Young parents often have a lot of questions: "how to swaddle and bathe the baby", "to play with him or not" - but the most common question is related to the baby's nutrition. Of course, the best food for a newborn is mother's milk, because it is created by nature for the diet of your child. However, there are situations when breastfeeding is not possible for one reason or another. In these cases, it is important to choose the mixture that is most suitable for your baby. Often, mom and dad are worried if their child is full, if he is crying because of hunger. Indeed, how to determine if the baby still cannot say for himself whether he is full or not, is he enough of his mother's milk or mixture? How much should a newborn baby eat?
Breastfeeding your baby
If the condition of the mother allows, it is advisable to attach the child to the breast immediately in the delivery room. And further staycrumbs with mom is a very important condition for establishing proper breastfeeding. The question of how much a newborn should eat, at the first feedings, you can not ask yourself or doctors. Of course, at first the baby will eat little (about a teaspoon of milk for each feeding), but then he will definitely get his own. The task of the mother at this time is to help the baby as much as possible to adapt to feeding, to choose comfortable positions for herself and the baby, to create a quiet and calm environment during the feeding period. Already from the 2nd day, the appetite of the newborn will gradually improve, and the mother's milk will become more in accordance with the growing demands of her baby. So, how much should a newborn eat?
Average milk intake chart will help mothers figure this out.
| Age of newborn baby | Norm of drinking milk |
| 1-2 days | 5-10 ml per feeding |
| 5 days | 60 ml at a time |
| 14 days | 500 ml per day |
| 6 months | about a liter a day |
But don't worry if your baby doesn't seem to be eating enough. All children are different. It is believed that active crumbs eat more, as they spend more energy.
Time spent at the breast is not always an indicator of the amount eaten. With active sucking, 8-10 minutes will be enough for one baby, and 30-40 minutes will not be enough for another. There iscertain norms of how much a newborn should eat in one feeding, pediatricians adhere to them. It is difficult to accurately determine the amount of milk drunk during breastfeeding at home. In the clinic, this problem is solved using the control weighing of the crumbs immediately after feeding.
Amount of formula in baby's diet
When bottle-fed, the amount of formula drunk can be seen quite easily. And to determine how much an artificial newborn should eat, the following formula, which is popular among pediatricians, will help. The age of the baby in days must be multiplied by 70 (assuming that the child was born weighing up to 3.2 kg) or by 80 (if the weight was more than 3.2 kg). The amount will just be equal to the amount of the mixture that the baby needs to drink per day. Accordingly, how much a newborn should eat per feeding is determined by dividing the amount received by the number of meals the child has.
Of course, all parents worry about their children: they monitor their he alth and diet. However, here's some advice for new parents. When worrying about how much a newborn should eat, do not forget that for him the process of eating is important not only as the absorption of nutrients and calories. One of its main components is communication with mom, tactile and emotional. Before feeding, tune in to a calm, gentle wave, and your loved one will definitely appreciate it!
