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All babies develop at different rates. For most, postnatal growth is quick and easy. But some babies don't gain weight as quickly as expected, even though they're not picky eaters. Many parents fear that the baby's first month of not gaining weight can lead to problems such as growth retardation, susceptibility to infections.
1. Reasons why babies don't gain weight
1.1. Feeding problems The most common reason for a baby's slow weight gain may be that the baby is not sucking enough or not getting enough milk for the body. The reason is that the children have thrush or the mother has problems in producing enough milk.
If this condition persists, the mother needs to consult a specialist to improve the quality and quantity of milk per feeding.
1.2. Babies with certain pre-existing medical conditions The reason why a baby doesn't gain weight in the first month may also be due to another pre-existing medical condition. For example, as mentioned above, a baby with thrush can be one of the reasons.
Parents should consult a doctor and possibly do some more tests to determine the health status of the infant or the mother. Once the cause is identified, the doctor can suggest a treatment plan to improve the quality of the child's meals.
In addition, in some cases, infants eat enough milk but still have difficulty gaining weight as expected, which may be caused by the child having difficulty absorbing food. Certain intestinal problems, such as: Celiac disease, food allergies, and diarrhea, can prevent infants from using the food provided to them to grow.
Finally, some children do not grow to use calories very quickly because they have higher calorie needs. This includes children who have to work harder to breathe, are born early, or have certain heart abnormalities. These children need extra calories to gain adequate weight.
2. Signs and symptoms of a child not gaining weight
The only way to know if your child is gaining weight is through regular weight checks and exams. You should also keep track of your child's stools, urine, and feeding habits and take notes on them. When there are abnormal signs, parents need to consult a pediatrician and nutritionist.
When your baby is sick if he or she has flu-like symptoms, you may need to increase the feeding time or add an extra session. This is because children will not be able to retain enough nutrients from their normal meals when they are sick.
3. Diagnosing infants who do not gain weight in the first month
Doctors can use a variety of ways to diagnose infants with delayed weight gain. Some common ones are as follows:
Your baby is in the bottom percent of his growth chart: The WHO chart mentioned earlier shows a graph showing percentages and percentages. If your child is in the bottom 3%, this means that out of 100 children only 3 are smaller or the same size as your child. This is the fastest way to diagnose children with slow weight gain. Your baby is not gaining more weight between checkups or weighing every two weeks: This could indicate he may be malnourished. A blood test can show if there's a medical reason for your baby's slow weight gain: Doctors often take a wait-and-see approach before recommending this diagnosis. The type of blood test depends on the symptoms your child exhibits and is determined on a case-by-case basis.
4. Is it abnormal for babies not to gain weight in the first month?
T cheap baby in the month does not gain weight is it okay? Baby weight gain is a positive sign that the baby's health in the first month is very good. But when children do not gain weight and are completely healthy, that is not unusual. Sometimes babies gain weight slowly because each child's body is not the same and each baby is unique.
On the contrary, if the child does not gain weight, the mother taking care of the child needs to pay attention to the baby's health and monitor whether the baby has any signs or symptoms to take him to a specialist to check this condition for any reason. other. Infants who do not gain weight in the first month or are slow to gain weight can lead to mental, emotional and physical weakness of the baby.
5. Help children gain weight
When a child is having difficulty gaining weight, the pediatrician will offer a number of ways for parents to try at home to help gain weight for their child. If the above measures do not work, parents can take the child to the hospital for a closer examination and monitoring.
In addition, parents should also pay attention to their nutrition and supplement with necessary micronutrients such as: Zinc, selenium, chromium, vitamins B1 and B6, ginger, acerola fruit extract (vitamin C), . .. to improve taste, eat well, achieve height, weight right and exceed standards, good immune system, enhance resistance to less sickness, limit stress, fatigue.
Also according to leading nutrition experts, parents need to be calm and persistent when supplementing with nutrients for children, even through eating or functional foods. In particular, the use of functional foods should choose those of natural origin that are easily absorbed, do not allow simultaneous use of many types or continuously change the types of functional foods. Besides, nutrition experts also emphasized on the role of biological zinc; Parents should learn and supplement zinc for children properly at the appropriate time, to avoid zinc deficiency affecting the comprehensive development of children.
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