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New Born Baby Growth Chart

Are you worried about your new born? Monitoring your baby’s growth will help you know how well your baby is. Healthy growth and development is the main objective of parenting. Understanding your baby’s growth and maintaining a growth chart will help you maintain your baby’s health and his/her overall development.

A new born baby grows rapidly for the few months following birth. Your baby grows the most between two to twenty four weeks of age. However, babies are born with some extra fluid in their bodies, and it is normal for them to lose some ounces of weight in the first few days after their birth as the extra fluid is lost. Your baby is considered healthy if he/she loses seven to ten per cent of their birth weight. Your baby will regain the lost weight within the first two weeks of birth.

Your baby’s length increases by fifty per cent within the first year and also weighs half of the adult’s weight by two years of age. Your baby’s growth rate decreases while he/she completes six months of age and dips even further as she/he completes nine months of age. This decrease in growth will not accelerate until adolescence.

Maintaining a baby growth chart helps in comparing your baby’s weight and height. It also helps you keep a track of your baby’s head’s circumference. Monitoring the head circumference is the most important aspect that determines a baby’s growth. A head that grows too rapidly can indicate hydrocephalus or water in the brain. Similarly, a head that grows slowly may also indicate possible nutritional or developmental problem.

These measurements help you determine changes to your baby’s diet and other possible changes related to your baby’s physical and emotional status. You can also measure your baby’s growth at home. However, they may not give you accurate results. For example, you can measure your baby’s head circumference by wrapping a measuring tape around his/her head. The baby’s head is different from other parts of the body and does not develop completely until after they are born. Your baby’s head continues to grow till he/she completes one year of age.

Regular visits to the pediatrician will help you to maintain normal baby growth. You need to remember that each baby is different in terms of their body chemistry, heredity, and diet. These percentile charts, growth charts, measurements are only guides for the doctor to evaluate your baby’s growth.

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