Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts versus breastfeeding?

Many parents are familiar with the growth charts used by pediatric health care providers. The growth charts are the most widely used tools to track growth and development in children and assist in signaling potential growth problems. The charts consist of a series of curves called ‘‘percentiles’’ that show the growth of children across the United States. The new 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) pediatric growth charts are a revised version of the 1977 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth charts. NCHS and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) worked with experts from various Federal agencies and academia to revise the charts. The charts consist of percentiles related to weight, length, and head circumference for infants (birth–36 months), and percentiles related to weight, height, and body mass index for children (2–19 years of age). The charts are used to compare a child’s growth to the growth of children in the United States. On the chart to the right, a 6-month-old infant boy weighing 19 pounds and measuring 27 inches in length is just above the 75th percentiles of both weight and length. This means that he is heavier and longer than 75 percent of U.S. children.