts were developed using a diverse sample of breastfed infants from multiple countries, encompassing different socioeconomic backgrounds. This study, known as the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS), was conducted from 1997 to 2003 and aimed to create a growth reference that reflects optimal growth patterns for infants and young children.
The study included exclusively breastfed infants, following a strict protocol that focused on infants who were fed only breast milk for the first six months of life, with continued breastfeeding along with complementary foods until at least two years of age. This choice underpins the charts’ representation of growth patterns that are attainable for infants who receive the benefits of breastfeeding.
Implications of Breastfeeding on Growth Patterns
Breastfeeding has numerous health advantages for infants, including optimal nutrition, immune protection, and the promotion of healthy growth. The WHO growth charts reflect these benefits, showing growth patterns that may differ from those of formula-fed infants. Research has consistently shown that breastfed babies tend to have different weight and height trajectories compared to their formula-fed counterparts, particularly in the early months of life.
These charts are designed to serve as a benchmark for assessing whether infants and children are growing healthily. They help healthcare providers identify potential growth issues early on, ensuring that interventions can be put in place when necessary.
Conclusion: A Tool for Public Health
In summary, the WHO growth charts are indeed based on data primarily from breastfed babies, making them a vital resource for promoting healthy growth practices globally. By focusing on breastfeeding, the charts not only encourage this practice but also provide a standard for health professionals to evaluate the growth and development of children in various settings. The emphasis on breastfeeding in these growth references highlights the critical role of early nutrition in shaping lifelong health outcomes.

Should I use CDC or Who growth charts?

CDC recommends using WHO Child Growth Standards in U.S. clinical settings for children from birth to 2 years. They are scaled for both English and metric measurements. For children from birth to 2 years, the WHO charts include: Boys’ weight-for-length percentiles and head circumference-for-age percentiles.

Is there a different growth chart for breastfed babies?

Slightly slower growth has been consistently seen in exclusively breast fed, compared with formula fed, infants in observational studies, which has led to the suggestion that breast fed infants should have separate charts.

Are growth charts based on formula fed babies?

The CDC growth charts are based on primarily formula-fed infants. Only about 50% of U.S. infants measured to create the CDC growth charts were ever breastfed. By age 3 months, only 33% of U.S. infants were being breastfed.

Are breastfed children taller?

The height, weight, and head circumference of infants who were fed with breast milk showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) with those of infants receiving formula: infants receiving breast milk were taller (P = 0.0002) and heavier (P < 0.001) and larger head circumference (P = 0.002) than infants ...

Are breastfed babies shown to have a higher intelligence score responses?

The results of a meta-analysis2 of 14 observational studies showed that breastfeeding was associated with an increase of 3·5 points (95% CI 1·9–5·0) on intelligence tests at childhood and adolescence.

Do breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests?

Many studies report that children who were breast fed perform better in tests of intellectual competence than those who were not. This association is seen for full term infants and more strongly for those who are preterm or of low birth weight.

Is breastfeeding linked to higher IQ?

On an average, more breastfed participants had high IQ scores than non-breastfed participants (19). These findings agree with ours to some extent. However, because of the small sample size, we could not confirm the significant difference between the breastfed and bottle-fed groups (P = 0.579).

What are the WHO growth charts based on?

The WHO charts are based for the first time on a prescriptive, prospective, international sample of infants selected to represent optimum growth. This article compares the WHO and CDC curves and evaluates the growth performance of healthy breast-fed infants according to both.

Which growth chart do pediatricians use?

CDC recommends that health care providers: Use the WHO growth standardsOpens in a new window to monitor growth for infants and children ages 0 to 2 years of age in the U.S. Use the CDC growth chartsOpens in a new window for children age 2 years and older in the U.S.

Are growth charts based on formula-fed babies?

The CDC growth charts are based on primarily formula-fed infants. Only about 50% of U.S. infants measured to create the CDC growth charts were ever breastfed. By age 3 months, only 33% of U.S. infants were being breastfed.