Growth And Your New Born Baby

Growth is the process of increase in size or simply development from simple to complex.  It is the development from time of birth to the time of maturity, it involves the increase in cell size called cell enlargement followed by cell division and cell differentiation. Human body is in state of growth and development from the time of formation of zygote to adulthood.

            Humans has two state of rapid growth; infant growth beginning from birth to about three years and adolescent growth which begin from the age of 9-11 for girls and 12-14 for boys. During infant growth, babies triple their baby weight and increase their weight by 50% in the first year of an infant’s growth. s

Growth rate of an infant in the first and subsequent years can be studied by keeping the weight, length and size of the baby’s head. The best indicator of a baby’s health and wellbeing is growth. A baby that is growing progressively is all the way healthy while a baby with a ‘stunted’ growth is an indication of poor health.

 Babies come in size and weight, most newborn babies that has reached their full-term are mostly larger than  premature babies, babies born between thirty-seven to forty weeks  has weight around 2.5kg to 4kg.

 An infant that is heavier than the above is not necessary having any problem but should get the attention of a doctor while new baby who slightly weight less than the above is given average is not necessary not healthy. There are so many factors that determine the size of a baby , but the most important is the length of the pregnancy but other are the health of the mother, the  size of the couples,  gender, birth order and the mother’s nutrition during pregnancy.

            Huge parents tends to have larger kids than short parent, babies born as twins or triplets tends to be smaller and less weightier than single born babies as multiple babies compete for both space and food in the womb. First born babies tend to be smaller than the 2^nd or 3^rd in a multiple birth. A baby girl tends to be smaller than a baby boy. Also the health condition of the mother during pregnancy and birth can affect the health of the baby, for example, diabetic mothers, hypertensive mother or a women using hard drugs during pregnancy, all these will affect the size of the baby. A poorly nourished baby both during pregnancy and after childbirth can be smaller.

 Some babies are born before 37 to 40 weeks of pregnancy, they are called premature babies, and they tend to be smaller in size and less in weight than full-time baby. The time premature babies missed in the womb and the nourishment will greatly affect them, therefore they need to do this growth and nourishment in the outside world. This why preterm babies are giving special care.

 It did not mean that   bigger size babies are much healthier; in facts babies born heavier than the average weight need special attention.