What is Low Birth Weight?
A baby’s birth weight is the bodyweight of a baby at the time of its birth. An average Indian baby weighs approximately 2.8 kg. Irrespective of when the baby is born during pregnancy, a baby weighing less than 2500 gms (2.5kgs) will be termed as a low birth weight baby.
What are the causes of Low Birth Weight?
#1 Multiple Pregnancies
#2 High Blood Pressure in the Mother
#3 Drinking and Smoking:
#4 Problems Related to Placenta:
#5 Diabetes:
#6 Abnormalities of Uterus:
#7 Abnormalities of the Cervix:
#8 Mother’s Nutrition:
#9 Infections During Pregnancy:
#10 Prior Medical History:
What should you do if your baby has Low Birth Weight?
1. Breastfeeding your baby is the best thing you can do to help your baby grow up to be healthy.
2. The first food is iron-fortified baby rice cereal.
3. Other foods you can start at six months include fruits, such as pureed bananas, pears and apple, and vegetables, such as carrots, pumpkin and cauliflower. You might also like to try starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, yam and sweet potato.
4. Fluids are equally important for your baby’s diet. You can add fluids like water in which you boil the lentils (Dal ka Pani), coconut water, fruit juice, vegetable juice, vegetable soup/stock and gradually add mashed boiled vegetables over a period of time.Other options are rice gruel, suji upma, suji kheer, sabudaana kheer, Dalia, and khichdi.
