It is natural for a mother to worry about the health of the baby after birth, including her weight. Some mothers may worry about the baby's weight coming down, especially still in the first days after birth. Then, is it normal for babies to lose weight? How much weight is down?
Is the baby's weight loss normal?
The first days after birth, babies usually do experience weight loss. This is a decrease in water weight. Normally, the baby's weight will go down as much as 5-10 percent of birth weight during the first three days after birth. Furthermore, the baby's weight will gradually increase in the second to the third week.
All babies will experience weight loss in the first days after birth, both breastfed and formula-fed babies. Babies exclusively breastfeed receive a small amount of colostrum (the type of milk that comes out first) in the first days of their birth, so the baby's weight doesn't increase much.
After that, a lot of breast milk is produced by the mother's breast, so that babies can get breast milk that contains a lot of energy and nutrients according to their needs. That way, the baby's weight starts to increase.
Baby's weight drops abnormally
Weight loss of more than 10 percent of birth weight is usually caused by a lack of prolonged food intake. This may be more common in breastfed babies because it takes about 3-5 days until the milk from the mother's breast enters the baby's body well enough. In addition, breastfed babies also need a harder effort to get breast milk than formula-fed babies.
A decrease in weight that is more than standard might make the mother worried so she decided to give baby formula milk. However, this should be avoided.
Decreasing weight in the first days after birth is normal. After the baby can receive breast milk properly, his weight will gradually increase.
According to a study published in Breastfeeding Medicine, more than 10 percent of breastfeeding babies lose 10% or more of their birth weight before they start regaining their weight.
Mostly, this is caused by a lack of intake at the beginning of life. This decrease in body weight is rarely caused by infectious diseases or medical conditions, such as metabolic diseases, heart problems, lung problems, or kidney problems.
You can also lose weight at the age of two years
In addition to the first days after birth, the child's weight can also go down at this time starting to grow big. At the age of one to two years, children will generally experience rapid growth and development.
No wonder the child's appetite also increases because children need energy and nutrition to support this growth.
After that, the rate of growth and development of children begins to decline. This also affects the energy and nutritional needs which also decrease. Thus, children's appetite also decreases.
Two-year-olds usually start having erratic eating habits, sometimes they have appetite and sometimes they don't. This might make parents confused to keep their appetite stable.
It is normal if the child's appetite fluctuates at this time. Usually the child will eat a little on one day and then make it up by eating more on the other day.