What Are Baby Weighing Scales Used For?
Professional baby weighing scales are vital for ensuring accurate and reliable weight measurements so that health professionals such as doctors and midwives are able to monitor a baby’s development and growth.
As well as weighing babies at birth and throughout their infancy, baby weighing scales are also used for acquiring a range of other data such as the baby’s length and breast milk intake.
Making an Accurate Weight Measurement at Birth
Discovering a newborn baby’s weight is an exciting time for parents and loved ones. For health professionals, birth weight is a key indicator of overall health and is an important initial observation, providing a starting point for the baby’s future development.
Making an accurate weight measurement at birth can be crucial as babies considered underweight may be more susceptible to infection or health complications and require urgent or additional care.
Monitoring Baby’s Growth Development
After the first weigh-in at birth, baby weighing scales are then used to monitor the baby’s growth regularly and ensure that any weight loss or gain is within the norm. Ideally, babies should be weighed once a month until they are six months, and then around once every two months to ensure they are properly feeding, gaining weight and growing as expected.
You’ll usually find baby scales on paediatric and maternity wards at hospitals, GP surgeries and neo-natal clinics. Lightweight and portable baby weighing scales are also used by midwives and other health professionals on home visits.
Measuring the Length of a Baby
Some baby weighing scales such as the Marsden M-400-80D Baby Scale comes with a height rod for accurately measuring the length of a baby, as well as weight.
The lightweight and portable baby scale offer consistent foot placement and a digital height measure for taking reliable length or height measurements throughout the baby’s development.
Monitoring Breast Milk Intake
The Tare function on Marsden baby weighing scales means they can be used to monitor the baby’s breast milk intake.
According to the UK Weighing Federation (UKWF), all Baby scales are accurate to at least 50g, those used to record birth weight are accurate to 20g, and baby scales used to weigh babies that may have health conditions are accurate to 5g. This accuracy makes it possible for medical professionals to measure a baby’s breast milk intake and create a reliable record of data.
The Tare function on baby weighing scales is also used for when you are placing a mat or sheet on the scale before weighing the baby. Simply lay down the mat and press the Tare button to zero the scales.
Marsden Baby Weighing Scales
At Marsden, we supply a range of medical baby weighing scales for medical settings such as maternity wards and neo-natal clinics and lightweight, portable baby scales for visiting midwives and health professionals.
The best selling M-300 Baby Scale from Marsden is easy to use, highly accurate to 2g and is capable of weighing up to 18,000 times or providing up to 600 hours due to its impressive battery life.
The Marsden M-400 Baby Scale is an ideal portable solution for home visits and boasts a secure and hygienic baby bowl which slides on and off. Toddlers can also be weighed on the standing platform.
As the biggest supplier of medical scales to the NHS, we pride ourselves on reliability. All Marsden Baby Weighing Scales are Class III Approved and have been built and tested to UK and EU standards to ensure an accurate weight reading.
To discover more about what our Marsden baby weighing scales can be used for, or for more information regarding their features call our friendly and experienced team on 01709 364296, or complete our online contact form.
Further Reading
Take a look at these baby scales for home.
Discover the 10 factors that affect a baby's birth weight.