The appearance of a child in the world is a great happiness and, at the same time, a huge responsibility. As a rule, parents have a lot of different questions (especially if it's the first child), concerning education, development and health. In this article, we will consider in some detail such an important indicator as the norms of weight and height of children.
Already in the first minutes of life, doctors examine and measure the parameters of the growth and weight of the child. From this touching moment begins the countdown of the development of the baby. Next, the baby is weighed at the discharge from the maternity hospital and will repeat this procedure monthly at a pediatrician's reception.
Weight and height are the main anthropometric data on the development of the child. The length of the body of a newborn depends both on heredity, and on the sex of the child, the quality of nutrition of the mother, and so on. The growth of the baby after birth occurs in a certain way: most intensively it grows in the first three months of life, then the increase gradually decreases. Weight is a more dynamic parameter, so it "tied" to growth, to determine the harmony of development. Weight gain in the first months of life, usually more than the following, and is about 800 g. Then the weight gain is reduced and depends on such factors as the type of feeding, the characteristics of the organism and others.
In more detail, you can track the growth rate and weight of your child in the tables below.
Average height and weight of the baby at birth
The statistics says that newborns have a mass of 2600-4500 g. The growth parameters range from 45 cm to 55 cm. All this is the norm, but do not worry if your baby is slightly smaller or larger, because the norm is only a guide, and not law. It is possible that your child has his own development schedule, which will not affect his health in the future.
Exemplary indicators of height and weight of the child
There are no strict standards for the growth and weight of children. In this issue, everything is very individual and depends on many reasons, such as heredity, type of feeding, etc. For example, everyone knows that when breastfeeding a baby develops more harmoniously than with an artificial one. But, nevertheless, there are some guidelines presented in the centile tables, according to which doctors determine the correctness of the child's development. They were developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006. Prior to this, such tables were created more than twenty years ago and did not reflect the individual characteristics of content and upbringing, as well as nationality and region of residence. Further you can familiarize with them.
Tables of the norm of weight and height of children from 0 to 17 years
Girls
Boys
The intervals next to the average are estimated as below and above the average. Such indicators are considered normal.
Indicators are low (very low) or high (very high) - if the weight or height of your child has entered this zone, then its development is different from the norm. In this case, you need to be vigilant and ensure timely examination, get adequate counseling of specialists and, if necessary, to treat.
One of the reasons behind the standards of weight and height in infants is a lack of nutrition.
Do not forget that excessive gain in weight also does not affect the baby's health in the best way. Children with a large body weight are less active, a little later they begin to walk and crawl, have a tendency to allergies and protracted diseases. This is observed, as a rule, with artificial feeding, as the child is easily overfed.
Carefully watching the development of your baby now, you will protect yourself and him from possible problems in the future.