The report of the Health Examination Survey program contained national estimates of infant health needs and the extent of prenatal and postnatal medical care received by 7,119 normal and handicapped children who were 6 to 11 years of age in 1963 through 1965. Children were chosen to be representative of American noninstitutionalized children with respect to age, sex, race, and region as well as other demographic and socioeconomic variables. Medical history data were obtained from a questionnaire completed by the parent. Principal findings included the following: more than 97% of mothers had some medical care during pregnancy; 3% of the children weighed less than 5 pounds at birth while 1% weighed more than 10 pounds; mothers of physically underdeveloped infants reported more medical problems during pregnancy; 8% (equally distributed between boys and girls) of the children had birth defects; 92% of the children were born in a hospital; 14% of the children had health problems during infancy of which 98% had the services of a physician; one third of the children were breast fed; and children in good health at the time of the survey were only slightly more likely to have been free of health problems during infancy. (DB)