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  • What is the Average Size of a Healthy Baby?

    A baby or infant refers to humans’ young offspring. CB104574The term is commonly used for children with the age of a month to a year. Babies can feel various sensations but those who are newly born can only respond to simple gestures of adults like caressing, cuddling and soft stroking. Medical studies showed that infants respond more to the voice of mothers. When it comes to taste, newborns also respond to various tastes like bitter, sour, sweet as well as salty substances. To know more about infants, it is best to start with the average size of a healthy baby.

    Background on Newborns

    What is the average size of a healthy baby? According to medical experts, a health baby should have an average weight of 7.5 pounds or 3.2 kilograms. Infants whose weight ranges from 2.7 kilograms to 4.6 kilograms or 5.5 pounds to 10 pounds are still normal. When it comes to the size, the total body length of a healthy infant is 14 inches to 20 inches. The head of a newborn is usually ¼ of the total size of the baby. Additionally, the cranium is bigger than the face of newborns. The usual color of the skin of a newborn baby is dusky blue to grayish. When the baby begins to breathe, the skin color changes to normal tone.

    Additional Information and Other Important Details

    The most basic form of communication used by babies to communicate with parents and care givers is crying. When a baby cries, the infant normally is hungry, bored or lonely. However, prolonged and frequent crying can be a sign of discomfort.

    To enhance the immune system of newborns, infants are advised to be breastfed. Babies have a sucking reflex, which help them extract milk from their mother’s nipples. As babies grow, food supplements are introduced by caregivers. Parents can introduce ready-made infant foods for their children when they reach the age of six months. The diet of babies can be changed as they grow old.

    Milk is a good source of vitamins and nutrients needed by babies to stay healthy. Parents should not introduce whole cow milk to their babies before they reach the age of one. Low fat milk can be introduced when they reach two or three years of age.

    Parenting starts right before a baby is born. As soon as a woman gets pregnant, she should learn how to take care of the baby in her womb. To avoid having problems with the health of the baby, proper prenatal care is important.

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