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Newborn Weight Gain:

Many new and first-time parents will get nervous when they bring their baby home from the hospital and the baby seems to be losing some weight.

It's not much, but it's noticeable, and it will often worry the parent that the newborn isn't getting the nutrition that they need in order to be able to gain weight.

But, there is no need to worry about this, because babies do tend to lose a little weight during their first week of life.

In fact, some sources say that this can be up to 10% of their total birth weight that they will lose during this week.
Then, they will start slowly gaining some of that weight back. Usually, babies are back up to their birth weight by about 2 weeks old.

Newborns gain approximately 2/3 of an ounce every day for a total of about 6oz. every week. By the time your baby is 6 months old, they should weigh anywhere between 14-21 pounds.

If your baby is slightly out of this range, it is perfectly normal, this is just the average. The shorter your baby is, the less the will probably weigh.

The taller they get, the more they will tend to weigh.

Most often, around four-six months old (for some kids it may be earlier, and for some it may be a little later) they will weigh approximately double their birth weight.

If your baby reaches double their birth weight well before six months, you may want to consider bringing it up to your doctor. It is possible that you will need to make changes to the baby's diet.

How much weight babies gain or lose and when they gain it can vary according to many factors. One of these is obviously the fact that all children are different, and while there are general norms, each child is different.
One of the other big factors that can play apart is if the baby is bottle fed or breast fed. For example, during the second half of the first year of life, bottle fed babies will gain more weight than breastfed babies do.



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