A growth curve (or growth line) illustrates the way a child is growing over a period of time. A growth curve can be determined when a child’s size measurements have been made on two or more visits and have been plotted as dots on a centile chart. If these dots are now joined together with a line, you will have a growth curve. Therefore, the best way to assess growth is to look at the growth curve over the past few months and compare the growth curve to the centiles.