In general, babies are born with different body weight and characteristics, the average weight of newborns is 2500-4500 grams. One that determines the size and weight of the baby is genetics, the mother’s health during pregnancy, and the nutrients provided while in the womb. You do not worry when your baby is low birth weight, the most important thing is the weight that can be achieved after your baby is born. Basically, the baby’s weight is recorded in a graph, one of the graphs that can be used as a guide for mothers is the Card Towards Health (KMS), with a graph in the KMS that will help you reference the baby’s normal growth. Generally, by the 4th month your baby will gain weight twice that of when your baby was born. (Also read: Baby Girl Names and Baby boy names)
However, observing the development of body weight is not enough, you also have to pay attention to height or length baby, head circumference is to measure the size of the baby’s skull and brain in normal growth, so that doctors can detect abnormal growth in babies early. You should not rush to say that your baby has a problem with weight because it can not only be seen from the appearance of your baby, the exact way is to measure and also compare the weight to the height of your baby. If the results, it is found that the baby’s weight is in the underweight category, then you can find the cause.
Here are some of the causes of thin babies:
1. Inadequate balance of infant nutritional intake, the role of the mother is very important to determine the nutritional intake that is tailored to the nutritional needs of your baby. You are advised to be careful in giving complementary foods.
2. Your baby has entered a period of height growth so that his movements and activities are active in babies who are older than 6 months causing her to lose a reasonable amount of weight.
3. Your baby is experiencing health problems, one of which is indigestion (food absorption) or diarrhea so that his appetite decreases, affecting the baby’s weight.
If your baby’s weight is quite slow to increase, here are tips for gaining baby weight:
1. Intake Quality breast milk. In infants under 6 months of age, the only way is to increase quality breastfeeding. Quality breast milk can be produced from the food intake of nursing mothers, complete daily nutritional needs and also avoid pressures that make you stress, thereby reducing the quality and quantity of breast milk.
2. Schedule the provision of complementary foods. In general, at the age of your baby entering complementary foods (6 months and over), the baby will drink less breast milk, this is considered reasonable because he has obtained other nutritional intake from solid foods. You can schedule complementary foods 2-3 times a day with portions that are tailored to your baby’s age, the most important thing in giving complementary foods is nutritional content, especially calories, you can add vegetable oil or cheese to complementary foods to make it more interesting and varied.
3. Composition of the right solids. If you want to increase your baby’s weight, you should pay attention to the types of complementary ingredients for your baby. You can make complementary foods with a comparable composition of carbohydrates and side dishes and vegetables (50:50), for example, 4 tablespoons of team rice plus 2 tablespoons of side dishes and 2 tablespoons of vegetables. You can provide healthy snacks, twice a day, namely at noon and late in the evening.