Kathy:
If you open the full report (adobe file) and look under 'data sets' it
states the data sources which include the ones I mentioned before.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad314.pdf
My only point in posting this info was to let people know that there indeed
are new growth charts, that are based on new data sets. I think they are a
bit better for evaluating exclusively breastfed children (but still not
ideal) but others may feel differently. And some people may agree with you
that growth charts are not appropriate for evaluation of individual
children. People can read the background information and make their own
judgements.
I do not know how much of the NHANES II and III samples were breastfed or
exclusively breastfed, or what specific criteria they used to define
breastfed. I agree that it is important to be critical, but I don't know for
a fact that "a baby who tried twice in the hospital got counted as
breastfed" - you may be right but I would caution against drawing
conclusions unless we're certain.
WHO is also developing new growth charts which will be based on exclusively
breastfed children. I think it will be a few years still until those will be
available unfortunately.....
Josefine (José) Wendel, MS, RD
Cambridge, MA
Email: [log in to unmask]
From: Katherine Dettwyler <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 5:07 AM
Subject: New CDC Growth Charts
> I could not find anywhere on the CDC page where it said that NHANES II and
> NHANES III data had been incorporated into the new charts. Can someone
> please tell me exactly where this information is located?
>
> Someone wrote that the OLD CDC charts were: "based on the FELS data, which
> was a sample of exclusively formula fed caucasian children."
>
> This is what it actually says on the CDC web site: "The data for the
> original charts came from a private study of primarily Caucasian,
> formula-fed, middle-class infants from southwestern Ohio."
>
> I realize that grammatically it is ambiguous. The word PRIMARILY is
> supposed to modify Caucasian AND modify formula-fed AND modify
middle-class.
> Most of the infants were Caucasian, not all. Most of the infants were
> formula-fed, not all. Most of the infants were middle-class, not all.
And
> this doesn't change the fact that those children fed on formula were not
> drinking modern day formulas. It also doesn't change the fact that they
> were starting solids at 2-3 weeks, as was the custom at the time.
>
> Also note what else the CDC says about the new growth charts:
>
> "Compared to the original infant charts that were based on
primarily
> formula-fed infants, the revised growth charts for infants contain a
better
> mix of both breast- and formula-fed infants in the U. S. population. (On
> average, since 1970 approximately one-half of children born in the United
> States are reported to have been breast fed at some point, and about
> one-third have been breast fed for 3 months or more.)"
>
> We all know that many/most of these children born since 1970 who were
> 'breastfed at some point' were not breastfed exclusively and were not
> breastfed for very long. A baby who tried twice in the hospital and then
> formula-fed gets counted as 'breastfed' for the purposes of claiming that
> these charts are better than the old ones.
>
> It is interesting to see that the CDC is now caving in to the common use
of
> these charts for pediatricians to track individual specific children, and
> glossing over the fact that they were originally developed to allow
> researchers to compare averages for groups of children to averages for
> groups of US children. They were never originally intended to be use to
> track the growth of a single child. Apparently, the CDC has given up
trying
> to prevent them being used this way.
>
>
> Kathy Dettwyler
>
>
>
>
>
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