Watching Your Low Birth Weight Child Grow: Tips for Parents

The World Health Organization defines birth weight as the first weight of the fetus or newborn obtained after birth. Low birthweight (LBW) is weight at birth that is less than 2,500 grams (5.5 pounds). March of Dimes specifies two main reasons why a baby may be LBW. It may be due to premature birth (i.e. baby was born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy) or due to fetal growth restriction (i.e. growth-restricted, small-for-gestational age, small-for-date).

United Nations Children’s Fund and WHO states that “More than 20 million infants worldwide, representing 15.5 per cent of all births, are born with low birthweight, 95.6 per cent of them in developing countries."

Watching Your Low Birth Weight Child Grow: Tips for Parents is a booklet for parents of children, age birth to three years, who were born weighing five pounds or less. Creation of this booklet was coordinated by Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital High Risk Infant Follow Up Program. It was funded by the Washington State Department of Health, Children with Special Health Care Needs program.

References:

March of Dimes Foundation. (2008). Low birthweight [Fact Sheet]. Retrieved September 24, 2008.

United Nations Children’s Fund & World Health Organization. (2004) Low birthweight: Country, regional and global estimates. Retrieved September 6, 2008.

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