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Why a Newborn Baby’s Basic Measurement is Important?
You must be quite happy because you got a cute baby. You want to keep him healthy, provide him with the best things possible, and observe his growth. How will you ensure the baby is growing normally and his health is fine?
The simplest way of ensuring that is by measuring different body parts. Learn how to take the baby’s basic measurements to ensure he is growing like a normal child.
How to Measure Baby’s Height?
Measuring the baby’s accurate height will be too easy if there are two people. Ask your spouse to hold the baby’s knee joints and head with both hands. You will hold the tape measure to take the measurements. Thus, you will know how tall your baby is.
If you are alone and want to take the measurement, then follow the below-given method:
Things you need: You need two heavy books and a tape measure.
Method: Let your baby sleep and then lay him straight on the bed. Now, spread the tape measure parallel to the baby and secure it with both books. Now lay your baby against the tape measure and spread his legs straight. You can measure the height in centimeters and know how tall he is now.
You should avoid measuring the baby’s height every day. Take this measurement every two weeks to monitor the growth.
Get familiar with the development law
Babies grow 3-3.5 cm per month during the first year of their life. It is the time when the growth rate is quite fast. This growth rate slows down gradually and that’s how babies grow. Your baby might get 2 to 3 cm tall during the infancy period. His height will grow about 16 cm during the first six months and about 9 cm in the next six months.
The baby would be 1.5 times taller than he was at the time of birth. His height won’t increase too rapidly in the 2nd year. It might increase by about 10 cm per year. The baby’s height will grow 5-7cm per year once he is two years old.
All babies do not grow equally. Some get taller too fast and some look short for a few years. The nurturing environment, diet, and physical activities affect the baby’s height growth. A baby’s height grows faster during the springtime and slower during the October month. Parents should provide healthy meals during the peak growth period to ensure the better development of the child.
How to Measure the Baby’s Weight Accurately?
Your baby’s weight reveals many things about his health, diet, and growth. A healthy baby would easily gain weight and get healthier. Therefore, parents must learn the right way to calculate the weight to monitor the baby’s development.
Method to follow
- Let the baby release fluids and get a bit hungry to measure his accurate weight. Avoid calculating your baby’s weight after feeding him.
- There is no need to remove clothes or diapers when calculating the weight. Know how much your baby’s clothes weigh so that you can subtract that weight from the overall weight.
- Calculate how much your baby weighs every month until the baby is 1 year old. It reveals how the baby is growing.
Note: If the baby gains weight naturally, it shows he is absorbing nutrients from the food he consumes. Suppose the baby does not show good growth, you can take him to the doctor to ensure everything is fine.
Your baby will gain weight quickly until he is 1 year old. You may not notice the same increment every month. Be familiar with the growth law to know how to monitor the baby’s body weight.
Growth law
According to the growth law, a baby should gain 700-800 grams of weight every month until he is 3 months old. He may gain up to 500 grams after three months. Your baby’s weight should continue to increase 500-600 grams every month until he is six months old.
This increment will reduce after six months and the baby might weigh thrice the weight he had at the time of his birth. A healthy baby should weigh around 10 kg as he gets 1 year old.
Standard formula to calculate a baby’s weight
This formula reveals whether your baby is gaining weight normally or not. Use the following formula to calculate your baby’s weight:
Weight Calculating formula for a 1-6 months old baby: Birth weight + Month age x 0.6kg/month
Note: Baby’s health conditions and diet can affect his weight. Therefore, parents should ensure the baby is healthy and fed timely.
You should continue taking your baby to the doctor for a regular health checkup. That’s how you can prevent health issues before they affect your baby’s growth.
How to Measure a Baby’s Chest?
Every newborn child has a cylindrical chest. The front and back diameter of his chest would be pretty the same. The transverse diameter grows quite faster as the baby grows older. The front and back diameters grow slowly in comparison to the transverse diameter as the baby grows. Follow the below-given method to measure your baby’s bust:
Chest measurement method
Let your baby fall asleep to take accurate measurements. Lay him flat on the bed once he is slept and keep his hands flat on the bed. Now, pick a tape measure and gently wrap it around your baby’s chest. It should be placed right below your baby’s nipples for a perfect measurement.
Now, hold the zero at the center of the baby’s chest. Check the reading of the other end of the tape measure. You will know the size of your baby’s chest. It will change as the baby grows and gets older.
Many things can affect your baby’s growth, which includes climate condition, nutrition, and the food you provide. Boys and girls show different improvements in their size. Therefore, you should not worry if your girl child does not show the same development as a boy child. A boy child would have a larger chest than a girl. There is no need to worry if the chest size is within a standard range.
The law of newborn development says
A healthy newborn baby would have a breast circumference of around 32 cm when he is born. It will grow rapidly and it should be 12cm larger every month. Newborn babies have larger head circumference than chest circumference. Their chest size grows faster than head size as the babies grow older.
How to Measure a Baby’s Head Circumference?
Measuring a baby’s head size should not be tough. Follow the below-explained method to monitor your baby is growing normally:
- Get a soft ruler tape and place its zero right between the eyebrows of your baby.
- Now, gently wrap the tape measure around your baby’s head and then hold the other end at the starting point.
- Check what value you get after wrapping the tape around your baby’s head.
- It is the head circumference of your baby.
- What precautions to take while measuring head circumference:
- Choose only a soft tape measure if you want to get an accurate reading.
- Do not keep the tape too loose or too tight otherwise you won’t get the right measurement of the head.
- Keep your baby’s hairs towards the upside to measure the exact size of the head. The fluffiness of the hair can affect the reading.
You should take your baby to the hospital or a special testing institution to get accurate measurements. It is possible to make certain mistakes while measuring head circumference. Professionals know how to carry out this operation. They would happily offer their support and charge quite a reasonable fee for their services.
What does the head circumference development law say?
Most of the newborns have a 34 cm head circumference on average. It grows more rapidly than other parts of the body during the first six months. Its growth gradually slows after six months. The difference between head and chest circumference can be around 10-20 cm as the baby grows and becomes an adult.
Parents must know that the head circumference will grow pretty fast during the first three months. A 1-year-old boy child would have a head circumference around 46.0 cm and a girl child will have 45.5 cm.
The growth of head size reveals how your baby’s brain is developing. Therefore, parents should measure it timely. Suppose it does not grow as explained, you should meet a pediatric doctor for further checkup. The doctor will diagnose health issues and provide the best treatment to cure them.
Conclusion
It is quite easy to take a baby’s basic measurement. All you need is a soft tape measure and a weighing machine to calculate the height, weight, and growth of limbs. Get these measurement tools to monitor your baby’s growth.
You should not stop the measurement if you want your baby to grow normally. Regular measurement ensures that you will know health issues before they affect your baby’s growth. Thus, he won’t face severe health problems in the future.
