Why weigh a baby?

Weighing newborns is important to monitor their health — over time, the measurement shows you the rate at which they gain weight. And because babies can’t tell you how they feel, establishing a growth chart is one of the few objective ways to assess their health.

Why does a newborn baby lose weight?

You’d think that a baby would only weigh, but this is not the case. There may be several reasons for a newborn baby’s weight loss:

• Babies are saturated with water because they have been floating around in amniotic fluid (99% of which is water and electrolytes). Some of that water will eventually be eliminated.
• They must first “learn” how to digest milk because they have been fed through the umbilical cord for 9 months.

As a result, newborn babies may lose up to 10% of their weight.

Why weigh a baby?

When babies are around 2 weeks old, they should have started to regain the weight. It is not necessary to weigh them as often. A widely accepted notion is that a baby should be weighed around once a month. But if you have a, you can weigh your baby as many times as you please, as a way to monitor your child’s growth from the comfort of your own home.

Sometimes doctors ask that a newborn be weighed every week. This weekly rhythm may seem too much for some parents, especially if they don’t get enough information about what a baby’s normal weight is and why their baby should be weighed so often.

With a smart scale, you can easily check if your child’s growth chart is within a standard range, and if it follows a regular trend (no sudden weight gain/loss, no weight stagnation).