Parrothead Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Immediately after birth? Does anyone know when or why that practice started? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I don't know why it started, but you expect a newborn to lose weight for a few days and be back to his or her birthweight by 2 (?) weeks. It seems to be an acceptable tool for measuring that breastfed babies are getting "enough" in those beginning stages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Yeah, I think it is an easy way to make sure a baby is growing properly. As far as IMMEDIATELY after birth, the hospital I birthed at doesn't care when it is. My first I had them do right away because I wanted "full credit" for what I pushed out (a friend had recently had a baby go to the bathroom right after being born and lost an ounce or two ;)). My most recent was weighed a couple hours after birth, IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 :lol: I don't know the 'real' reason, but the first thing I thought of was bragging rights. :D My SIL had a 10 lb 6 oz baby and you know, it's like a badge of honor. :) People still gasp when I say my biggest was 9 lb 2 oz... Anyway, I know that isn't really why... just a random thought that came to my head. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 :lol:I don't know the 'real' reason, but the first thing I thought of was bragging rights. :D My SIL had a 10 lb 6 oz baby and you know, it's like a badge of honor. :) People still gasp when I say my biggest was 9 lb 2 oz... Anyway, I know that isn't really why... just a random thought that came to my head. :) 10 pounds, 8 ounces here. Tell your SIL I win. Bwahahahahaha. Just kidding. Seriously, my very experienced midwife underestimated him by a 1.5 pounds, a mistake she never made. She was just amazed. I think they just like statistics, as well as being able to know if the baby regains weight after birth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I don't know when it started but I guess we do it now to easily measure against loss and gain in those first few days/weeks. If a baby loses more than 10% of weight then they start to get concerned, then there are other milestones, when to expect doubling, tripling etc. Everything has to be exactly quantified it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Yeah, I think it is an easy way to make sure a baby is growing properly. . Yes, to measure growth, you must have a beginning point. Of course, when you posed the question, my first thought was, "why do people weigh/measure fish?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFwife Claire Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 10 pounds, 8 ounces here. Tell your SIL I win. Bwahahahahaha. Just kidding. LOL, you and I are tied--my last was 10 pounds, 8 ounces as well! I must say I am hoping this current baby (also a boy) is not that big though. I expect him to be at least 9 1/2 pounds, since I've had 2 other boys that big, and even my girls were all in the high 8's--I grow big babies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeacefulChaos Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 10 pounds, 8 ounces here. Tell your SIL I win. Bwahahahahaha. Just kidding. Seriously, my very experienced midwife underestimated him by a 1.5 pounds, a mistake she never made. She was just amazed. I think they just like statistics, as well as being able to know if the baby regains weight after birth. I'm sure she'll be happy to let you keep that title. ;) Her next baby is due on Halloween - she's hoping to be under that 10.6 mark with this one. ;) (Partly because, I'm sure, someone gave her a lot of cute little girls clothes....ahem... and she wants them to all fit when the baby is born, since it's her first girl and all. ;) :lol: ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 10 pounds, 8 ounces here. Tell your SIL I win. Bwahahahahaha. Just kidding. Seriously, my very experienced midwife underestimated him by a 1.5 pounds, a mistake she never made. She was just amazed. I think they just like statistics, as well as being able to know if the baby regains weight after birth. 10 lbs, 11 oz for my first, so nanna nanna booger to you:D The doc who "knew everything" underestimated by 2 lbs. I guess they weigh for measuring growth and how fast the baby regains the birth weight. At our local hospital, mom can't hold the baby until they have done all their stuff, including weighing. Lots of babies get supplementation to "get back to birthweight. At my homebirth, dd didn't get weighed for about 2 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Yeah, I think it is an easy way to make sure a baby is growing properly. As far as IMMEDIATELY after birth, the hospital I birthed at doesn't care when it is. My first I had them do right away because I wanted "full credit" for what I pushed out (a friend had recently had a baby go to the bathroom right after being born and lost an ounce or two ;)). My most recent was weighed a couple hours after birth, IIRC. My second did that -- his official weight was 9 lbs. 10 oz., but the MW said I could probably count a couple more ounces, LOL. (My MW totally missed how big he'd be, just like the MW did with the first one. With the first, they said probably no more than 8.5 pounds, even if I went to 42w; I only went to 40w6d, and she was still 8 lbs. 11 oz. The MW thought DS1 would be about the same, and I kept insisting that he felt bigger than DD to me. Clearly, I was right. I was a 6 lb. 5 oz. baby myself, as was my mom, and I'm all of 5' tall; DH is tall but wasn't a big baby either, so we were totally not expecting big babies.) None of mine have been weighed immediately after birth; it's always been at least an hour later, if not more. I think we weighed the two little boys about an hour or so after birth, once they'd nursed a bit and cuddled, because we wanted to see how big they were before calling everyone with the baby news. After DS1, everyone was anxious to see if DS2 would top 10 pounds (he didn't), and then DS3 was early, so we were curious. (He was a full 8 pounds at 38.5 weeks, so he was clearly on track to be the same as his big brothers, who were 41w1d and 40w5d.