Young parents often have a lot of questions: "how to swaddle and bathe the baby", "play with him or not" - but the most common question is related to the nutrition of the baby. Of course, the best food for a newborn is mother’s milk, because nature itself was created specifically for the diet of your child. However, there are situations when breastfeeding is impossible for one reason or another. In these cases, it is important to choose the mixture that is most suitable for your little one. Often, mom and dad worry if their child is eating up or crying because of hunger. Indeed, how to determine if the baby cannot yet tell himself whether he has eaten enough or not, is he enough for her mother’s milk or mixture? How much should a newborn baby eat?
Breastfeeding
If the condition of the mother allows, it is advisable to attach the child to the chest immediately in the delivery room. And the continued stay of the baby with her mother 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 a little (about a teaspoon of milk for each feeding), but then he will surely get his own. The task of the mother at this time is to help the baby as much as possible adapt to feeding, choose comfortable poses for herself and the baby, and create a quiet and calm environment during the feeding period. Starting 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 needs of her baby. So how much should a newborn eat?
A table of average values of the amount of milk consumed will help mothers deal with this issue.
| Age of a 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 per day |
But do not worry, if the child, as you think, eats little. All children are different. It is believed that active crumbs eat more, as they spend more energy.
Time spent at the chest is not always an indicator of the amount eaten. 8-10 minutes will be enough for one baby with active sucking, and 30-40 will be enough for another. There are certain standards for
how much a newborn should eat per feed, they are followed by pediatricians. It is difficult to accurately determine the amount of milk consumed during breastfeeding at home. In the clinic, this problem is solved using the control weighing procedure for the crumbs immediately after feeding.
The amount of the mixture in the diet of the baby
With artificial feeding, the amount of drunk mixture can be seen quite easily. And the following formula, which is popular among pediatricians, will help determine how much an artificial newborn should eat. The age of the baby in days must be multiplied by 70 (provided that the baby was born with a weight of up to 3.2 kg) or 80 (if the weight was more than 3.2 kg). The amount will just equal the amount of the mixture that the baby needs to drink per day. Accordingly, how much a newborn should eat at one feeding is determined by dividing the amount received by the number of meals a child takes.
Of course, all parents worry about the children: they monitor their health, diet. However, here is a tip for young parents. When worrying about how much a newborn should eat, do not forget that for him the food process 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 beloved man will definitely appreciate it!