The weight of the baby at birth

Throughout the pregnancy, the obstetrician or the specialist who performs the ultrasound can confirm to the parents the approximate weight of the baby as it develops during the three trimesters of pregnancy. Since then, a concern of parents: what is the size or weight of the baby? A concern that wil

Throughout the pregnancy, the obstetrician or the specialist who performs the ultrasound can confirm to the parents the approximate weight of the baby as it develops during the three trimesters of pregnancy.

Since then, a concern of parents: what is the size or weight of the baby? A concern that will continue with the birth of the baby and as the baby grows and evolves.

What is the ideal weight of the newborn? When a baby is born, one of the first questions we ask ourselves is how much it has weighed. For dads it is very important, but it is also important for pediatricians.

The normal weight of a newborn is between

2500 gr and 3800-4000 gr , according to gestational age. There are some curves called percentiles that help us situate the newborn with respect to other newborns of their sex and gestational age.Newborns who are born with low birth weight, also called retarded intrauterine growth (CIR) or low birth weight, or small for the gestational age (PEG) are more likely to have hypoglycaemia in the neonatal period. The treatment recommended by the pediatricians for them is to perform glycemia controls after birth and in adulthood control against possible metabolic alterations.

Likewise,

children born with a high weight , greater than 3,800 gr, are more at risk of having hypoglycemia, so we must also control their blood sugar levels in the first hours of life.The causes of low birth weight can be:

- infections

- prematurity

- maternal smoking

- alterations of the placenta.

On the contrary, the high weight of the baby is usually related to alterations in the hydrocarbon metabolism of the mother (such as diabetes).

The newborn usually loses weight in the first week of life, usually less than 10% of the weight at birth. Generally in a healthy child with an adequate diet, such as breastfeeding on demand, the weight of birth is recovered after two weeks of life.