Norms of height and weight of children up to a year

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

In the first months after birth, only one thing is expected from the baby - so that it develops normally in accordance with generally accepted standards. If, when compared with the tables developed by doctors after large-scale questions and studies, the height and weight of a child under one year old coincide, then the parents are calm - there are no pathologies. But should deviations be cause for concern?

Why control height and weight gain in children under 1 year old?

Slightest deviations from generally accepted standards in especially restless mothers cause a violent reaction. As a consolation, they can be argued that there can be no ideal norm in weight gain and height, deviations are possible in both directions. Moreover, doctors can interpret the data based on the individual development of the baby.

According to the WHO recommendation, the weight and height of a child under one year old must be monitored, and in case of too much discrepancy in the testimony, seek help from a medical institution. To minimize errors for girls, there are separateoptions, same as for boys.

The developed standards help parents, but give only a general description of development, when the height and weight parameters of an average small citizen are taken as the norm, who must have a certain development by a given number of months or years. The tables do not help determine the he alth of the baby, any problems and deviations in the body, but only fix how the child should grow month after month.

Where did the height and weight norms come from?

If you listen to the findings of UNICEF and WHO, you will know that they have decided that breastfeeding is the best form of feeding. This is especially important up to six months from the date of birth. So the baby can develop normally. But already then, natural food is not enough, constant complementary foods are required, and every month the child must get acquainted with more and more products.

. Now parents anywhere in the world need only open the table and check the data after weighing and measuring their child's height to find out if there are he alth or nutrition-related problems.

Breastfeeding is the foundation of normal development

The need to create new rules arose due to the fact that it was decided, in contrast toprevious ones, to take the biological aspect as a basis - namely breastfeeding. As a test subject, a child was taken who was not overweight, and a prerequisite was that he had to be breastfed. Any additional feeding is completely excluded. So it became possible to check the height and weight of the child by year to make sure that the development is going well.

Children under the age of ten who were in favorable conditions with breastfeeding or who had only a he althy diet at an older age were included in the statistics. They were also not susceptible to infectious diseases due to good he alth. The parents of the children did not have bad habits, and the mother during pregnancy led only a he althy lifestyle and did not get sick.

That's why the new data that is placed in the tables is different from the previous one, which also included measurements of formula-fed babies. Now the new data, which details the height and weight of the child by year, contains slightly different numbers.

Baby weight categories

Baby just born should weigh:

• About 2500. This is the lowest limit, which indicates that the birth occurred at the required time and there is no danger to life. If a child was born with a lower weight or earlier than the time appointed by nature, then there were good reasons for such deviations. For example, the pregnancy was with pathologies or multiple pregnancy, there were unforeseen externalcircumstances.
• From 2,500 to 3,000 g. These weight limits are a little short of ideal weight parameters. This can most often be blamed on the weakened immune system of the mother, her severe toxicosis, or a lack of nutrients and vitamins in the female body. Differences in the Rh factors of the parents and problems with the placenta may also play a role.
• For boys, 3,500g and 3,000g for girls are considered the best. Here, fluctuations in both directions by 400-450 gr.
• More than 4,000 years. This happens if the child was born later than the specified date or he is not the first born in the family. Usually subsequent children weigh 40-60 g more than the previous ones.

Growing Up

The height and weight of a child up to a year are added unevenly. By the end of the first month of life, the baby weighs an average of 600 grams more than at the time of discharge from the hospital, and three centimeters longer.

By 6 months, the baby must gain 800 gr. every 30 days. Growth on average increases evenly by months:

• I - 2-3 cm;
• II - by 3 cm;
• III - 2.5 cm;
• IV - 2.5 cm;
• V - 2cm;
• VI – 2 cm.

Also, a growth rate of 4 months is taken as a guideline. By this time, the baby should weigh twice as much as when it was born.

After 6 months, doctors impose more stringent requirements on the child, as the emphasis is not only on weight and height, but also on many other parameters and norms of behavior.

The height and weight of a child up to a year will not increase so actively, but after 6 months of age every month the body weight should increase by 400 g on average, and by 10-11 months the baby will already weigh three times more. In growth, he will also add more slowly - 1.5-2 cm. On his first birthday, a year, the baby weighs about 10 kg, but deviations in both directions are permissible up to 1 kg.

More detailed data on the norms are presented in tables taken from the official website of the World He alth Organization.

Growth rate table for girls below.

Here you can see the weight norms for girls.

This table shows the growth rates for a boy.

And here you can see the weight norms for boys.

Measurement error

It happens that the height and weight of a child under one year old do not match those indicated in the table, but the baby develops normally and visually gains weight correctly according to all criteria. The reason for this is often a simple explanation - the parents do not quite correctly weigh or measure the child. Decisive factors may be:

• Diapers. Last time they were denser, weighed much more, and a month later it was warm, and the diapers were replaced with light ones.
• Sliding a child on a stadiometer or he is tucking his legs. However, even a small error cansignificantly change the data.

In order to take measurements correctly, you need to put the baby, but only on a flat hard surface, straighten the legs, then the result will coincide with the true parameters. It is better if there is no clothing, since even a diaper can slightly raise part of the body, and therefore the data will be distorted.

The WHO tables display the weight, height of the child by months up to a year in columns where there are quantitative boundaries. The average is between 25 and 75 percent.

Baby scales

To always know how the child is gaining weight, you should purchase a special scale, but one in which the weighing cup will potentially not cause inconvenience. Before putting the baby to bed, it is necessary to lay a diaper on the scales, but its weight must then be crossed out. Place the baby in such a way that the weight is evenly distributed. You can determine the mass only after the arrow stops oscillating.

It is desirable to record the norms of height and weight of children under one year old in a journal. This is one of the most reliable ways to always know how a child is developing. You should not worry if the data in the table where the average data is displayed do not exactly match the ones just received, but if the baby's own weight and height figures differ significantly, there is reason to visit a doctor for a consultation.

Reasons for falling behind the standards

The height and weight of children from 0 to a year may lag behindgenerally accepted standards for a number of reasons. Of these, several of the most common can be distinguished:

• The baby got sick. If this happens, the appetite disappears too quickly, and the refusal of the next serving of milk is accompanied by symptoms typical of the disease. It could be fever, skin rash, loose stools.
• Lower energy consumption. Rare walks, as a result of which access to fresh air is limited, as well as little activity lead to a decrease in appetite, then the height and weight of children under one year old may lag behind the norm.
• Feeding according to the regimen. This method is more acceptable for mom. But the child, if he wanted to eat, does not understand that he has to wait for several hours, as a result, he begins to act up. Scientists have proven that a long break in feeding deteriorates the quality of milk.
• Mom has the wrong posture during feeding. It is difficult for the baby to grasp the nipple.
• Limited sucking time. Many mothers, fearing that the child is overeating, stop the feeding process themselves. But still, you should wait until the baby decides to stop sucking, and besides, he should not be deprived of very nutritious back milk.
• Too emotional baby can refuse food for a long time, if the situation around him suddenly changes significantly, new people appear that cause anxiety.

Conclusion

The need to gradually gain weight and height for a child up to a year old - a boy and a girl - is due to the biological structure of the body. Along the way, children must acquire all the skillsthat will be needed in life. That is, to develop not only physically, but also mentally. This harmony will provide the child with everything necessary for many years to come.