The new World Health Organization child growth standards for preschool children -: growth charts for the 21st century

In 2006 and 2007 WHO launched the new growth standards for children from birth to 5 years of age. The new child growth standards are the result of prospective longitudinal and partly cross-sectional 6-year research based on multicentric and multiethnic samples of healthy breastfed children from 6 selected world-wide centres. The aim was to develop new growth charts that would serve as a standard for all children, ie. that would describe the growth of healthy children who fulfill their full genetic potential in optimal surrounding conditions. An additional novelty of these standards is the introduction of gross motor development milestones along with anthropometric standards.