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What Is the Normal Infant Birth Weight?

When pregnant, you hope for a healthy baby. You may feel as though your belly couldn't get any tighter and your baby couldn't get any bigger. Birth weights, however, vary despite how big you feel during pregnancy, according to babycenter.com.

  1. Changes

    • According to pregnancy-info.net, babies transform quickly. "In the first year of life, a baby will triple her birth weight, increase her length by 50 percent, begin to grow teeth, and learn to crawl then walk and maybe even say her first words." With all these changes, you may wonder how vital a baby's birth weight is to her health.

    What is normal?

    • When a baby is born, a good indicator of health is her weight, according to pregnancy-info.net's Web site. The average full-term baby usually weighs about 6 pounds, 2 ounces. The average height is about 20 inches long.

    Weight Loss

    • Right after birth, many infants may lose weight. This is not a big issue because it often is just extra fluid that is being released. Doctors usually watch the weight loss to make sure the infant does not lose too much weight.

    Low Birth Weight

    • Babies who weigh less than 3 pounds, 4 ounces are regarded as having a very low birth weight, according to pregnancy-info.net. This is rare and only occurs in 1.5 percent of infants.

    High Birth Weight

    • Any baby who is born weighing 8 pounds, 14.8 ounces or more is known as having a high birth weight. This is usually not a big concern since it does fall into "normal" guidelines, according to pregnancy-info.net.

    Healthy Babies

    • Monitoring your baby's weight is an important step for any parent and doctor to do together. By keeping tabs on weight changes and developments, you will ensure that your baby grows to be a happy and healthy child.

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