Normal birth weight ranges between 2,500 and 3,500 grams.
Children with low birth weight are born under 2,500 grams.
Neonatologists identify infant birth weights the following way:
- 1500 grams to 2500 grams = ‘low birth weight’(LBW);
- 801 grams and 1499 grams = ‘very low birth weight’ (VLBW);
- 800 grams or under= ‘extremely low birth weight’ (ELBW).
Most children born with low to extremely low birth weight are also pre-term or premature, that is, that they were born under 39 weeks of gestational age.
To learn about the implications of having a low birth rate in the middle childhood years, please visit the six to 12 part of this course.