6 month old baby's height and weight

The article was professionally consulted by Dr. Le Thi Hong Anh - Pediatrician - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatology, Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.

In the first months of life, regularly monitoring the child's height and weight is a necessity for every parent to accurately assess the baby's health and development. By the 6th month, the baby's weight will usually be twice that of birth and the baby's height will increase by about 15cm compared to when it was born.

This is done simply by using two tools, a ruler and a scale. Parents weigh and measure the child's height on a certain day of the month and should measure in the morning for the most accurate results.
Besides, it is recommended to weigh before the baby eats and after the baby urinates, remove diapers and thick clothes to get accurate results on the child's weight index. When measuring your child's height, parents need to pay attention to remove shoes and hats before measuring. Children 6 months old were measured lying length.

Normally, a newborn baby has a birth weight that ranges from 3.2 to 3.8 kg. A baby born full term, healthy, normal development, when eating enough needs will gain weight monthly. On average, babies gain weight very quickly in the first 3 months (1,000 - 1,200g/month), in the next 3 months, they gain weight from 500-600g/month, and in the next 6 months, they only gain weight from 300-400g/month. The phenomenon of children not gaining weight at 6 months is quite rare.
By 6 months, your baby will have doubled his pre-birth weight. However, the specific weight index of each baby will vary, depending on the child's sex or other factors. If the mother takes care of the baby properly, the standard 6-month-old baby's weight will be:
6-month-old baby boy weighs about 7.1 - 8.9 kg 6-month-old girl weighs about 6.5 - 8.3 kg

If a child is found to have a weight lower or higher than this, the child is at risk of malnutrition or obesity. Based on the actual situation, parents need to adjust the child's diet accordingly.

Children's weight often goes hand in hand with height growth. Specifically, the average length of a newborn is about 50cm. In the first 6 months, babies usually increase in height by about 2.5cm/month. From July to December, the baby's height growth rate slows down, averaging about 1.5cm/month.
According to WHO growth standards, the standard height of a 6-month-old boy is 67.6cm and a 6-month-old girl is 65.7cm.

Parents need to understand the factors that affect the physical development of their children in order to have a better orientation to raise their children, to help them grow stronger and taller. Key factors include:
4.1 Genetics At birth, a baby receives all the traits inherited from both parents. Genetic factors have a great impact on the development and size of organs in the child's body. In addition, factors such as blood type, excess body fat and weight of parents also have a significant impact on children's physical development. However, children's height is usually only affected by about 23% from genetic factors.
4.2 Nutrition and living environment In addition to genetics, a child's height and weight depend on external environmental factors, especially nutrition. Specifically, malnutrition can slow down physical development, affect bone density, tooth strength, organ size, and delay children's development. .
If given enough nutrients, the baby can catch up the growth momentum. Therefore, to ensure that the baby develops according to the standards, parents need to provide adequate nutrients for the child in each stage, especially calcium so that the baby can improve his height.
Besides nutrition, external factors such as climate, environmental conditions (clean or polluted) also affect the physical development of children.
4.3 Parental Care The care of parents and caregivers is a major factor in a child's physical, mental, behavioral and emotional development from birth. Therefore, the baby's weight and height also depends quite a lot on the closeness to relatives and caregivers.

4.4 Mother's health during pregnancy and lactation Maternal health during pregnancy has a great influence on the child's development later in life. Research shows that pregnant mothers who are often stressed and tired can slow down the development of motor skills as well as the intellectual development of their children. In addition, the mother's diet during lactation, if provided with adequate nutrients such as calcium, iron, folic acid, essential fatty acids such as DHA, will help the baby develop well. musculoskeletal and resistance. Therefore, children will be healthier, less sick, grow taller and gain weight better.
4.5 Chronic diseases Chronic illnesses, serious disabilities or surgical interventions are all factors that negatively affect a child's physical health. Children with serious medical conditions such as sickle cell anemia between the ages of 8 and 19 are often much shorter than healthy children. At the same time, at the stage of puberty, the physiological development or reproductive health of the child is also disrupted and delayed.
In order for the child to develop well in height and weight, parents need to build a nutritional regimen suitable for the child's age. At the same time, parents need to pay attention to fostering the spiritual life and brain health of their children so that they can develop more comprehensively.
6-month-old babies need 3mg of elemental zinc/day to eat well, reach the correct height and weight and exceed the standard. Zinc plays a role in affecting most biological processes taking place in the body, especially the breakdown of nucleic acids, proteins... Organs in the body when zinc deficiency can lead to a There are a number of diseases such as neurological disorders, irritability, etc. Therefore, parents need to learn about the role of zinc and guide them to appropriate zinc supplements for their children.
In addition to zinc, parents also need to supplement their children with other important vitamins and minerals such as lysine, chromium, B vitamins,... errands.
Please regularly visit Vinmec.com website and update useful information to take care of your baby and family.