Introduction -- The growth journey in early life -- The global burden of malnutrition -- Progress toward WHO Global Targets for 2025 -- General implications of early life nutrition -- Growth monitoring and growth standards -- At the front line: The role of healthcare professionals -- Purpose of this Essential Knowledge Briefing -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading

Section A: Healthy growth -- Fetal Growth -- The fetal growth continuum -- Factors influencing fetal growth -- Key fetal growth milestones and monitoring measures -- Fetal programming and its short- and long-term consequences -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading -- Postnatal growth -- Growth during infancy -- Regulation of growth in early life -- Growth monitoring measures -- WHO growth standards -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading

Section B: Compromised birth -- Growth in preterm infants -- Definitions -- Prevalence of preterm birth -- Risk factors for preterm birth -- Implications and prognosis -- Assessing postnatal growth in preterm infants -- Nutritional management to ensure optimal growth and development -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading -- Small-for-gestational age term infants (term SGA) -- Definition of term SGA -- Prevalence of term SGA births -- Risk factors/causes of term SGA -- Consequences and potential health risks in the SGA population -- Factors influencing postnatal catch-up growth in term SGA infants -- Assessing growth differences for term SGA infants -- Nutritional management to ensure optimal growth -- Other interventions -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading -- Large-for-gestational age (LGA) infants -- Definitions of LGA and macrosomia -- Prevalence of LGA/macrosomia -- Risk factors for LGA -- Consequences -- The impact of nutrition -- Identification and monitoring -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading

Section C: Challenged growth -- Inadequate growth during infancy and childhood -- Definitions -- Underweight: Prevalence and timing -- Stunting: Prevalence, causes, timing, impact, and management -- Wasting and severe wasting: Prevalence, causes, timing -- impact, and management -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading -- Overweight and obesity -- Defining child overweight and obesity -- Prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity -- Consequences of infant/child overweight and obesity -- Risk factors for obesity development -- Obesity prevention: Targeting modifiable risk factors after birth -- Monitoring of weight status -- Chapter highlights -- Source materials and further reading -- Future directions -- Understanding optimal growth -- Establishing appropriate interventions -- Conclusion

GROWTH TRAJECTORY AND ASSESSMENT, INFLUENCING FACTORS AND IMPACT OF EARLY NUTRITION provides an overview of physical growth during the first 1000 days - from conception to the age of two years, and the factors that influence the trajectory. The book discusses growth challenges that can occur, m compromised birth such as preterm, term small-for-gestationa ge-for-gestational-age to growth deviations such as stunting an overweight and obesity in infancy and toddlerhood.