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As part of our work aiming at facilitation of growth screening, we analyzed the growth of 741 healthy infants from birth to 2 years of age. We 1) show that weight depends on length rather than age, 2) present new growth standards in a format which allows direct reading of relative length and relative weight, and 3) define the normal variation of changes over different periods in terms of relative length (SD score, SDS) and relative weight (deviation of weight from the median weight for length and sex, %DW). The group mean values for changes in length SDS and %DW were zero, but there were wide individual variations, which decreased with age and length. We present curves defining these variations for use in growth screening.

A novel format for a growth chart is proposed to facilitate early detection of aberrant growth. Normal growth is shown as a horizontal line and any deviation from this indicates abnormal change in growth. The vertical scales show relative height (height SDS) and relative weight (% deviation of weight from the mean weight for height) directly. Weight is recorded against height rather than age.