Every mother goes through the weight emotions, not your weight but the weight of the baby. When we are pregnant, we wonder is baby gaining weight well, enough but not too much, oh! No I do not want a big baby but I don’t want a very small one, hope baby will be about 3kgs… after giving birth, the questions continue, is my baby gaining weight, are they under weight or overweight? The first place to run to is social media, giving details of age and weight so you can get the nod of approval or disapproval from fellow mothers. When we start weaning, more questions follow, I think my baby is eating too little or too much and it is affecting the weight.
When baby starts walking, we keep wondering how comes we are stuck at the same diaper number since 4 months compared to your friend’s daughter who is the same age but is 2 diaper sizes ahead. We often forget that children are different; yes-even siblings will never develop at the same rate. Let alone siblings, even twins born at the same weight will vary in weight from a couple of grams and sometimes to KGs.
I was that mother, I was so scared that my son was born a big baby and was adding weight at an alarming rate, I even considered feeding him fewer times. But at the same time I wanted him to have enough ‘meat’ on his legs in preparation for the 6 weeks jab. I kept on imagining that if he was too small, the needle would go through to his bone. Crazy, I know. Thank God for my doc who would always tell me that, that was the right weight and boys usually add 250 grams per week in the first month. I was shocked at the number because my son was adding less.
When babies are born, they lose some of the birth weight, I remember my son was born at 3.8kgs but when we were leaving the hospital, he was 3.4kgs. They lose about 7-10% of their birth weight because some of it is water and even meconium. They however, gain the weight back in 10-14 day though this may vary as babies are different.
Common causes of poor weight gain for each age group are;
- Prenatal – Small for age at birth (called intrauterine growth restriction); prematurity; prenatal infection, birth defects; exposure to medications/toxins that limit growth during pregnancy like anticonvulsants and alcohol
- Neonatal- less than 1 month – Poor quality of suck (whether breast- or bottle-fed), incorrect formula preparation; breastfeeding problems; inadequate number of feedings; poor feeding interactions (eg, infant gags or vomits during feedings and parent assumes child is full – reflux); neglect; birth defects that affect the child’s ability to eat or digest normally
- Three to six months – Underfeeding (sometimes associated with poverty or not understanding dietary needs of infants); improper formula preparation; milk protein intolerance; problems with child’s mouth/throat; medical problems that affect absorption of nutrients (celiac disease; cystic fibrosis); medical problems that increase the number of calories needed (congenital heart disease), gastroesophageal reflux
- Seven to 12 months – Feeding problems (eg, struggles between the child and parent about what will be eaten; problems with the child’s mouth that make it hard to adapt to textured foods, not introducing solids by six months of age; refusal to eat new foods when first offered, and then not offering the food again); intestinal parasites
- Over 12 months – Easily distracted at meal time; illness; new stress at home (divorce, job loss, new sibling, death in the family, etc); social issues (underfeeding related to fear of overfeeding, limiting food choices, poverty); sensory-based feeding disorders in children with developmental disorders (eg, autism); swallowing dysfunction
Here is a chart of the average weight, please note that it differs from children to children and other cause might also make your child fall out of the bracket eg. babies born prematurely, sickness, genes etc.
| Month / Age | Girls-weight | Boys-weight | |
| Birth | 3.2 | 3.3 | |
| 2 weeks | 3.6 | 3.8 | |
| 1 month | 4.1 | 4.4 | |
| 2 months | 5 | 5.4 | |
| 3 months | 5.8 | 6.4 | |
| 4 months | 6.4 | 7 | |
| 5 months | 6.9 | 7.5 | |
| 6 months | 7.3 | 7.9 | |
| 7 months | 7.7 | 8.3 | |
| 8 months | 7.95 | 8.6 | |
| 9 months | 8.2 | 8.9 | |
| 10 months | 8.5 | 9.2 | |
| 11 months | 8.7 | 9.4 | |
| 1 year | 8.95 | 9.7 | |
| 13 months | 9.2 | 9.9 | |
| 14 months | 9.4 | 10.1 | |
| 15 months | 9.6 | 10.3 | |
| 16 months | 9.8 | 10.5 | |
| 17 months | 10 | 10.7 | |
| 18 months | 10.2 | 10.9 | |
| 19 months | 10.45 | 11.1 | |
| 20 months | 10.7 | 11.3 | |
| 21 months | 10.85 | 11.6 | |
| 22 months | 11.1 | 11.8 | |
| 23 months | 11.3 | 11.9 | |
| 2 years | 11.5 | 12.2 |
As the baby becomes mobile, the add less weight as most of it is spent as they play and so a couple of grams per month is good.
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Comments (2)
You know it’s weird how babies gain weight. Sometimes I am embarrassed to mention my daughter’s weight to friends or anyone who asks so more so often I lie. You see, my daughter is 12 kg and she is 13 months old. She was born weighing 3.8kg and there is no particular time she lost weight, it has been steadily rising. I am proud to say that I did exclusive breast feeding for six months ( I still breast feed her to-date), so formula was never my thing but still she added weight; granted I have a loads of milk but sometimes I wonder why her weight is so much. The doctors say she is fine, a very healthy child at that and that she will eventually lose the weight. It doesn’t bother me much nowadays because I have chosen to believe the weight will go. My weird theory is that if you were born heavy, you will grow to be thin and if you were born light you will grow to be heavy,case in point myself. I was born under 2.5kg and currently I am battling to lose weight. my sister on the other side was born a whooping 4.2 kg and she is slim you wont believe she is the eldest child.
My son was also adding weight so fast. What comforted me was that he was hitting his milestones faster than the ‘slim’ babies and so that made me not stress over it. So true, the lose the weight, we are stuck at 10kgs now.