Among the concerns of future parents is that the child is born before the term: we obviously think first of its survival and then, once this first big obstacle has been overcome, we ask ourselves questions about its development. But how long does a premature baby grow? You can read: Wood baby walker
When a newborn is premature?
Premature babies are born before the 37th week of gestation. They are called this because, within this period, they have not yet fully developed organs and systems and therefore are not ready to live independently outside the womb. There are also different types of premature babies, whose chances of surviving and growing regularly vary according to the gestational age in which they were born:
Late preterm infants: Those born between 34 and 37 weeks
Moderately preterm infants: Those born between 32 and 34 weeks
Very preterm infants: Those born between 28 and 31 weeks
Extremely preterm infants: Those born before 28 weeks of gestation
How much does a premature baby weigh?
The weight of the newborn also varies a lot according to the gestational period in which it comes into the world, and according to the weight, the approach with which they are managed also changes. Generally speaking, a newborn weighing between 1.5 and 2.5kg at birth is considered low weight, while those less than 1kg are considered extremely low weight.
Feeding premature babies
When born before 34 weeks, infants are fed via a nasogastric tube and at least until coordination between sucking, swallowing and breathing is established. At this point, breastfeeding is obviously encouraged, even if for very low weight babies, under one and a half kg, breast milk is supplemented to provide more calcium, phosphorus and proteins.
Usually, a premature baby returns home when it reaches 35-37 weeks of gestation, and from this point on, it is able to feed like a full-term baby.
Growth curves of the premature infant
The growth curves of a premature baby are obviously not the same as those of a full-term baby. To assess whether the child is growing well, we rely on the fenton curves, male and female, which measure height, weight and head circumference.
Calculate the age of a premature baby
In the first months of life, it is important to evaluate the growth and progress of one’s children based on the gestational age and not the age of birth. For example, if the baby was born a month and a half before the expected date of delivery when it is three months old, it will actually be as if it were one and a half, and this affects all the normal developmental stages that are observed in newborns.
How to tell if a premature baby is growing well
The best indicator to understand if your child is growing well is obviously the opinion of the pediatrician: he will evaluate if the child reaches the normal milestones for his age and if the growth curves are regular. But if you want to check more frequently, you can rely on the classic stages: it will be enough, as we have said, to subtract the period that has not passed inside the womb from the chronological age. So if your baby is four months old but was born at 32 weeks (two months early), look at what a two month old baby does instead.
If you are breastfeeding, do it on demand and make sure you get enough nappies. If, on the other hand, you have chosen infant formula, ask your pediatrician for advice, who usually calculates the amount of milk to be taken based on a formula: divide the baby’s weight in grams by ten and add 250 to the result. Then divide by 6 feedings and you will know how much milk she will have to take as she grows. But it is not an exact rule: some children eat more, others less, it is completely normal.
The growth of a premature baby, once out of the hospital and able to feed independently, follows that of any other full-term baby, with a little delay in the main stages, which, you can rest assured, will recover in no time.
How much do babies grow in the first few months?
How much do babies grow up in the first few months? What are growth spurts? Here are the indications of the parameters and the growth tables month by month.
Growth is a major concern and concern in caring for a newborn. However, growth does not mean only weight gain but also the length and head circumference.
During the first days of life, most newborns lose some weight and since the frequency of this phenomenon is very high, it is called physiological weight loss. This is a transient weight loss ranging from 5 to 10% of the initial weight. After a couple of weeks, the baby regains the lost weight. (it may happen that you lose more weight than expected due to initial difficulties and then take more than two weeks to return to your birth weight)
During early childhood, the organism grows rapidly. Most newborns double their weight around 5 months and triple it around a year. The length increases by 2cm per month in the first year and 1cm per month in the second year. The head circumference also increases by 12 cm in the first year of life.
To evaluate the growth of a newborn, it is appropriate to refer to tools that allow measuring the growth of the child according to the parameters established by the world health organization, the growth curves, a graph that depicts the increase over time of auxological parameters ( weight, height, head circumference and body mass index ) and the calculation of percentiles.
The evaluation of the growth of a child is up to the trusted pediatrician who not only takes into account the percentiles recorded at the time of the visit but also other parameters such as gestational age, weight and length at birth, parents’ build, measurements previously detected.