What you should know about your baby’s weight gain?

When should you be concern about your baby’s weight gain most?

Experts agreed that you should keep an eye on their weight gain during their early years. It is an indicator of their growth and development. Even if your child’s weight is different than other children with the same age, it is important that the baby increases its weight at a steady manner. If they gain weight too fast then they might suffer from obesity and associated diseases early on their life. The same thing with too slow, as it this might lead to developing physical or psychological problems. During the early years of their lives, babies’ brain grows rapidly and it needs nutrients to help sustain its development.

The growth pattern of babies depends on their age. Experts believe that during the first four months babies should put on between 100 and 200 grams per week, but that is hard to say since each baby is different from the other. The rate slows a bit from four to six months then slows again from six months. The only way for you to see this growth pattern is for you take note of their weights on the growth chart in your baby’s ‘Personal Health Record’ (PHR) book you got at their birth. With the help of a growth charts, you can follow the long term growth patterns in either a breastfed or formula fed infant. As a parent, it is important that you know how well your baby is progressing.

There are newborns that always sleep during the early weeks and you need to regularly wake them up whenever you are going to feed them, at least until the time they become more alert. Check their diapers regularly as wee and poo indicates whether they are getting enough fluid.

If you are going to weigh up your baby, be sure to use the same weighing scale over and over again as each scale is different from the other and might produce different results. There is no need to worry if their reading is too low or high occasionally as the long term pattern is the indicator of a healthy baby.