After being born, it is normal for the baby to lose weight in the following days until it receives food and begins to gain it. This is what is known as neonatal physiological weight loss in which the normal thing is that they lose between 5% and 7% of the newborn’s weight , and a maximum of 10%, which they should no longer reach.
It is estimated that 10-14 days after delivery the baby should have regained the weight they had at birth, but according to a study conducted by researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey (United States), between 15 and 25 percent of babies take more than two weeks to regain their birth weight .
A weight loss that must be controlled
The study published in the journal Pediatrics analyzed data from more than 144,000 children born at a healthy weight and shows that two weeks after delivery, 14 percent of babies born vaginally and up to 24 percent of those born by cesarean section they still weighed less than when they were born .
Physiological loss is usually most significant in the first three to four days after delivery . The reasons are due to the combination of three factors: the fluid they lose through the urine, the expulsion of meconium and they still receive little food (the first days they receive colostrum).
In the case of cesarean deliveries, they can lose even more weight because they are born more hydrated by intravenous fluids given to mothers before and during surgery.
When analyzing data from newborn babies, after 21 days (that is, three weeks after delivery), 5 percent of babies born vaginally and 8 percent of those born by cesarean section had not yet recovered their birth weight .
A tranquility
This is to reassure parents who see that their baby has not regained one hundred percent of its birth weight even two weeks after birth.
Even so, it is always advisable to monitor the weight of the newborn (who carried out the study also developed an online tool to monitor weight loss after delivery), as well as monitor their general condition to ensure that even if they do not gain as much weight fast as expected, it is still growing healthily.
Above all, it is reassuring for mothers who breastfeed, since in these cases children may take longer to regain their weight:
The study authors note:
“For families who want to breastfeed their babies, this is important to ensure that a slower regain of newborn weight does not indicate that the baby is not getting enough milk, but rather that it is part of a normal growth pattern.” Crume said.
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