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Feeding the newborn baby
To decide how to feed your newborn is probably the most important decision of newborn baby care, which you have to make during the early days of your baby's life. You need to choose whether you want to breastfeed or bottle feed your baby. But your decision needs to be informed not pressured.
Undoubtedly the breast milk is the perfect food for the newborn babies , but some mothers choose to give their newborns formula instead of breast milk either for medical or personal reasons. It is believed that your baby will bloom and flourish in the method you choose for him/her.
Deciding whether breast feed or bottle feed?
There are many mothers and professional groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Medical Association who only support breastfeeding. According to them breast milk is the perfect food for the newborns. Thus, the old proverb 'breast is best' gets the majority of votes within the medical society.
As reported by the baby feeding guide recommendation of WHO or the World Health Organization, a mother should breastfeed her baby for the first 4-6 months.
The advantages of breastfeeding a newborn are:
- The breast milk contains essential minerals and vitamins which a baby requires.
- Breast milk provides antibodies and enzymes to the baby, which reduces the kids health problems.
- Majority of the breastfed babies get fewer allergies than the formula fed as the breast milk helps the baby
to boost immunity.
- A baby can easily digest the mother's milk.
- Breast milk works as the ideal source of food when they grow.
According to them, for one or more reasons some women are unable to breastfeed their babies, but some of them choose to not breastfed their babies. But the decision of whether to breastfeed or bottle feed is exclusively a mother's decision.
The formula milk also provides essential nutrition for the healthy growth of your baby. Besides, the relationship bond between a formula fed baby and his/her mother remains the same as the breastfed and his/her mother. The wholesale formula foods are enriched with proteins, fats, vitamins and sugar which provides proper nutrition to your new born.
The schedules of feeding:
When you are breastfeeding your newborn baby, you need to feed them within every two or three hours during the first weeks of his/her life. After three or four weeks a solid breastfeed routine can be started. During this time, the mother can pump the milk and allow the other family members to bottle feed that milk to the newborn. To help your newborn to have the right portion of milk, feed slowly and when he/she is gulping the milk quickly, take short breaks of few seconds to understand whether she have enough or not. This process is important during first few months., until he/she knows to pace himself/herself. Young babies can digest the formula a little bit slowly. Thus, generally a bottle fed baby doesn't require food within three hours of having once. This quotient may vary from baby to baby.
In few cases, breastfeeding is not possible. Then you must follow the baby feeding guide and must be able to pump the breast milk for a short period to give your baby the valuable nutrients and antibodies. Sometimes, premature babies are unable to swallow and suck the milk well enough. In this case, you can bottle feed your baby the breast milk by pumping it. Though some premature babies still need some supplements to survive.
How to know if my baby is getting enough food to eat or not?
During the first week, most of the mothers nurse their babies on each breast 10-15 minutes. During the first month of their life, most of the babies need 2-3 ounces of mother's milk at each nursing. As the time passes by, the babies continue the nursing period from 20 minutes to one hour every time of feeding. Your breasts will feel supple after the nursing and newborn baby care. As the baby has emptied the excess milk. After getting a proper nursing, your baby will be satisfied and relaxed. At the age of 3-4 months the babies will start to give you signals when they feel hungry. As an example, you can see your baby is sucking its hands actively when he/she feels hungry.
In the first few days, when the baby is getting colostrum,he or she would produce 2-3 diapers per day. After the milk comes out, if your newborn is producing more than six wet diapers every day and putting on weight continuously, it is then confirmed that he/she is getting enough to eat. In the very first month, your baby will have three stools per day. The bowel movement will decrease as he/she would grow month older. Its quite common for the breastfeed babies to have irregular bowel movement. At the age of six months, he/she would become regular. Babies start to give you signals when they feel hungry. As an example, you can see your baby is sucking its hands actively when he/she feels hungry.
Most of the babies increase their capacity of having food as well as can last for a longer time than before being unfed as they starts to gain weight. However, every baby goes through a growth spurt when he/she starts demanding for nursing more frequently. This time, you need to let your baby suck as much milk as he/she wants to have. It would also help you to stimulate the production of milk according to the need of your growing baby.
When the babies will be about 3 months of age, they will demand for nursing up to eight times everyday. At this time, the bottle fed babies need 4-5 ounces of formula each time of nursing. The quantity of having formula will increase in a rapid rate.
Ultimately whatever you choose between the option of breastfeeding or bottle feeding, you need to keep in mind that you have to make a unique bond with your kid through the act of nursling or feeding alone. Don't forget to contact with your pediatrician or healthcare adviser for the baby feeding guide if you have any questions related to the baby's eating habits. The health tips for kids will help you to make the nursing process rewarding and joyful process.
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