Wednesday by Leah: Off the Charts

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The BabyRoX is now 3 months old! He’s a lovely, chunky creature full of sweetness and smiles. He is the best thing that’s ever happened to us, and of course as his parents, Mark and I want to make sure he is as healthy and happy as possible. Since I have the good fortune of working from home, and since I’ve also had the good fortune of a plentiful milk supply and a champion nurser, BabyRoX is exclusively breastfed.

And do you know what I’ve discovered since having a child?

1.) Breastfed babies have different growth patterns than formula-fed/supplemented babies – they tend to gain weight faster in the first 3 months and slower throughout the rest of infancy.

2.) Most parents and even most pediatricians are not aware that the growth patterns differ.

3.) Most parents and most pediatricians are not aware that there are growth charts available for exclusively breastfed babies (and these charts have been publicly available since 2006!).

So this week is my PSA for all the breastfeeding mamas (and papas? if there are any…) out there! Do yourself a favor and print out these charts from the World Health Organization. And do your family doctor and other parents a favor, and bring these charts to your next doctor’s visit (Most pediatricians still use the old CDC growth charts – even though the CDC itself recommends using the WHO charts for children 0-24 months of age!). Our pediatrician didn’t know about the WHO charts, but was glad I shared them with her.

Atlanta Photographer | LeahAndMark.comBabyRoX was 95th percentile on the CDC charts but 70th percentile on the WHO charts… and that’s a big difference! My sweet boy is superchunky now but is not at risk for obesity. He’s actually a very healthy breastfed baby. An educated parent is a child’s best advocate. So go forth with new knowledge, ye parents reading this blog! For more info on why these WHO charts are important, read this article and/or the summary below:

In April 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new international growth charts for children aged 0–59 months. Similar to the 2000 CDC growth charts, these charts describe weight for age, length (or stature) for age, weight for length (or stature), and body mass index for age. Whereas the WHO charts are growth standards, describing the growth of healthy children in optimal conditions, the CDC charts are a growth reference, describing how certain children grew in a particular place and time. However, in practice, clinicians use growth charts as standards rather than references.

In 2006, CDC, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Academy of Pediatrics convened an expert panel to review scientific evidence and discuss the potential use of the new WHO growth charts in clinical settings in the United States. On the basis of input from this expert panel, CDC recommends that clinicians in the United States use the 2006 WHO international growth charts, rather than the CDC growth charts, for children aged <24 months. The CDC growth charts should continue to be used for the assessment of growth in persons aged 2–19 years.

The recommendation to use the 2006 WHO international growth charts for children aged <24 months is based on several considerations, including the recognition that breastfeeding is the recommended standard for infant feeding. In the WHO charts, the healthy breastfed infant is intended to be the standard against which all other infants are compared; 100% of the reference population of infants were breastfed for 12 months and were predominantly breastfed for at least 4 months. When using the WHO growth charts to screen for possible abnormal or unhealthy growth, use of the 2.3rd and 97.7th percentiles (or ±2 standard deviations) are recommended, rather than the 5th and 95th percentiles. Clinicians should be aware that fewer U.S. children will be identified as underweight using the WHO charts, slower growth among breastfed infants during ages 3–18 months is normal, and gaining weight more rapidly than is indicated on the WHO charts might signal early signs of overweight.

Atlanta Photographer | LeahAndMark.com

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3 Replies to “Wednesday by Leah: Off the Charts”

  1. Great post, Leah. Knowledge is power! And, that last photo of him looking up at you is to die for. I love him! (you guys, too!)

  2. I'm always trying to tell moms this as well as any docs we've had. It's good info to have, and does make a difference in moms who may get missinformed, discoraged or give up too son otherwise.

  3. Well, hey. I never knew there were different growth charts either… and now nursing my second baby who is consistently off the charts (and whose awesomely chunky thighs elicit comments from strangers all.the.time), this is music to my ears. Thanks for sharing it!

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