Finally, the long-awaited baby was born in the family. Both parents and grandparents so wanted to see him, all the time imagining what he would become in a few years, how they would all raise and bring up a peanut. But after its appearance, you can encounter a huge number of problems. One of them, which constantly excites young mothers and assisting grandmothers, is the weight gain of a newborn.
What is the "reference point" of the weight of the baby
Each newborn baby, as soon as he was born, should be examined by a pediatrician, and at the end of this examination, the crumbs should be weighed and measured in height. The reason for the pride of parents and relatives is the weight of 4, or even 4.2 kg, which is considered to be heroic.
Doctors consider normal weight in the range from 2.6 to 4.0 kilograms, and height - from 46 to 56 centimeters. The ratio of height and weight makes it possible to calculate the Ketle index. For example, the weight of the newborn peanut is 3.350 kg with a height of 52 cm. The baby’s weight is divided by his height, it turns out 64. Since the ratio of 60-70 is considered normal, we can say that the crumbs are all right.
After birth, the baby and mother remain in the hospital under the supervision of doctors for several more days. Again, it is weighed on the day of discharge. From these two numbers, indicating weight at the very beginning of life and after a few days, when the mother and baby are discharged from the maternity hospital, the subsequent weight gain of the little peanut begins, and then is very dependent.
Baby weight at birth
Children are born, having different indicators for height and weight. The initial weight of the pean depends on several factors:
- Mom’s nutrition during the months of pregnancy (if the caloric intake, the baby is gaining a lot);
- gender (boys are often larger than girls);
- health crumbs;
- the presence of a pregnant woman's bad habits (if the expectant mother smokes, drinks, uses drugs, she may have unhealthy children whose weight will be insufficient);
- heredity (if the mothers are thin and short, they have small crumbs; tall mothers with large weight, the children will be larger);
- the psychological and physical condition of the woman - if the mother lived in a state of stress for a long time during pregnancy or she is unhealthy, this can affect the health of the children - their illnesses and low weight.
Baby weight at discharge
After birth, babies lose weight a little. Weight loss occurs for several reasons:
- the little ones are trying to adapt to living conditions, because the baby changes his environment very sharply, but for now the baby is not used to living in it; because of this, the discharge weight is less than birth weight by about six or even ten percent, and the norms of weight gain for each baby are counted from this second figure;
- fluid loss - when the baby is born, he begins to breathe; a significant amount of fluid evaporates through the skin and respiratory system;
- food installation - at the very beginning of his life, the baby drinks in small portions in colostrum; this happens until he adjusts his nutrition, and tasty and nutritious milk gradually begins to arrive at mom.
Norms of weight gain for a baby in the first year of life
The initial mass can be restored almost during the first week. A significant increase can be found in the first three months. So far the baby sleeps a lot, moves a little and eats.
The newborn’s weight gain in the first month of his life is as follows: every day, a baby can gain about twenty grams. In the second month - already twenty-five; in the third - thirty. There are kids who add two kilograms in the first months. A small increase is considered to be about 450 grams, that is, about 115 grams every week.
From the fourth month, the baby slowly begins to crawl, gradually turns over, tries to sit, that is, it moves quite actively. He now has increased energy costs, spent fat reserve. During this period, a month the baby gains from 400 to 600 grams. A little later, at the age of six to nine months, the increase will still decrease. It will be in the range of 300-500 grams.
The norm of weight gain in newborns from nine months to a year is as follows: the baby will gain approximately 100-300 grams each month. Thus, its weight will exceed that which was at the beginning, approximately three times.
From minus to plus
So, we already know that at the beginning of their lives, newborns lose a little weight. Not only does the liquid leave the body, so does the original cal - meconium. By the time the baby and mother are discharged from the hospital, a gradual weight gain begins in newborns by breastfeeding: mom is now “producing” more breast milk. True, this is if the toddler is actively breastfeeding.
