Feeding Your Newborn Baby Tips

Newborn babies are very sleepy in their first 6 weeks of life.

It is really important that babies get all of their full feeds during the day to meet their nutritional requirements, and to avoid them waking more frequently in the night to make up for the missed feeds.

If your baby is falling asleep in the middle of a feed, you can take off a layer of your baby’s clothing, remove their booties, tickle toes, or even blow gently on their face.

Newborn Breastfeeding

Newborn babies can usually get enough milk for a full feed in around half an hour. This timing can differ for some babies depending on their age and size. (For example; a 7 kilo, 3-month-old baby can often drain the breast sooner, getting a full feed in about 20 minutes)

If your baby has been sucking for an hour (on and off) it is best to stop as your baby will be exhausted from sucking for such a long time, for the next feed they will be hungrier and take more milk. This pattern will continue to improve, and eventually they will take a full feed every time.

Once your baby has taken a full feed, they may be sucking for comfort, which will be exhausting for you (not to mention extremely painful for your nipples!) Babies could not be drinking consistently for an hour and a half; their stomachs are simply not big enough.

Making sure your baby has latched on to the breast properly, this will ensure that the time the baby is at the breast is all about nutritive sucking and therefore a good transfer of milk.

A full baby = a content baby, a baby who is gaining weight and a baby who sleeps well! Getting everybody in the family off to a healthy start.

Newborn Bottle Feeding

For the first two weeks your baby will need to be fed little and often.

2-4 weeks old – approximately 90mls of formula/expressed breastmilk every 2 ½ - 3 hours.

By 4-5 months old babies will drink approximately 180mls – 210mls of formula/expressed breastmilk 5 times a day.

By keeping a log of your baby’s feeding and sleeping patterns, you will soon learn your baby’s rhythm and understand their cues. Newborn babies are very sleepy in their first few weeks of life, if they have a habit of falling asleep while drinking a bottle, you will need to gently wake them to keep drinking, or they will not take a full feed and be hungry again soon after. Particularly for smaller or premature babies, sucking is hard work and it can be more difficult to keep them awake for full feeds.

This may lead to ‘snacking and napping’ rather than ‘feeding and sleeping’.

Here are some techniques to keep your baby awake:

• Change your baby’s nappy before a feed

• Tickle under baby’s chin and feet

• Blow gently on their face

• Lay them down on the change mat or floor mat

• Sit your baby up on your lap/knee (supporting your baby’s head)

• Walk around the room while you are feeding

Finding a newborn teat that works for your baby can be a challenge. I often recommend latex teats with a slower flow to my mama’s. The latex teat seems to soften faster, becoming easier to latch on to, mimicking the shape and softness of a nipple.