Journal of Childhood Obesity Open Access

Birth Weight

Birth weight is the body weight of a baby at its birth. A child born small or large for gestational age (both of the two extremes) is thought to have an expanded danger of obesity in later life however it was additionally demonstrated that this relationship is completely clarified by maternal weight.

There are basically two distinct determinants for birth weight. The duration of gestation prior to birth, that is, the gestational age at which the child is born, the prenatal growth rate, generally measured in relation to what weight is expected for any gestational age. A low birth weight can be caused either by a preterm birth (low gestational age at birth) or of the infant being small for gestational age (slow prenatal growth rate), or a combination of both. A very large birth weight is usually caused by the infant having been large for gestational age. Environmental factors, including exposure of the mother to secondhand smoke, Other factors, like multiple births, where each baby is likely to be outside the AGA (appropriate for gestational age), one more so than the other.