Is my baby gaining enough weight?

All babies lose weight after birth due to the loss heat, energy, stool, urine as well as a complete shutdown from the all-you-can-eat buffet they used to receive from their mother in utero. And, although new parents know it, the fact remains that they can still remain worried about it regarding their newborn baby.

So how do you make sure your baby is regaining his weight well? Well, bottom line is that a newborn baby should regain its postpartum weight within the first two weeks of life. However, since every baby is unique, some will take a few days to get past it and others will have a slower weight gain that will take the full two weeks. 

One of the reasons why health care providers are concerned with the baby's weight as a benchmark is because it provides valuable information on milk consumption and healthy infant development. 

Likewise, it is beneficial to monitor your baby's weight sporadically - without overdoing it of course - and avoid focusing too much on this aspect to prevent from generating more stress and anxiety than necessary. When the child is good health, it is suggested that you measure its weight on a monthly basis in order to properly monitor baby's weight development over time.

To give you a general idea, full-term and healthy infant’s weight gain is, on average, about 30g/day or 0.5 pounds per week up to when he is 3 months old. Then, even if the rate of weight change slows down, a baby is expected to have doubled its birth weight at 6 months or less and tripled it around 12 months old.

I hope these few lines have had a calming effect on you, dear parents.

I look forward to seeing you soon with another educational blog just for you.

See you soon,