Waiting for a baby is an exciting process full of anxieties. But with the advent of the newborn, concern for his health only intensifies. There are many questions in the head of parents. Is the child eating well? Does he have enough breast milk? How is weight gain and physical development of the baby? Does it correspond to the age of the child? Control weighing will help answer these and other questions.
Relevance
Parents whose babies are breast-fed rarely need a similar medical procedure. Feeding a specially formulated formula has one big advantage. Mom always knows how much her child ate. But what about the situation with breastfeeding? How to determine the amount of food consumed? A special procedure will help parents with this.
The concept of medical procedure
Checkweighing a child is a medical technique. With its help, doctors identify the amount of breast milk consumed by newborns during feeding. The mathematical calculation during the procedure establishes not only the amount of food eaten, but also helps to track the increase in weight or its absence.
This technique has its roots in the Soviet period. At that time, women had to leave the decree early. Grandmothers were engaged in raising and feeding babies. Carrying out a control weighing helped them to establish whether the baby had eaten enough and if he had enough milk before the next arrival of his mother. Despite the fact that such a medical service is a relic of the past, it does not lose its relevance.
Indications for the procedure
Normal weight gain is an indicator of the healthy development of the child in the first months of life. The control weighing procedure is not a whim of doctors or parents. Medical service is simply not prescribed. In those cases when the baby has a well-developed sucking reflex, when he actively takes his mother’s chest and puts on weight in accordance with the norm and level of physical development, such a procedure does not make sense. Doctors recommend a weight control technique if there is a serious medical condition. Control weighing becomes popular in the following cases:
- The baby is actively losing weight after birth. Such pathological weight loss can lead to serious consequences, including exhaustion.
- The baby was born premature and weak.
- A newborn inactive sucks mother's breast.
It is recommended that parents control the weight during the illness of the baby when his appetite is reduced. The medical procedure also helps to identify the necessary calculation of the feed with an adapted milk mixture when switching to a mixed diet or during the introduction of complementary foods.
Equipment for
The control weighing procedure for a newborn is a set of actions that can be carried out by both doctors and parents at home. To carry out measurements, you will need an electronic scale, a disposable or cotton diaper and a notebook in which the results of the study will be recorded.
Control weighing in medical conditions: algorithm
When faced with the procedure for controlling the weight of the newborn and the lack of necessary equipment at home, doctors suggest conducting it in the walls of the clinic. For this, a special day is appointed when parents are obliged to visit the attending physician. Before starting the weighing, the pediatrician explains the purpose and necessity of carrying out measuring manipulations, and also gives an explanation on its implementation. The control weighing algorithm includes the following recommendations:
- Clean the electronic scale with a disinfectant. This will eliminate the risk of infections and the development of inflammatory processes on the skin of the baby. Adjust the meter to avoid inaccuracies in weight determination.
- Turn on the appliance and place a disposable diaper or cotton cloth on it.
- Pre-undress the newborn. Put it on the scales. Record your body mass index.
- Pass the baby to mom for feeding. Check the correct nipple grip by the baby.
- Repeat the measuring procedure.
- Determine the difference between the first and second weighings. It will help determine the amount of milk consumed.
- Record the result in the history of the development of the child.
Carrying out the procedure at home
With a measuring device, control weighing can be carried out independently at home. If you want to get reliable results, it is recommended to carry out the procedure at the same time. During the control weighing at home, you must perform the following algorithm of actions:
- Turn on the device and lay a diaper on it.
- Put your baby on the scales. Record the result.
- Feed your baby for 15-20 minutes.
- Repeat the weighing procedure. Reveal the difference.
- Record the result.
How to control the dynamics of weight gain?
How often is it necessary to carry out a control weighing procedure? Do not forget that in the first months of life a newborn eats about 6 times a day, or even more. And taking body weight measurements before and after each feeding seems tedious enough for both the baby and mom. Doctors recommend that control weighing not more than once a day. Preferably at the same time.
All indicators should be recorded in a separate wound notebook. For this, mobile applications specially designed for nursing mothers are also suitable. Such programs for smartphones will help parents track the dynamics of weight gain, build graphs.
After a month, you should compare the indicators and establish how much the child’s body weight has increased in the specified period. This result will help to identify how the baby develops. Do his indicators of the ratio of height or weight to normal. They will eliminate the likelihood of underweight or its excess and help determine when the baby can already be fed.