All the nutrients your baby needs during the first two months will be provided by breast milk or formula. Doctors advise delaying the introduction of solid foods for your infant until they are roughly 6 months old. Wait until your baby is at least 4 months old before starting foods, while some newborns may be ready earlier than 6 months.
How Much and How Often Should You Breastfeed?
As infants age, they will begin to nurse less frequently and sleep through the night for long periods. If your baby exhibits any of the following:
- seems awake, happy, and active; is steadily gaining weight and growing; feeds six to eight times daily, and frequently wets and soils diapers.
- If Babies may not be eating enough
- don’t seem to be satisfied scream frequently are agitated, even after eating, and don’t produce wet diapers
If you are worried that your infant isn’t eating enough, call your doctor.
Breastfed infants often have fewer bowel movements (BMs, or feces) than they had before a few weeks after birth. Around the age of two months, your baby might not poop immediately after each feeding or even every day. You could find that your child wants to nurse more frequently when going through a growth spurt. The need for extra milk is indicated by the frequent nursing. The equilibrium between supply and demand will be reached in a few days.
Infants who exclusively breastfeed should start taking vitamin D supplements as soon as possible after birth. Other supplements, liquids, solid foods, and water are typically not required.
How Much and How Often Should I Feed My Baby Formula?
Your baby may require fewer feedings if you bottle-feed because babies digest formula more slowly than breast milk.
As newborns get older, they can eat more at each feeding and may go between feedings for extended periods. You’ll also observe that your child is beginning to sleep through the night longer.
Infants may consume approximately 4 or 5 ounces at each feeding throughout the second month. Your baby might require an additional ounce at each meal by the end of the third month.
Because it is simpler to drink from a bottle than from a breast, it is simple to overfeed a baby when using a bottle. Make sure the bottle’s nipple has the proper-sized hole. Instead of pouring out of the hole, the liquid should trickle slowly. Also, when your child exhibits signs of being full from the bottle, resist the impulse to finish it.
By no means prop a bottle. Choking hazards, ear infections, and tooth decay are all increased when a bottle is propped.
Child-feeding schedule
All of the calories that newborns need should come from breast milk or formula. Here is a rough breakdown.
| Breast milk | According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), most babies consume 1-2 ounces of breast milk every feeding, which occurs every two to three hours. This amount will rise to 2-3 ounces by the time your child is two weeks old. Typically, if your child wets their diaper every three to four hours, they are eating enough. |
| Formula milk | A formula-fed infant will consume 2 to 3 ounces per feeding, with a three- to the four-hour interval between meals. As your child becomes older, this amount will rise. According to Amy Lynn Stockhausen, M.D., an associate professor of general pediatrics and adolescent health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, you should strive to feed your infant 2.5 ounces of formula per pound of body weight each day. Again, though, it’s crucial to pay attention to an infant’s cues rather than consistently give them the same amount of formula at each feeding. |
Feeding advice
- If your baby has 6 to 8 wet diapers per day, he is probably getting enough to eat.
- Compared to babies fed formula, breastfed babies may require more frequent feedings. That is typical. Since breast milk is absorbed more quickly than formula, newborns who are breastfed have earlier hunger pangs.
- Only breast milk or formula is required for the first four months of a baby’s existence. Wait until your baby is at least 4 months old before offering him or her liquid or food, including cereal (unless your doctor recommends it).
- Juice shouldn’t be consumed until a child is at least a year old.
- If not advised by your doctor, do not add cereal to the bottle. Babies do not sleep longer as a result of it.
- Don’t give your infant a bottle of formula to drink before bed. Ear infections and dental decay could result from this.
- When feeding your child, keep them upright. A baby’s ear infections or choking could result from being laid flat to consume a bottle.
- Never pressurize your infant to complete a bottle. Your infant will either turn his head and push the nipple out of his mouth or he will nod off when he is full.
- Your infant may cry for other reasons besides hunger, such as boredom, loneliness, or the need for a diaper change.
- As you feed your baby, hold him close to you and snuggle him.
- While your child is eating, focus on him and let him observe you.
- Try gently burping your infant at the beginning and conclusion of each feeding.
- Bottles don’t need to be sterilized before use. Rinse carefully after washing with warm, soapy water.
- When making formula, use cold tap water or infant bottled water and later reheat in warm water rather than the microwave. Warm tap water is not recommended for drinking because it contains more minerals.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics advises starting iron and vitamin D supplements for all infants who are mainly breastfed. In the vitamin area of your drugstore, you can get vitamins for infants.
- Breast milk does not contain vitamin D. 100 IU is included in every 8.3 ounces of formula. Infants younger than one-year-old should consume 400 IU daily. A supplement is advised if your infant consumes less than 33 ounces of formula each day. Skin can survive exposure to sunshine, but no one is sure how much is ideal, and too much sun exposure is dangerous. Visit our Vitamin D website to learn more.
- Although term babies are born with enough iron in their livers to last 4-6 months and iron is found in breast milk, many newborns test negative for iron deficiency. Prevention is worthwhile because iron shortage can lead to growth and developmental issues.