If, under the condition of active sucking by the baby, the weight continues to decrease, the baby should be examined. Maybe there are some problems with the digestive system, or the baby has congenital lactose deficiency (in this case, the baby is tormented by severe gas formation, pain in the abdomen during feeding, the crumbs may have green stools).
The weight gain in newborns on breastfeeding, as well as on artificial, is from half a kilogram per month. As a rule, kids gain their weight unevenly. The norm of weight gain in newborns by months is from 600 grams to one and a half kilograms approximately. It so happens that in the first month of life they recover by one and a half kilograms, and in the second - only 500 or 600 grams. It is necessary to control the persistence of the growth trend so that the overall increase can fit into the normal one.
Believe tables
It is quite natural that the weight gain of a newborn baby is exciting for parents. Therefore, they strive to level the mass of their children in all available ways, focusing on the tables provided in the literature and on the Internet. But keep in mind that many medical charts were compiled about a third of a century ago. After some changes were introduced in the data on the regimen of treatment with the baby and the regimen of feeding (all this was introduced in order to change the old maternity hospital rules), such tables are more recommended for calculating the weight gain of the tots that are on artificial feeding.
Breasts gain their weight in a slightly different way. So, on average, the weight gain in newborns by months (the WHO has established these figures) is as follows: 800-1000 g per month for the first ninety days of life, and for the next three months, starting from the fourth and sixth - 600-800 grams. After six months, the mass is gaining, but a little slower. By the year the baby weighs about eleven to twelve kilograms.
Weigh the baby at home
There are situations when a mother is sure that her newborn baby eats poorly, as a result of which it gains weight poorly. In this case, you can carry out a control weighing of the volume of milk that the baby has sucked. Since it is rare for a family to have special baby scales, ordinary floor scales, which many have, are useful. Before feeding the baby, one of the parents picks it up and stands on the scales (it is better if the scales are electronic, then the mass can be found to the nearest tens of grams). After the baby has eaten, you can measure the total weight again - the crumbs and the parent. The difference that turned out in the values will be the mass of the milk or mixture eaten.
What should mom do if the baby is poorly gaining weight
The most correct answer to this question would be to feed your baby denser. If the weight gain of the newborn is not quite the same as expected, and the baby is only breastfed, you do not need to immediately introduce the mixture into his diet. Such a decision can lead to the fact that the mother will decrease the amount of milk. Such a shortage can be in very young children who like to sleep, doze off while feeding, ineffectively suck. Due to lazy sucking, milk production in mothers is gradually reduced. As a rule, the child begins to feel hungry in the evening. It is at this time of day that mom has almost no milk left in her breast. "Get" it is possible only with active sucking.
If a mother wants to keep breastfeeding, she must not spare herself and keep the crumb by her chest almost constantly. As soon as he wakes up, breastfeed him without giving water from the bottle. The situation will improve in a week. If everything goes well, it is permissible to do intervals between feedings, but not very large - no more than three hours during the day and six at night.
If the baby is gaining weight sharply
More often, young mothers worry about the fact that their beloved little girls are not gaining the necessary weight, even if the baby eats by all the rules and the weight gain in newborns for months corresponds to all the numbers in the tables and recommendations of pediatricians. In some cases, they experience and for diametrically opposite reasons. The peanut is recovering too quickly, and this fact is alarming to parents. You should be aware that sudden weight gain in babies can cause:
- overfeeding a child; this mainly applies to infants who are on mixtures; the consequences of exceeding the norm of feeding and improperly selected mixture - a predisposition to allergies, low motor activity, long-term illnesses, the development of new skills for a long time;
- hormonal imbalance; some hormone-based drugs have an effect on lactation; moreover, they can help reduce mum's milk production; if the hormonal disorder is observed in the baby, he is constantly recovering, it is necessary to get a consultation with an endocrinologist.
When parents understand that the weight gain of the newborn is too different from the accepted standards, it is necessary after a doctor to conduct a thorough examination of the heart, thyroid and kidneys, perform an x-ray and take tests. The sooner it is possible to identify the disease, the easier it will be to treat it.