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 In addition to measuring growth post-birth, weight may be indicative of the baby's health. Being small-for-gestational-age (SGA)/IUGR can be a sign of issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 In addition to measuring growth post-birth, weight may be indicative of the baby's health. Being small-for-gestational-age (SGA)/IUGR can be a sign of issues. Yes, this -- I remember the sheet that the MWs filled out after our first two babies' births had spots to check off for "small", "average," or "large" for gestational age. I suppose they do it immediately so that it's all pretty level -- baby is what baby is, before any feeding or lack of feeding affects things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 10 pounds, 8 ounces here. Tell your SIL I win. Bwahahahahaha. Just kidding. Seriously, my very experienced midwife underestimated him by a 1.5 pounds, a mistake she never made. She was just amazed. I think they just like statistics, as well as being able to know if the baby regains weight after birth. I had two that were ten and a half pounds. They were pretty easy labors. The hardest one was my runt at eight and half pounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 They measure for small for gestational age, diabeties, failure to thrive, growth, even to insure that they are going to the bathroom. Plus it does give you a rough idea of how big subsequent babies will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myeightkiddies Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 It is used as a tool to measure progression or determine regression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dory Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I assume they do it for the same reason that I weigh my pups as soon as they are born. I know how much weight they should put on in the first week. If they are not meeting that weight gain (or close to it) than it tells me either something wrong with the pup, or the mother isn't making enough milk. I actually weight by the day for the first week and I know what's happening before the week is done. Babies have an average amount of weight they should gain within specific time periods. Weighing the baby at birth gives them a base line to measure that from. Knowing weight gain tells them how healthy the baby is (to an extent). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjand6more Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I might just win this one!HA! My last(#5) was 11 lbs 3 oz. I'm pregnant and pretty worried.;) Even the nurses couldn't believe he was delivered wo a c section. My babies always lose quite a bit up to the 10% magic number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staceyobu Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I know for hospital births, they start blood sugar checks pretty quickly on large babies. They should really wait to do weight checks until after the first hour, but sometimes they don't... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaM Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 In addition to measuring growth post-birth, weight may be indicative of the baby's health. Being small-for-gestational-age (SGA)/IUGR can be a sign of issues. :iagree: My youngest had IUGR and was about 2 lbs below average weight for her gestational age. We used weight to gauge when certain milestones should happen, such as maintaining body temperature. We also needed to keep careful track of her weight for many other reasons. In an IUGR/premie situation even gains as small as an ounce is a big deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Thanks for all the input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Immediately after birth? Does anyone know when or why that practice started? LOL, I don' know how immediate it was, but **** it I wanted to know that he was as big as he felt, lol. (10lbs2oz, AFTER pooping on my twice). But seriously, it helps you know how much weight they are gaining/losing...other than that, just bragging rights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I know for hospital births, they start blood sugar checks pretty quickly on large babies. They should really wait to do weight checks until after the first hour, but sometimes they don't... Yes. My 10lbs 7oz baby had low blood sugar for the first 2-3 days. He had to go into special care because they couldn't get it up at first. Apparently it is an issue that larger babies can have. I have heard that it is more common in boys - my 10lb 10oz girl didn't have any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Well, I think in addition to wanting to be able to compare later on part of it is just because that when the mom and baby will be dealing with so many different people, they want an objective measure. If people want to know if the baby is big or small, they can see that, but if the next person to come along is a different person that isn't terribly helpful. And I think we tend to think that if we measure things precisly, we have more or better knowledge than we did before. That isn't always true, but people feel that way. As far as taking the baby right away rather than waiting for an appropriate time, I think it is a power thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 I could have sworn the title said "Why do we weigh neighbors" and I couldn't come up with a good reason.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 10 pounds, 8 ounces here. Tell your SIL I win. Bwahahahahaha. Just kidding. 11lbs 4oz here with my smallest of 4 babies weighing 9lbs 8oz. Do I win anything?:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalicoKat Posted September 21, 2012 Share Posted September 21, 2012 Immediately after birth? Does anyone know when or why that practice started? Bragging rights, :D of course! Bigger is better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Woods Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 My son -also my first was weighed b/c he needed meds right away...at least that is why Im assumming they weighed him right afterwards. Also everyone had bets going on how big he was. Nobody won. LOL. He was 11p2oz and 23 1/2 inches long.... yup.....I gave birth to a toddler LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I know for hospital births, they start blood sugar checks pretty quickly on large babies. They should really wait to do weight checks until after the first hour, but sometimes they don't... I had one quite small baby and my midwife asked if I was sure about the date, and brought in a pediatrician to determine if the baby was a premie, and the nurses checked blood sugar a few times before our release. All appeared to be okay despite size, so nothing much was done on their end after that. They also measure head size and chart it for a while, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I could have sworn the title said "Why do we weigh neighbors" and I couldn't come up with a good reason.;) :lol: No, I can't come up with one, either! I'm glad I'm not the only one with occasional literacy glitches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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