The weight of the baby is one of the issues that most worries parents. There are the doubts and the typical questions, worrying or comparing your child with nearby or known babies. How much should he weigh? Is he eating efficiently, is he chubby, is he too skinny, is he growing enough?
Naturally, doubts assail you will be normal. But the basic thing is that you metalize from the first moment your baby is born, that each baby is a world. You should not compare it with any other and neither worry that “an acquaintance, a friend or a relative or so-and-so, so-and-so…” tells you or compares your baby with someone else.
Because each baby is due to its own characteristics. We explain genetics and inheritance from the father and mother will play a fundamental role from the first moment. If the parents, for example, are tall, large or wide-boned, the baby has a higher percentage than that, that it also comes out big. If, on the other hand, the parents are rather small, it is possible that the baby, also small.
Who you should always pay attention to at all times is the pediatrician, who from the moment he is born, will be in charge of taking control of your little one and assessing if he is growing as expected, if he is at his exact weight, he will vaccinate him when If necessary, it will take a control… like this every month. Remember, that the first six months of the baby’s age are very important, it will continue to be so until the first year of age, but the first six months is where its correct weight and size are most valued. Until four months, you will see that the baby was growing rapidly, he gained weight very easily. But now, it will be done more and more gradually and will continue like this, until six months.
Instructions
- The first six months of the baby, that is, half of the year, you should go to the pediatrician monthly. At first it may seem a bit tired or heavy, but it is absolutely essential to assess your baby’s progress.
- You have to think that the pediatrician must administer the vaccines to the baby, he will assess him, he has to explore him, etc. Depending on the months that you are completing, he will carry out different tests to rule out possible problems at a cognitive, intellectual, physical, etc. level.
- You must assess, among other things: that it can be maintained, that it moves without difficulty, that it does not have hearing problems (keep in mind that it is beginning to listen), that it has reflexes (it is already beginning to see with colors), that it smiles, etc.
- Of course, what this post is about is that we take into account what is considered normal weight when the baby is three months old and when to worry. Well, obviously, saying beforehand that it depends a lot on the baby, its characteristics, its physical condition, its genetics, etc. If it is true, it will be the pediatrician who will carry out an evaluation where he will go every month, in each visit you make with the little one, writing down both the weight and what he measures. In this way, he will compare it and see if he is evolving correctly, if he is stagnating or, on the contrary, is beginning to lose weight or gain weight.
- You will see and verify that babies grow as grandmothers often say “by days” and it is true. They grow up very fast. The first months of life, in fact, is when more changes are made and more quickly. Therefore, the first months, they will grow and gain weight progressively.
- With such a young age, do not forget that they are only three months old; the only thing they can drink is milk. There are two options, depending on what the mother has decided and/or she is able to do. In that case it is either breastfeeding or, on the contrary, artificial milk.
- Here a great dilemma and debate opens up, but we are not here to comment on this aspect, much less judge. Both options are equally valid and that each person decides to feed their baby as they prefer. But we comment that, according to medical studies, they say that it helps the baby to be healthier if the feeding is by breastfeeding. This means that the milk she feeds the baby is from her mother’s breast. Artificial milk is when it refers to milk that is not from the mother.
- Whether you decide to breastfeed or bottle feed (both equally valid options), it will have to be done at least up to six months of age. Meanwhile, for more than obvious reasons, the baby cannot be fed anything else. He is too small to eat solid food.
- Regarding the main question, how many times should you eat a day, how much, how many do you take, more or less times, do you not want to eat or do you eat too much?, etc. These doubts are very frequent, but calm, to begin with and in general, the baby asks for himself when he wants to eat. She will cry and ask you to eat. But there is also the counterpoint of the baby who eats little or finds it difficult to do so, in these cases, you must be careful and if you have to control what amounts and how many times he eats. In these cases, always ask the pediatrician.
- If we base ourselves on what is usually “normal”, the average is between four and six daily shots. But of course, it depends a lot on the baby. There are those, for example, who are big eaters and eat more or more often. Others who fill up more quickly, do not finish the feed and, therefore, are hungry sooner and need more feeds. You will see this with the days.
- As we are emphasizing, each baby is a world and it is not an exact science, but in general, when the baby is already four months old, he begins to have a little more “endurance” with the feedings. With these months they are beginning to sleep for a few hours at a stretch and endure the need for such constant feedings a little longer. This is the time when the mother can start to rest a little more at night.
- If until the first four months it seemed that your baby was growing by days, now it will do so somewhat more gradually. For example, when it comes to gaining weight he will continue to do so, but not as fast as he was doing it in previous months. The logical thing is that he is recovering now for each month that goes by, an average of half a kilo. It is not an exact science, we repeat. But it is what is generally seen based on the weight of babies at this age.
- As for the amount of food, also the ideal thing if you doubt, is that you ask the pediatrician, he will tell you what the baby needs. Although if you base yourselves a little on your son, you will see it. For example, the normal thing is that on average they are between four or six times a day. And the quantity, taking into account that it is already four months, about 200ml. Of course, it is not an exact science, for example, if your baby’s diet is based on breastfeeding. In these cases, the baby will always ask you to see if he wants to continue nursing or not.
- Percentiles are useful to assess weight and growth, but of course, they are not everything and it is not clear whether the baby is more or less healthy just by this rule. Therefore, it should not be fully taken into account; it is only at an indicative level.
- If you have heard a lot about the percentile table, but you are not sure what they mean, we will tell you what it is about. Actually, they are some values or a table, with which after measuring your baby, an approximate estimate is made of what it should measure and weigh. Be careful, always keep in mind that they are indicative data. That is also why it is important to take data and measure the baby. For example, in the percentile table, the data that is taken into account are the measurements of the skull, the sex of the baby, her measurements, the weight, the months that she is. After scoring them, an average is made.
- It is also highly valued and it must be taken into account that the type of pregnancy that the mother has had is also highly valued, the pregnancy that the mother has had, how the baby was born, if the pregnancy lasted nine months, if it was premature, etc. It’s not nonsense, no. In fact, any problem mentioned is highly valued because it will influence the baby’s low weight, for example (if he was born prematurely) that he has not yet developed well, that it is difficult for him to gain weight, that he is smaller… Of course, you cannot compare with a baby that has had a perfect pregnancy that was born at nine months, that the mother did not have any kind of problem or mishap that was born at its optimal weight that is well developed, etc. For this reason, each case is special and must be assessed by the doctor.
What do you need
- If you have any doubts, it is essential that you talk to your baby’s doctor, nurse or pediatrician.
- Do not stop going to the check-ups that your baby has with the pediatrician. They are very important at this age.
Tips
It is important that you do not worry too much about the issue of your baby eating a lot or eating according to “little” or else, that he should be more or less big. There will always be people who make these types of comments that it is possible, to new parents, can cause some confusion or upset. But don’t do it. If you are taking your baby to the pediatrician (which is what you should do) this is the only one who can really tell you if your little one is above her weight or below the threshold that she should weigh. In both cases, what it will take into account is if she is eating more than she should or the milk is very fatty, for example. If he is skinny, he will assess whether he eats a few times, a small amount or it is difficult for him. If it is none of these options, obviously, you will assess other tests to perform and rule out health problems in the baby.
In any case, the baby at three months will gain weight more slowly. Not as quickly as she was doing so far. On average, picking up half a kilo every month for up to six months is more than normal. Do not worry. Take into account also the genetic option. What will mark your baby the most? If the parents are big, the genetic inheritance of the baby is that it be big and if you are small, more of the same too.
