OUR BABIES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2235, 22 August 1914, Page 4

OUR BABIES.

fßr. Hiauii.l Published under the auspices of the Society for the Health of Women and Children. . "It ie wiser to put up a fence at the ton of e. precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom." WEIGHT AND HEIGHT. I have- received several inquiries during the last few mouths as to the averago normal height and weight of infants. The question of weight* in early infancy is dealt with in the feeding table, page 34, "Feeding and Care of Baby"; but I am glad to supplement this with data as to height, /as well as giving the weight and chest measurements in later infancy. The following summary regarding weighfrand height, mainly adapted from data given by Dr. Leroy Yale, of New York, in answer to questions'submitted to him, conveys practically all . that most mothers want to know on the subject:— THE INFANT'S NORMAL WEIGHT. How much, ought the normal child to gain in one week ? What is an averago or fair weight for a child of four . months?' Growth varies according to age.. During the first week there is usually a slight loss. After this is overcome the gain is continual, but not uniform It varies first of all with different-child-ren, depending somewhat, but not ..entirely, upon the original size and stregth of the child. ■ Five ounces per week is a fair gain for the first-few months;, but the gain often Teaches as much as half a pound weekly durin<* this period. By the age of four months it is slackening, being usually not above a quarter of a poand per week. ' The weight at that age will be on an average about 131b—sometimes 141b or more —but owing to the progressive retardation of growth, the weight at a year is on the average less than double what it is at three months. Thus a child who weighs "141b at -three months cannot be expected to weigh above 241b. at 12 months, if so much; and the weight at one year will not, on the average, be again doubled before the. sixth or seventh year is reached. -It is usual to consider than the birth-weight shall be doubled at five or six months and trebled at one year: but this is not true if the birth-weight is> exceptionally large. ■ . . • ' *P« fill- ■ J lift' ***" ' 1 il'gf: ■'■■■" •■ T P m *s - ii ■-£.■ .« ~ £§ . ■ » .0 UH* ■■'* k .0 i. ■ "tfii . ; ■■ 1 MEASUREMENTS AND WEIGHTS , .; OF BOYS AND GIRLS AT VARI- . ..OUTAGES. ~■ '.. _.', .... TV ~,. Will you pleasegive the average heightand weight and chest measures of a two-year-old, also of a three-yeaT-old ohild? . Is there found to be a ■ dif- ■■ ference between an - averago boy and . an average girl of these ages in regard to size and weight P While we have a good many figures regarding the first year, and abundance concerning the school age—six years and upward—we have few regarding the interval from, to six years. Dr. Holt has recorded the results of weighing and measuring 372 children from tho second to the. fifth year. These results are as follow:— . Two years.—Weight: Boys, 26.61b.: girls, 20.61b. Height: 52.5 m. for both sexes. Chest (middlo of inspiration): Boys, 19in % ; girls, 18.5 in. Three years.—Weight: Boys, 31.21b.; girls, 301b. Height: 8/sin. for both sexes. Chest: Boys, 20.1iu.: girls, 19.8iu. An easy figure to bear in mind as an average is that when five years old a child should. _ weigh in pounds about eight times its ago—in other words, about 401b. Knowing that for several years before and after five years of age the yearly increase is about 41b. or 51b.. one can easily arrive at what a child should weigh for any year from two to eight, by merely substracting or adding as the ca'se may be- The average normal'height at five year.s of age is about 42in. for boys and- about 41Jin. for girls; and at 10 years of age 52in. for boys and 51£ in. for girls. The average weight of a 10-yearKild normal boy is about 66i1b., and that of a grrl 641b.;, but at 16 years tho average boy weighs about 101b. or 111b. more than the girl, and Hie should have shot 4in, above her in height.