How do you feel about your baby’s size? Sometimes it can be hard not to compare your baby others and worry, especially if this is your first baby.
We all come in different sizes, shapes and with different personalities and appetites and babies do too.
Allow your baby to have their own rate of development and try not to worry. As long as they are reaching normal milestones for development and feeding well (with wet and dirty nappies) there is rarely cause for concern.
You can get your baby weighed with the Health Visitors once a month. There have to be some babies on the top or bottom of the scale, these measurements are still within what is considered normal.
For example 25% of healthy children will be under the 25 centile line – and this is normal for them.
If your baby drops a centile try not to worry. Sometimes a baby’s growth curve isn’t quite in line with the curve in the book, growth spurts don’t all happen for all babies at the same time. Trust your instincts about how your baby is developing.
BABY WEIGHT CHECKLIST
- Firstly, check the measurements are recorded correctly (human error can happen so ensure the right numbers are in the right bit!)
- Consider how your baby is in themselves (feeding, smiling, meeting developmental milestones, etc)
- Remember weights between the 0.4th and 99.6th centile lines are normal.
- Ask the Health Visitor for help if your baby has dropped 2 centile lines, is not feeding properly or seems unwell.
- If your baby is LOSING weight (except in first few days when up to 10% is normal) ask for your baby to be checked over.
- If weaned – consider whether food intolerance may play a part in weight gain / loss (can affect absorption). Consider energy balance of the foods.
- If breastfeeding, get your latch checked at a breastfeeding support group
- Our size at birth doesn’t always correlate to size once grown.
The main thing is to trust your instincts, if your baby seems unwell, or not themselves then check with a medical professional.
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