Pregnant mothers are interested in knowing the growth and development of their baby in the womb. In addition to the information available at the hospital, today we teach pregnant mothers to learn to look at the growth and development chart of their baby. Let’s learn more about it together. To understand whether your baby is growing normally and to grasp your child’s own growth pattern, you need to use the new “Child Growth Standards” issued by the World Health Organization on April 27, 2006. The new WHO Child Growth Standards recognize that children born anywhere in the world and given the best start in life have the potential to grow to within the same height and weight range. While there are individual differences among children, average growth is significantly similar between regions and large global populations. For example, children in India, Norway and Brazil all show similar growth patterns when provided with healthy growth conditions early in life. The new criteria demonstrate that differences in child growth to age 5 are influenced more by nutrition, feeding practices, environment, and health care than by genetic or ethnic characteristics. In promulgating the standards, then WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook emphasized that the standards provide an important reference for ensuring optimal nutritional care for children, while minimizing infant and child mortality and disease. The old Child Growth Standards, which had been in place for 40 years, were based on a sample of children selected in specific regions and times in the United States. These infants, who mainly ate formula milk, weighed much more than those who were breastfed. At the same time, the World Health Organization pointed out that the original standards had several technical and biological flaws and should not be used as a universal global standard for child health. And although our standards are a combination of data from different regions of the country and different feeding fractions, they are statistical. But such data does not make it more correct, but precisely will make the data high due to the factors of mixed or artificial feeding of babies. So between 1997 and 2003, the World Health Organization followed 8,440 breastfed children in six countries, including Brazil. These children came from six different countries, including Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States, and were selected based on the best environment for their growth: adoption of feeding methods recommended by experts, a good health care environment, non-smoking mothers, etc., and most importantly, breastfeeding as a standard. All are in good health and take very good care of their children. Their growth and development graphs are depicted by testing the normal development process of these infants and children. Also included in the growth and development indicators is the body mass index (BMI = weight (kg) รท height (m) squared in kg/m2), which is the first time WHO has introduced this indicator in the growth and development indicators for infants and children.BMI provides a tool to assess the weight to height ratio and is very effective in monitoring obesity in children. It represents a major innovation in the assessment of children’s health. Many pediatricians and pediatricians in China’s hospitals are now also using the new growth charts promulgated by the World Health Organization and compared to the “Chinese Reference Standards for Growth and Development of Children under Seven Years of Age” released to the public by the Ministry of Health on June 2, 2009. This set of Standards takes into account the results of the 2005 survey of children’s physical development in nine more developed cities in China and is slightly higher than the WHO standards. A comprehensive consideration is made to judge the growth of babies. Doctors and parents can use the growth curve chart to understand the baby’s growth. It is more scientific to use a growth curve to detect the development of a child’s height and weight than to simply use a number to determine whether the child is tall or fat. The curve consists of several consecutive curves, the bottom one is -3, if the infant is below this level, there may be growth retardation; the top one is +3, if the infant is above this level, there may be overgrowth. Both of these conditions should be of concern. The middle curve is 0, which represents the average value. The height and weight measurements are depicted on a growth chart and connected into a curve. Some children grow faster and have a sloping growth curve, so there is no need to worry as long as they stay within the normal range. After measuring your child’s height, weight, head circumference, and body mass index once a month, draw a point against the age column and follow the measured numbers; after several consecutive measurements, the curve that connects these points is the growth curve chart. It can be observed dynamically: if the child’s growth curve has been within the normal range of values (between line 3 and -3) growing uniformly and clockwise is normal. If the baby’s curve falls outside of 3 or -3 during the normal trend it means that there is something wrong with the child. Or a sudden increase or decrease needs to be brought to the attention of parents and doctors. Similarly, if the child’s BMI is calculated and depicted on the BMI curve, the curve grows evenly and clockwise as normal. the BMI is also the obesity index standard and should not be ignored. Its curve graph grows at a slower rate than height and weight and advances smoothly. Once it exceeds the normal value (between line 3 and -3) or the incremental (decremental) rate is too fast, you should take your baby to the hospital for examination.