Scales to weigh a baby

Bored_Housewife

We are proud new grandparents! Well six weeks ago Georgia was born and now the baby clinic is closed due to swine flu, so no babt weighing facilities.

I had the idea of weighing her at home using the kind of scale that people use for weighing large fish or possibly something like I have seen being used on TV when weighing small babies/children in countries like Africa with something like a pillowcase or Ikea blue bag slung underneath it. They both look very similar to me.

Not being an angler I dont know where to get a cheap one of these.

Any help please:beer:

Syman

in the short term if you have standard "bathroom scales" you could weigh yourself first the again holding Georgia.

quick bit of maths and you have Georgia's weight.

Bored_Housewife

Yes that works with luggage or large items like a dog (i would imagine) but those extremely important ounces when weighing a baby it wouldn't be accurate enough.

Having said that I now wonder if fish weighing scales are accurate enough, but i would imagine anglers are as interested in every ounce as a new mum is!

Bongedone

The Wii fit is very accurate. Does anybody have one of those?

I have weighed myself on the Wii fit then on the hospital scales 1 hour later and they where identical.

supersunshine

If you are very worried about her weight I would call the health visitor who I am sure will either be able to come out or will be able to point you in the right direction of where to get her weighed.

Babieseverywhere

Congratulations on the safe arrival of your granddaughter.

Once babies have regained their birthweight and it can be seen that the baby is thriving well, which must be the case with your new granddaughter at the 6 week mark else she would have been readmitted to hospital, it is only recommended that they are weighted 4 further times in their first year.

This is because babies gain weight in a step pattern rather than a smooth curve and this avoids the mother worrying if the baby gains very little or no weight for a few weeks followed by a large gain (i.e. Step)

I know health visitors ask to weigh babies every week, they seem quite obsessed with it and new mums assume regular weighing is essential to a new babies happiness but to be honest it is unnecessary. Looking at the baby to check she is bright eyed and herself will give a better idea of her current health levels, than weighing will.

That said I understand it is comforting for a lot of parents (& grand parents) to check the baby is still heading up the charts.

So if you want to weigh your granddaughter at home, please don't use fish scales types they are very unaccurate and can give different reading on the same baby, even taken in the same time. Weighing the baby with an adult on home scales are also too inaccurate to rely on.

You need to buy properly calibrated digital baby scales and have this scales located in one place in your home and not moved at all between weighing, as even moving the scales from a hard table to a carpet can make a difference to the weight displayed. Also make sure the baby needs to be fully naked every weighing as well.

Remember that you are looking for a weight gain over weeks not days or hours and the less frequently you weigh the baby the less worrying you will do over the resulting figures. Weekly weighing should be the maximum for a healthy baby, better still monthly or bimonthly.

Hope that helps

Syman

just seen the sort of thing you need on ministry of deals

http://www.ministryofdeals.com/

justevi

At one time you could get babies weighed at the chemist, do they still do that?
I would have thought that if baby clinic is is closed the HV would still keep an eye on new babies and mothers by calling on them. If not then to my mind they should be! Not all new mothers have family support.

onefootmotu

I would speak to your local Health Centre. I know ours has a set of baby scales in the baby changing room that mums can use.
Also worth speaking to the Docs, even if the baby clinic isn't running they will still have scales as here it's the GP that does the 6 week check incl weight. Has she had this yet?

I know as a new mum I totally depended on the weekly weigh in to reasuure me that my milk was doing the job so I really understand! Hope you get something sorted soon.