| Doctors use growth charts to compare a child's measurements with those of other children his age. This helps the doctors determine whether a child's growth is adequate. Boys and girls are plotted on different charts because their growth rates and patterns differ. For both boys and girls there are two sets of standard charts: one for infants ages 0 to 36 months and another for children ages 2 to 18 years. The charts are a series of percentile curves that show the distribution of growth measurements of children from across the country. | 
