Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

It is important for every parent to monitor the development of their baby from as soon as they learn of the existence of the same until they are no longer able to do so.

This said, the earlier stages of infant development are the ones that require the greatest attention, since they are the formative developments that will eventually determine the features and the characteristics of the child that is to be born.

In the past new parents could only be able to observe and to monitor the physical growth and development of their children once they had been born since besides the increase in the size of the mother’s womb and the occasional kicks from the fetus, there was really nothing much else to be observed.

However, thanks to modern technology and innovation, the situation today is a far cry from what was experienced in the past. It is even possible to determine and monitor baby weight during pregnancy while the baby is still in its mother’s womb using some of the new technological devices that have been made available.

One good example of such devices that allow monitoring of baby weight during pregnancy is the ultrasound device.

This is a modern innovative device that even allows parents and interested parties to observe the growth of the fetus by focusing images and videos from the pregnant woman’s womb onto a screen.

Why is it important to determine baby weight during pregnancy?

The rate of growth for babies who are still in the womb is in many ways similar to the rates of growth among infants and other children. This fact is especially true in the sense that the rates are different for different babies.

This means that the actual baby weight during pregnancy may be less or more than the official figures estimated for it and as such, it is important to note that the figures are barely estimates and are calculated as average values of data from several babies.

This said, it is however important to note that there are cases where the growth of the baby takes on abnormal rates. This may happen when the baby grows at an extraordinarily fast speed which means that the baby may eventually be born overweight or the baby may be growing very slowly, indicating that it may be born underweight.

Both underweight and overweight babies are a cause of concern for doctors and expectant parents and should be controlled before they get out of hand and lead to further complications and may even turn fatal. The best way to correct such problems as soon as possible is by regularly checking and recording baby weight during pregnancy. Such records can then be analyzed in comparison to standard baby growth patterns and any serious deviations noted and treated.

In the first twenty weeks of pregnancy, measurement of the baby is usually done from the top of the head or the crown to the baby’s rump. The reason for this is due to the fact that the legs of the babies are normally curved up tightly in the first half of the pregnancy and as such they are not easy to measure.