Ace the NCLEX Pediatric Growth & Development 2026 – Unlock Your Child Care Superpowers!

Growth assessment in children relies on using different charts that fit the child's age and what you’re measuring. For kids younger than five, the WHO growth standards are used because they reflect optimal growth in diverse populations and provide norms for length/height and weight-for-length. For older children and adolescents, the CDC growth charts are used (covering height-for-age, weight-for-age, and other comparisons) to reference growth against a U.S. population standard. To evaluate weight status across ages, BMI-for-age percentile charts are used, which help classify underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obesity.

So, combining WHO charts for under five, CDC charts for older children, and BMI-for-age percentiles gives a complete framework to monitor growth and weight throughout childhood and adolescence. Using only CDC charts would miss measurements for the youngest children, using only WHO charts would miss the US-specific reference for older kids, and relying on BMI percentiles alone would not show absolute linear growth or length-for-age patterns.