How much weight should a baby gain per week?

Newborn weight and development in the first few weeks: how to tell if a newborn is gaining enough weight and growing as it should, without double weighing. This is one of the questions that new mothers ask themselves most often, especially those who are breastfeeding and do not know exactly how much milk their baby is taking on a daily basis. If the periodic weighing by the pediatrician helps to get an idea, it is good to keep in mind some internationally recognized basic rules, in particular those of the guidelines of the World Health Organization.

Physiological decline at birth: how much weight a newborn loses

At birth, each newborn has a weight that is around the estimate made during the last days of pregnancy. After delivery, the baby begins to excrete urine and meconium (the baby's first stool, consisting of amniotic fluid, intestinal epithelial cells, mucus, bile, and water), while feeding on a small amount of milk. Indeed, if breastfed, the baby will initially ingest colostrum, a thick, yellowish liquid rich in proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and antibodies. The milk supply usually arrives 48-72 hours after delivery, so it is normal for the newborn to suffer a weight loss of even a few hundred grams (between 5 and 10% of the initial weight, usually). Once the milk arrives, the baby will regain his birth weight and start growing.

How much weight should a newborn take?

In the first three months of life, the baby grows faster, reaching up to 600 grams of weight per month. But this should not alarm new mothers: each child has its own characteristics and growth rates. To make a rough estimate, we could say that a newborn in the very first months of life should gain at least 80 grams of weight per week, but it could go up to 200 or even 300. This depends not on the "quality" of the mother's milk - the body of the mother. mom knows exactly what to do! - but from many other factors: the infant's voracity, the time spent at the breast, the production of milk, the ability to assimilate and expel what has been ingested.

The double weighing: unnecessary stress for breastfeeding mothers

In the past, double weighing was widely used by new mothers, even on the advice of pediatricians, to check how much milk the baby was taking. Double weighing consists of weighing the baby on a special scale before and after feeding. In reality, this method is now considered outdated and causes only stress in mothers, because it only considers a number, that is the weight of the newborn, and not other factors, such as breastfeeding and the clinical examination of the baby.

When to worry about a baby's weight

Whether you are breastfeeding or formula feeding, the best way to assess your baby's growth is to observe how it behaves. Does it wet the diapers? How many a day? Is he active, alert, does he follow the normal stages of development for his age? You can worry if you always find the diaper dry, if the baby is unresponsive and always sleepy, if he loses weight. In this case, the only thing to do is to ask the pediatrician for a consultation, without panicking

How is the growth of a newborn assessed

It is not just the weight that is important for the development of the baby. You may have noticed that the pediatrician, at each visit, updates the so-called growth curve: even if your child falls within the lower percentages, the important thing is that his growth is regular. In addition to the weight, the doctor measures the length, the head circumference and evaluates the general condition of the child and his development with respect to age. If he tells you that everything is fine, don't worry and trust him. Not all children are gluttons!

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