Do You Know What is the Average Weight Gain of a Newborn Baby?

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Do You Know What is the Average Weight Gain of a Newborn Baby?
And what weight gain product should you use.
From the day your baby is born, doctors will advise you to keep track of his or her weight and use foods that helps baby gain weight. Unlike adults, the weight of a newborn baby can fluctuate every few days. A baby’s weight is understood as an indicator of his or her overall health and wellbeing.

Weight at Birth

The weight of the newly born baby at full term is about 7 to 71/2 pounds or 3 to 4kgs. The full term refers to a baby born after 38-40 weeks of gestation. A baby’s birth weight is dependent on many factors. This includes:

• Build of parents

If the parents have a short, petite build, newborns will have a small build as well. Similarly, if the parents are tall and big built, the newborn may be larger than average babies.

• Single vs Multiple Births

Twins or triplets are usually smaller than babies born out of a single pregnancy. This is because, in multiple pregnancies, foetuses have to share space in the uterus and are typically born prematurely. 

• Birth order

First-born babies are usually smaller than siblings that are born later.

• Gender

Though the difference is minimal at birth, girls are usually a little smaller than boys.

• Mother’s health during pregnancy

The mother’s health, especially during pregnancy, plays an important role in the baby’s birth weight. Mothers with heart trouble or high blood pressure may give birth to underweight babies. Similarly, if the mother gains an unhealthy amount of weight during the pregnancy, the baby may have a higher birth weight. Vices such as alcohol consumption, smoking or drug usage can also have a negative effect on a baby’s birth weight.

• Nutrition during pregnancy

The nutrition a mother receives plays a deciding role in the baby’s weight and growth. If the mother follows a poor diet, the baby could be born underweight. 

• Baby’s health

Infections during pregnancy or delivery related complications can affect a newborn baby’s birth weight and weight gain in the first few weeks.

Newborns may be weighed multiple times during their stay in the hospital. Most hospitals weigh the baby at birth, 48 hours after birth, 72 hours after birth, 1 week after birth and 2 weeks after birth.

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Premature Babies

Babies born before the full gestation period are usually smaller and have a lower body weight at birth. The weight of a premature baby depends largely on how early he or she was born. A baby may be said to have low birth weight if he or she weighs less the 5 pounds, 8 ounces or 2.5kg at birth. This is quite common for premature babies.  If the baby’s birth weight is less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces or 1.5kg, he or she may be said to have very low birth weight. 

Weight in 1st Two Weeks

In the first week of their life outside the mother’s womb, a baby normally loses weight no matter what you feed him or her. This weight loss is not expressed in terms of grams but rather as a percentage of the body weight at birth. Most babies lose 5-10% of his or her body weight. This depends largely on whether the baby is breastfed or formula fed. A baby loses 5% weight when bottle fed and loses 10% weight when breastfed. In either case, weight loss is nothing to worry about. Most babies regain the lost weight within a fortnight. In cases the baby is born prematurely or is sick at birth, it may take up to 3 weeks to regain the lost weight. 
If the mother is given intravenous fluids during the birthing process, the fluid may be passed on to the fetus. As a result, the baby may be born with extra fluids. This will be expelled from the body in the form of urine. It may make the baby appear to have lost extra weight but has a negligible effect on the baby’s weight and subsequent weight loss and gain.

When Should You be Concerned

As mentioned above, weight fluctuation in the first few weeks of a baby’s life is not something to be worried about. Some of the ways to understand if your baby is healthy or not are:

• How many time day does your baby feed?

A breastfed baby may ask to be fed 8 or more times in 24-hours. On the other hand, formula-fed babies need to be fed only once every 3-4 hours.

• How much does your baby eat at each feeding time?

Newborn babies usually nurse for about 10 minutes at a stretch. After 3-4 sucks, hey should find it difficult to swallow more milk. If the baby is formula-fed, he or she may drink 90-120ml of formula or 3-4 ounces at a time.

• How often does your baby urinate?

A baby who is breastfed may need a diaper change only once or twice a day for the first 1-2 days. By the 3rd or 4th day, the baby should need his or her diaper changed 6-8 times in the day,

• How many bowel movements does your baby have in a day?

Newborn babies may have only 1 bowel movement a day. This may appear tarry and dark for the first few days. Babies who are breastfed usually have more bowel movements as compared to formula fed babies.

Baby Food

Growth Spurts for a Newborn Baby

Once you bring your baby home, your paediatrician will want to measure your baby’s weight at 1,2 and 4 weeks. A baby’s weight must be measured on a special baby scale. This is more sensitive than normal weighing scales and can pick up minor changes. After the first 2 weeks, when the baby has regained the lost birth weight, he or she should gain between 4 and 7 ounces each week. This trend should continue for the first 4 to 6 months. On average, your baby will gain 1 pound each month.  Some babies may gain as much as 2 pounds a month. 
What you feed your baby will influence how fast they gain weight. After 4 months, babies who are formula fed tend to gain weight faster than breastfed babies. This is because the formula contains more calories than breast milk. However, it is not something to worry about. 
Most babies go through drastic growth spurts at an age of 7-10 days, 3 weeks and 6 weeks. Your baby’s weight may shoot up during this time and grow more slowly at other times. 

Baby Weight at 3 Months

Girls and boys may have different weights at the age of 3 months. On average, boys may weigh 6.4 kg, or 14.1 lbs while girls will typically weigh 5.8 kg or 12.8 lbs. Boys are usually 61.5 cm or 24.2 inches long and girls measure 60cm or 23.6 inches. 

Baby Weight at 6 Months

On an average, at the 6th month, 7.4kgs for girls is considered a normal weight. Similarly, at his 6th month, 7.9 to 8.2 kgs for boys is considered normal. If your baby was born with low birth weight, his or her weight at this stage may be slightly lower. This is not something to be worried about. What is important to see is that your baby follows a steady weight gain trend since birth.
At the age of 6 months, your baby may start teething. You can start feeding your baby solid foods at this age. You may start out by feeding your baby an ounce of baby food at meal times. This may be gradually increased to about 3 ounces a day. How much you feed your baby depends on your baby. 
Mashed fruits such as bananas or pears are an ideal solid food to introduce to your baby at this age. If you want your baby to have wholesome nourishing foods, you could also try ByGrandma’s porridge mixes formulated especially for 6-month-old babies. ByGrandma’s sprouted rice porridge mix and sprouted moong dal and rice porridge mix are ideal first foods for your baby.

Baby Weight At the First Year

Baby Weight At the First Year

                                    Average Baby Weights in the 1st year

 
Between 6 months to 1 year, weight gain decreases. Your baby will still put on weight and grow bigger but the rate at which this happens will slow down. By the age of 1 year, girls weigh 8.9kgs and boys weigh 9.7kgs. This is usually triple their birth weight. A baby’s weight at the age of 1 year, depends on their original birth weight, nutrition, genetic factors, and the parent’s build.

Feeding a 1-year old Baby

By the time your baby gets to the age of 1-year, he or she is dependent on solid food for most of their nutritional needs. While you may continue breastfeeding your baby for a few more months, your baby can eat three-fourths to 1 full cup of food 3-4 times a day. In addition, he or she may also eat a snack or two between meals. 
Your baby can eat all types of food at this age. However, spices and factory made foods are avoidable. ByGrandma offers a large variety of food for 1-year-old babies. Some of the most popular amongst them are ByGrandma’s Broken Wheat and Moong Dal Porridge Mix and ByGrandma’s Ragi and Oats Porridge Mix. These are filling porridge mixes that offer the same benefits as porridge you would make at home but are more convenient and easy to make. 

Porridge Mixes ByGrandma

ByGrandma Porridge Mixes for Babies

ByGrandma porridge is handmade in small batches to maintain the nutritional value of its ingredients. All the porridge mixes are made with 100% vegetarian ingredients and are chemical free.  These porridge mixes are packed with nutrients, easy to digest and boost your baby’s immunity. That’s not all, they are travel-friendly too. ByGrandma porridge mixes are available offline at grocery stores and online at the brand’s website and other popular e-commerce sites.

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