Infants gain weight slowly causing many mothers to worry, because the first months are the period when their baby's weight increases significantly. Is this a sign of baby's health problems? Let's find out the cause and how to deal with it, mom!
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1 / Growth in breastfed babies
2 / The reason why babies slowly gain weight
3 / What should babies do with slow weight gain?
Usually a newborn baby will tend to lose weight or gain weight very slowly from its original weight in the first few days after birth. Time after that, the baby will "speed up" to start gaining weight steadily. However, if the situation of infants gaining weight slowly forever still does not "change", mothers should pay attention. This can be a sign that your baby is having a health problem.
During the first few months of life, your baby's weight will increase significantly
1 / Growth in breastfed babies
Growth is considered normal for breastfed babies according to the World Health Organization standards through the following criteria:
A baby will lose about 5-10% of its weight after birth within the first week and begin to gain weight steadily after 2-3 weeks
- Postpartum weight will increase 2 times at 4 months of age and 3 times at 13 months for boys, 15 months for girls.
- Length increased by 1.5 times within 12 months
- Head circumference increases to about 11cm by 12 months
However, depending on many factors that each baby will develop differently.
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2 / The reason why babies slowly gain weight
Slow weight gain in newborn babies is usually caused by one of the following reasons:
Preterm birth : With premature, under-term babies, the weight gain is slower than for other babies. Not to mention the health of the baby will also be worse, more susceptible to disease.
Not getting enough milk: Maybe for some reason, the mother cannot determine whether the amount of milk is enough or not. Or, too little breastmilk does not meet the needs of babies, causing babies to gain weight slowly.
Health problems: Slow weight gain can be related to your baby's health. For example, neurological problems, anemia, milk allergy, hereditary syndrome, lactose overload, gastric reflux ... Or, the baby has some disorders affecting the ability to absorb nutrients essential for growth.
Babies who sleep a lot, suckle a little : There are many cases when babies are slow to give weight because they are too lazy to breastfeed or refuse to breastfeed. Sometimes when the baby is hungry, he will ask for a feed, but he will quickly "fall" to sleep, causing the feeding to be interrupted and the baby will only take a very small amount. If the condition persists, it will directly affect the child's development.
Lazy breastfed, little or some health problems are the cause of the baby's weight gain slowly
3 / What should babies do with slow weight gain?
If it is determined that the slow weight gain of the infant is related to the health problem, the mother needs to quickly take the baby to the doctor for complete treatment. Only then can your child catch up with the normal development momentum.
To improve the weight of the mother can apply the following:
Caring for your child 's sleep : Sleep is very important for the development of babies so it's important to make sure your baby gets enough sleep. In particular, moms should create conditions for your baby to sleep well and deeply between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. At this point, the growth hormone will increase 4 times compared to other times.
Breastfeed regularly: For breastfed babies, feed babies regularly, each feed is 2-3 hours apart. Try to keep breastfeeding for as long as possible as the fat content of breast milk will steadily increase and often double that of the original milk.
Breastfeeding at the right time: Babies sleep longer at night, skipping feeding can also reduce the amount of milk and weight, so mothers need to wake up their babies to breastfeed. In addition, mothers can give their baby more formula in case breastmilk is not enough for development.
Eating at the right time: Weaning should not be given too early, especially under 6 months of age. Most other foods have fewer calories and nutrients than breast milk. For children in the weaning age, mothers should add many different nutritional food sources to the daily menu such as: Cereals, vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat ...