study of the infant's growth from birth to 2 years in rural community of Babol

Evaluating the process of child’s growth monitoring is of utmost importance to detect malnourishment. The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the trend of infant growth from birth to 2 years in the rural community of Babol and compare this with NCHS. This exiting data type study was conducted on monitoring growth system in Babol rural communities, which were covered by health centers. 429 children with their birth between 1994 to 1996 were selected through a cluster sampling technique. The percentiles of height and weight were calculated and compared with NCHS standard. Results have revealed that the weight of 67.5% of infants was between 50th and 97th NCHS standard at 1 month. This figure was reduced by increasing the age to 45.2% at 6 month, 42.6% at 12 month and 44.2% at 24 month. Girls’ growth profile showed a 5-20% reduction as compared to boys. Results also showed that the reduction of height in comparison with standard, was began at age 1 to 3 month. The 50th percentile of height was close to the NCHS, but after 3 month it deviates from NCHS. A significant difference was observed between 50th percentiles of height and weight with NCHS (p< 0.05). The results indicated that Iranian infants’ growth can not be evaluated with NCHS standard. It is necessary to provide national and local charts of the growth for Iranian children.