Anthropometric indicators or the norm of weight and height of a child are the most important criteria for assessing his natural development during the first year of life. Of course, these data are purely individual. Some children grow measuredly, they are fine gradually gaining weight and height. Others are in leaps and bounds. Such babies can then lag behind in weight in one month, but completely compensate for the lack in another. They can grow slowly, after which they will gain 7-9 centimeters in a month. There is no concept of "a single norm for the height and weight of a child." Each organism develops in accordance with its internal rhythm - the biological clock.
Basic weight gain rules:
1. If the mother does not have enough milk, or its nutritional value is low, the baby will not eat up, which can adversely affect the he alth of the child, this will be seen in the indicators. He will grow poorly and will not be able to gain weight. In this case, immunity may be weakened, and the child will be susceptible to illness and serious malformations. To avoid such threats to the life of the baby, his mother will be prescribed a diet that increases fat content.milk. If this does not help, the baby will need to be given complementary foods.
2. If the baby is completely bottle-fed, he gains weight faster. This does not mean that formulas are better than breast milk, just that they take longer to digest and are not as rich in composition as mother's milk. The norm of weight and height of a child who is bottle-fed is slightly higher than that of ordinary babies. Children under one year of age should be examined by a doctor every month. This allows you to monitor development and mark anthropometric indicators.
3. The norm of height and weight for premature babies is more flexible than for normal babies. Babies who were born in the seventh or eighth month are under constant medical supervision. They are discharged only three to four weeks after birth.
Factors affecting performance
Among all the factors that can affect the weight and height of the baby, the most common ones should be highlighted. Most often these are conditions that cannot be taken into account by standards:
1. Environment. If the summer heat is outside, the baby is unlikely to want to eat a lot. Most likely, he will try to drink more fluids. This can lead to weight loss. Do not worry about this, because if the baby is active and alert, then he is he althy. A he althy baby should not cause anxiety in parents, even if he does not want to eat. You just need to try to feed him at night when the heat has subsided.
2. genetic predisposition. Very often, children are larger orsmaller than the prescribed norm of height and weight. This may be due to the fact that their parents differ from the average. If the parents are small and have a fast metabolism, then it is likely that the baby will also slowly gain grams and centimeters. Conversely, large parents often have children who significantly exceed the norms of height and weight. But this is not a pattern. Sometimes, regardless of parents and genetic predispositions, a child may have standard indicators.
3. Gender of the baby. Oddly enough, but depending on the gender, children have different indicators. The standard norm for the weight and height of a female child in different months is slightly different from that for boys. Girls have lower averages than smaller males.
4. Diseases. Children are very sensitive to all changes in their body. The slightest cold can significantly reduce the absorption of food and, as a result, lead to a slowdown in development. Of course, this is not necessary, but there are often cases when even because of teething in children, the appetite deteriorates, the temperature rises, and the baby does not gain enough weight in a month. Therefore, the norm of weight and height of a child always has more than one value, but limiting parameters.
