BreastfeedingHealthNew Mom

Is your New born having enough?

As a mom, I was always worried since the day my baby arrived whether he is having enough? Is my milk enough for him? I even tried expressing and feeding him just to compare with what different sources recommend. Though it was said that if your breast feels light and your baby slept after each feeding and wet at least 6 nappies a day- it’s going right.

But he may also sleep being tired sucking and sleep hungry or half full or he may pee 6 or more times as the temperature is a little cold… Is that the case with me, that worry was making me nuts as I was told my baby is big, hence he may need more.

Being an engineer all the old moms’ solutions were not helping my anxious new mother’s mind. I needed numbers, I needed logic, I needed proofs.

After consulting with a lot of paediatrics, talking to a lot of new moms, reading various books and webs, I finally came to a conclusion that there is no rule or quantity (as mentioned on the formula milk) which can help tell you if your little one for enough and is content. Each baby is different and each day may also be different.

So how do we know how are we doing?

The best way is to track their weight.

Babies normally drop 10% of their weight in their first few days because it’s the excess water they are holding, which takes normally for 3-4 days to settle.

So it is suggested not to refer to the birth weight for this purpose. You should ideally check the baby’s weight after a week, probably when it’s your first paediatric appointment or the day you check out from your hospital (around 3-4 days). This weight is kind of stable and when you start feeding BM or FM, the baby starts gaining weight. The instant check on your baby could be a healthy weight gain.

So to check and track if you are doing well with your newly acquired feeding skills, track his weight. The baby should gain around 800-1200 grams a month i.e roughly around 200-250 grams a week.

As I said my baby was a little big (I delivered on the exact due date I.e full-term baby), I had a lot of apprehensions which were successfully answered by my baby indirectly every week through our measuring scale. Some weeks were good, some were bad. But the overall weight gain was normal so we were happy.

Remember the below golden rule, as the doctors say:
Double of the birth weight in SIX months and TRIPLE in a year.

Though few babies may achieve double the weight earlier. It is totally fine. As the babies get more active post 6 months weight gain is a challenge. More coming up in weight gain for 6 months + babies and their diet in my next article.. stay tuned…😊

 

Gunjan

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