In the U.S., the mass of newborns is indeed measured in grams. Quoting Pat Naughtin <[email protected]>:
> On 2009/01/20, at 6:22 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Better: "body mass in kilograms" as in Body Mass Index (BMI). > > > Dear Gene, > > I think that there is a strong case for measuring the mass of new born > babies and young babies in grams and not in kilograms as the main > point of interest with these small people is to know if their body > mass has changed and if so, which direction it has taken up or down. > > To my mind, this is conceptually easier to see if the baby has changed > from (say) 3415 grams to 3073 grams than it is from 3.415 kilograms to > 3.073 kilograms. > > Generally, babies range from the world records of 280 grams for the > smallest surviving baby to 10 900 grams for the largest recorded birth > mass. So babies' masses would be in whole numbers of grams with a > precision and accuracy usually to 4 and less often to 3 or 5 digits. > > To keep this accuracy and precision it would probably be best to adopt > a policy of measuring, recording, and communication baby mass in grams > (only) until the child reaches 19 999 grams and then changing to > kilograms in whole numbers above 20 kilograms. In this way you > preserve the benefit to the babies and to small children of the > accuracy and precision in grams until the error reduces to 1 in 20 or > 5 % of body mass. > > Leaving aside the accuracy and the precision of gram (only) children's > mass measures there is also the consideration of the errors made when > converting between grams and kilograms. Now I can already hear the > raised voices saying, 'But all you have to do is move the decimal > point', but I know that errors can be introduced during this process > that the baby doesn't need right now when it is seriously ill. > Slithering and sliding decimal points is, in my opinion, not an > option. Consider this item from Fox News at > http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331164,00.html > and note that this is not an isolated case. > > ## > Hospital Pharmacy Error Blamed for Preemie's Death > Tuesday , February 19, 2008 > > An error by a hospital pharmacy led to the death of a premature baby > who at one time was thriving, ABC News reported. > > Alyssa Shinn was born 14 weeks early to Kathleen and Richard Shinn. > She was frail and tiny but grew stronger in the neonatal intensive > care unit at Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas, according to the report, > which was published on Monday. > > "She was doing excellent," Richard Shinn told ABC. "She had just come > off the ventilator. She was gaining weight. She was starting to take > milk. They just gave her a few drops of milk a day, in a little > dropper. And everything was good to go." > > But after the Shinns went home to get some rest on Nov. 8, 2006, > something went wrong. Upon returning to the hospital the next morning > at 9 a.m., the Shinns found their daughter was lethargic and not > moving. Kathleen Shinn said she could sense her daughter was on the > brink of death, according to the report. > > It was later discovered that the lead pharmacist on duty at the > hospital the night before made a fatal mistake prescribing to Alyssa > 330 milligrams of zinc, a nutritional supplement to help the baby's > metabolism, ABC reported. > > The dosage was 1,000 times the 330 micrograms of zinc that the baby > was supposed to receive. > > ## > > As a matter of interest, babies are measured and recorded in grams in > Australia. Here are some typically values: > > Australian babies at birth approximate masses > Small baby: 2500 > grams > > World > record smallest baby: 280 grams > > Average baby 3500 grams > > Big baby: 4500 > grams > World record biggest baby: 10900 grams > > Babies below 2500 grams (about 6 % of babies) are regarded as premature. > > Cheers, > > Pat Naughtin > > PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, > Geelong, Australia > Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 > > Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has > helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the > modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they > now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for > their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many > different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial > and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. > Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, > and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See > http://www.metricationmatters.com > for more metrication information, contact Pat at > [email protected] > or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: > http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter > to subscribe. > > -- Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association (USMA), Inc. www.metric.org 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 US +1(432)528-7724 mailto:[email protected]
