Website revieW

Open Book on Growth

An online and interactive training aid developed by the infant & toddler Forum

The importance of monitoring growth in the early years

Regular measurement of child growth is one of the most effec-tive ways of monitoring a child’s health and development. It offers reassurance when all is well and can detect early signs of nutritional and developmental disorders such as overweight and obesity and poor growth. It may also pick up abnormal growth which might indicate the existence or development of certain diseases or syndromes.

In a recent national survey1, around 13 per cent of English toddlers aged 2–3 years were considered obese. However, within a group of health visitors, school and community nurses polled by the Infant & Toddler Forum about the practice of child growth measurement2, less than 50% said they were very confident in using growth charts and 48% did not feel confident calculating and assessing children’s BMI, the key diagnostic indicator for overweight and obesity.

Responding to the need for more information on the measure-ment of child growth for healthcare professionals, the Infant & Toddler Forum has launched ‘Open Book on Growth’ - an online and interactive training aid designed to support the current Gov-ernment and WHO strategy to ensure that every child’s health and nutritional needs are met, that every child is given the best possible start in life and that early signs of disease such as falter-ing growth and obesity are detected.

Open Book on Growth

What is it?Open Book on Growth is the first and only educational, interactive resource designed to help healthcare professionals develop and update their skills and knowledge on child growth assessment as part of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Devel-oped by the Infant & Toddler Forum, Open Book on Growth pro-vides clear reference to the evidence base and currently accepted guidance and best practice in the UK, to strengthen and improve understanding of the importance of monitoring and assessing growth from 0–3 years.

Lead authors • Dr Robert Coombs, Consultant Neonatologist, Sheffield Teach-

ing Hospitals • Dr Gill Harris, Consultant Paediatric Clinical Psychologist,

University of Birmingham • Judy More, Freelance Paediatric Dietitian • Carolyn Taylor, Specialist Practice Teacher, Health Visiting

Structure and navigationThe website is divided into learning modules, each covering a defined area of child growth monitoring. As well as information

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about measuring and monitoring growth, each module contains advice on explaining growth to parents, and a learning quiz to test knowledge, accredited for RCN CPD study hours.

Areas covered include: the importance of monitoring and assessing post-natal growth; what measurements to take; how to measure children of different ages; when to seek medical advice; how to advise parents; the tools necessary to monitor and assess child growth. Users can also complete tasks which involve plot-ting growth measurements using specially designed case studies and an electronic plotting mechanism which replicates growth charts used in practice.

A film accompanies the website which shows children’s growth being measured in practice, filmed on location at Shef-field Children’s Hospital.

A resources section is also provided, with recommended read-ing, latest guidelines and a number of downloadable tools for measuring child growth in practice.

Relevant to:All healthcare professionals involved with or interested in mea-suring and monitoring childhood growth, predominantly: paedi-atric nurses; endocrine nurse specialists; midwives; community nurses and health visitors; dieticians.

Open Book on Growth is accredited by the RCN, approved by the BDA and reviewed by the CPHVA.

Register at www.infantandtoddlerforum.orgThis website will be reviewed and updated in line with any

new significant developments in child growth measurement pol-icy and guidance.

About the Infant & Toddler ForumThe Infant & Toddler Forum is a multi-disciplinary team of experts and practitioners who share a common professional interest in infant and child health, growth and nutrition. Its aim is to improve the access of healthcare professionals to reliable, evidence-based information relevant to their practice, which will equip them to advise and support the parents of infants and young children. The Forum is supported by an educational grant from Nutricia Ltd. The views and outputs of the Forum are those of its members and copyright of its work rests with them. The work of the Forum is independent of Nutricia and its commercial interests.

Lawrence Weaver

Professor of Child Health, University of Glasgow

Chairman of infant & toddler Forum.1statistics on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet: england,

(2008) the information Centre, Lifestyles statistics2survey of 160 health visitors and nurses in england and

scotland carried out by the infant &toddler Forum and

www.healthvisitors.com

2 © 2008 Published by elsevier Ltd.