Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1905 — WEIGH THE BABY. [ARTICLE]

WEIGH THE BABY.

That’s the Only Exact Means of Noting an Infant’s Growth, That an Infant ought to be weighed each week, or at least every fourteen days, whatever may be Its mode of nourishment, we are told in a report by M. A. Pinard on “The Hygiene of Infancy," printad in the bulletin of the Academy of Medicine, Paris. Says this writer: Weighing is the only exact means of verifying whether the growth of the infant is normal. The weight of a child who Is well, drinks good milk in sufficient quantity and digests It well ought not to vary sensibly from the averages given below. By Indicating by the letter W the weight of the Infant four days after Its birth (an infant loses weight the first three days after Its birth) one may show the following averages: First month W + 11b. 10.5 oz. Second month W + 3 lbs. 5,5 oz. Third month .W + 4 lbs. 11.0 oz. Fourth month W + 6 lbs. 1.0 oz. Fifth month W + Tibs. 5.5 oz. Sixth month W + 8 lbs. 8.5 oz. Seventh month W + 9 lbs. 10.0 oz. Eighth month W + 10 lbs. 10.0 oz. Ninth month W + 11 lbs. 8.5 oz. Tenth month W +l2 lbs. 5.5 oz. Eleventh month W + 13 lbs. 1.0 oz. Twelfth month W + 13 lbs. 11.0 oz. Hence If an infant weighs seven pounds four days after its birth it ought to weigh about twenty pounds at the age of one year. These figures are not at all absolute, but If the infant grows normally Its weight ought not to vary greatly from that indicated above.—Literary Digest