GROWTH OF THE HUMAN BODY 



707 



The weight of the child at term is, on the average, 3,000-3,500 g. (ex- 

 tremes, 2,400-5,500). Boys are usually from 80 to 150 g. heavier than girls. 



The length of the newborn child is, on the average, 50-51 cm. Boys appear 

 as a rule to be 1 cm. longer than girls. 



The weight of the newborn child increases with the number of pregnancies 

 and with the age of the mother up to her fortieth year, as the following com- 

 pilations by Ingerslew will show: 



The general physical condition and development of the mother also have 

 much to do with the weight of the child. The greater the length of the mother's 

 body, and the better its nutritive condition, the heavier and longer, generally 

 speaking, will be the weight and length of the child at birth. 



During the first two days after birth the child's body loses 100-200 g. in 

 weight, but about the third day it begins to grow, and on the fifth to seventh 

 day reaches its first weight again. 



From this time on the growth in weight is very rapid, and by the twenty- 

 fourth week it has doubled. At the end of the first year it is two and three- 

 quarter times what it was at birth. The average monthly increase as given by 

 Albrecht for the first twelve months is as follows: 900 g., 870, 870, 720, 600, 

 540, 420, 330, 330, 270, 240, and 210 g. ; within the entire twelve months, 

 therefore, a total of 6,300 g. is gained. Hence at the end of the year the 

 weight is about 9,500 g. 



The length of the infant's body at the end of five months is about 68 cm. 

 and at the end of the first year about 77 cm. Growth therefore is more rapid 

 at first than at any subsequent time. 



The food of the child may be set down as the most important factor in 

 determining the rate of growth during the first year. So far as we are able to 

 judge from published observations on the subject, the child thrives better and 

 its weight increases more rapidly when it is fed exclusively at the breast through- 

 out the infancy period. This doubtless signifies that no artificial means of 

 nourishment has ever been found which makes so little exactions on the delicate 

 digestive apparatus as the mother's milk. 



In three years the child's body has already reached half the length it will 

 be when fully grown. During this period a boy will on the average have 

 attained to a weight of 18-21 kg., and a girl, 17-21 kg. 



