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Child Growth

 

Child Growth

At birth, the baby will weigh about 3 kgs. After this, the baby will lose 150-200 gms in the first 3 to 4 days. Then, there will be a rapid growth and gains about 25 to 30 gms, a day for the first three months and little less after that.
The widely accepted formula that a baby doubles his birth weight at 5 months and trebles it at 1 year may be misleading. A smaller baby of 2 to 2.5 kgs. at birth may be 4 times his birth weight at 1 year of age.
The length of a baby at birth is 48 to 50 cms., and at 1 year of age he becomes one and a half times that size, and there after increases as shown in the table below:
The average increase in weight and height during the first 5 years :

Age	Weight increment per week
0 to 3 months	200 gms.
4 to 6 months	150 gms.
7 to 9 months	100 gms.
10 to 12 months	50 to 75 gms.
Per year 1 to 5 years	2.0 kgs.

Age	Length increments per year 25 cms.
1st year	25 cms.
2nd year	10 to 12 cms.
3rd year	7 to 9 cms.
4th year	6 to 8 cms.
5th year	6 to 8 cms.

You should remember that these are averages, and all babies will not conform to this pattern. There is a wide range within which a baby’s growth is considered normal.
The average weights of well-nourished Indian children at different ages are as follows:

Age	Boys	Girls
Birth	3.0 kgs	2.9 kgs
6 months	7.5 kgs	7.0 kgs
1 year	9.5 kgs	9.0 kgs
2 years	11.7 kgs	10.6 kgs
3 years	13.6 kgs	12.6 kgs
4 years	15.0 kgs	14.3 kgs
5 years	7.0 kgs	16.0 kgs

The above weights are 1 to 1.5 kgs. less than the weights of American children, probably because of racial and ethnic differences.
The average heights of well-nourished Indian children at different ages are as follows:

Age	Boys	Girls
1 year	75 cms	72.5 cms
2 years	5.5 cms	83 cms
3 years	93 cms	90 cms
4 years	98.5 cms	96 cms
5 years	107 cms	104.5 cms