What to do if my baby is underweight
If you see that your baby is below his normal weight, according to the percentiles, we will have to implement some measures and consult our doctor.
When a baby is born a common concern for all parents is that the baby has a good weight and eats well. This will mean that you are healthy and that everything is fine . Therefore, if you notice that your baby is below normal weight, the first thing you should do is go to your pediatrician to assess exactly the weight that your baby is and know if he is really underweight or normal weight.
Index
SEE A SPECIALIST
If the weight calculation for the length of your baby’s growth chart is below the percentile, then it will be considered underweight . This means that more than 95% of babies your child’s age weigh more than he does. Therefore, it is necessary to seek medical and professional advice and discuss your concern regarding your baby’s weight, because there may be underlying problems that need to be addressed.
If you are breastfeeding, you may need to visit a lactation specialist or a maternity clinic to know that everything is correct. If your doctor has already advised you to increase your baby’s calories, there are foods and feeding methods that can help.
FEEDING FOR YOUR BABY
At around 6 months, they typically need 70 to 90 ml of formula or breast milk per day. Instead of increasing the intake of quantity of milk, underweight babies can be increased (always under medical supervision) the intake of solid foods (pureed).
At 8 months your baby should eat solid foods a couple of times a day. Mealtime is the time to practice eating skills, advance oral motor development, and take in essential nutrients to add calories and gain weight appropriately.
DIFFERENT FEEDING METHODS FOR UNDERWEIGHT BABIES
It is beneficial to have feeding times and focus on childhood when they get older, especially if feeding difficulties are present. Instead of doing feeding sessions with your baby that last indefinitely – something that can cause fatigue and frustration for both you and your baby – it is better that you spend no more than 20 minutes at feeding time and do it more times during feeding. day.
It is important at the same time to offer a variety of foods at each meal so that the baby can enjoy new flavors. If he doesn’t like a new flavor, don’t worry because what matters is not to overwhelm him and give him a taste of that new food another day. If you offer a good variety of food a day, he will soon begin to get used to and accept those new flavors that will help him gain weight.
INCREASE CALORIES IN BABIES
In order to increase the amount of calories in your baby’s diet, it will be necessary to increase the variety of foods in the baby’s diet. It may be tempting to offer high calorie foods, but it is not appropriate . Within each group that promotes weight gain you will need at the same time to ensure a balanced diet.
Including a tablespoon of baby cereal in their meals will provide babies with necessary calories and essential nutrients such as extra iron . Powdered cereals are ideal to add to breast milk, formula milk and even for baby food.
It is important that before adding cereals to your baby’s diet, you read the nutritional information labels to know exactly the caloric content of baby food. Ideally, you should add 60-100 more calories per serving of fruits and vegetables and 100 more calories in combination dishes. But also, consult your doctor to know exactly how many calories you should add to your baby taking into account his low weight.
Dr. Tabriella Perivolaris, Sara's mother and fan of fashion, beauty, motherhood, among others, about the female universe. Since 2018 she has been working as a copywriter, always bringing to her articles a little of her experience and experience as a mother and woman.