Baby weight gain: A guide to their first year

Temas
The first year of your child’s life is filled with rapid growth and weight gain. It’s normal for new parents to wonder if their child is growing normally and how much weight baby should gain in the first 12 months. Whether you’re breastfeeding or formula feeding, closely monitoring your child’s feeding habits can help you determine their progress. Our baby weight gain guide can help you monitor their growth during their first year and determine what an average baby weight is.
For full-term babies, the average male baby weight is born at 7 pounds, 6 ounces, while the average female baby weight is a bit less at 7 pounds, 2 ounces.
It’s common for babies to lose about 10% of their body weight in the first week after birth mostly due to fluid loss. Don’t worry, healthy babies rapidly make up this loss and then some!
On average, the first 3 months of life will bring gain about an ounce of weight gain a day. Weight gain ebbs and flows in slow increments. Some days your child might not gain anything, then 2 days later they might gain much more. The average baby weight for a 3-month-old is around 12–14 pounds, but that’s just an average. Every baby is different. In general, a baby will typically be double their birth weight at 6 months old.
Parents don’t need to weigh their baby every day though. For healthy babies, your child’s pediatrician will weight them during each visit to observe their growth and weight gain. Most babies have well-baby visits 6 times before their first birthday. The first visit is usually 2 to 3 days after coming home from the hospital. After that, they’ll continue well-baby visits at regular intervals, typically:
Find a Texas Children’s Pediatrics location near you. Existing patients with MyChart accounts can also schedule an appointment online.
During the first weeks of life, your child should be feeding every 2 to 3 hours to help them grow and gain weight as they develop. Nursing mothers should estimate 15–20 minutes for breastfeeding your baby on the first side, and 20–30 minutes on the second, sometimes longer. Nursing mothers should focus their attention on how much time they’re spending nursing rather than on the amount of milk they’re producing. The beginning stages are about building tolerance first and helping the baby practice latching, sucking and feeding.
Bottle-feeding parents should be giving their newborn baby roughly 1 more ounce of formula than their age in months for healthy weight gain. For example:
Adequate nutrition for your baby, whether from formula or breastmilk, is best assessed by monitoring your baby’s growth and weight gain progress. Also, if your child’s bodily functions are occurring multiple times during the day, that’s a good indication your baby is hydrated and receiving the appropriate milk or formula supply. If you’re worried about your baby spitting up, don’t be: In most cases, baby spitting up breast milk or formula is normal.
Your child will also add length as they add weight. Over the first 6 months, babies gain about an inch per month. After that, half an inch per month from 6 months to 1 year is expected.
Again, your pediatrician’s growth chart will help you see how your child is progressing in both overall development and weight gain. If your baby is happy, alert and sleeping well, then your child is likely growing properly. At any point, if you feel like something might be wrong, talk to your pediatrician.
Slow weight gain isn’t always a concern; some babies are simply smaller than average. However, when babies don’t gain as much weight as they need to, it may be called “failure to thrive.” In general, babies with failure to thrive aren’t getting enough calories to grow and gain weight.
Even if you’re providing enough calories, your baby may be eating too little or having digestive or other problems that make it hard for them to absorb food. Your child’s pediatrician will recommend the best next steps after assessing the potential causes of poor weight gain. These steps may include a high-calorie formula, spacing out feedings differently or medicine.
Texas Children’s Baby Bistro is a service to help support mothers who choose to breastfeed. We offer full breastfeeding evaluations with our international board-certified lactation consultants. If you’re having problems breastfeeding or just want to make sure everything is going well, call us at 832-826-8881.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2017 issue of Healthy Living Made Simple.