From birth to first month, babies frequently need to eat: eating and sleeping are their favorite activities! Milk is the only food he consumes, and for a long time to come. Whether your baby is bottle-fed or breast-fed, you will quickly learn to identify their needs and meet them instinctively.

Whether breastfed or bottle-fed, milk is the exclusive food of the 1 month old baby: in addition to properly hydrating it, breast or infant milk provides the newborn with all the nutrients it needs.

Amounts of milk

At one month, your baby’s feeding should start to regulate: your baby will start to call for his regular feeding times and if there are some bigger feeders than others, there are however recommended average daily amounts. indicative. Thereby, from birth to 1 month, the infant drinks approximately 650 ml of milk per 24 hours, i.e.:

• 7 bottles of 90 ml per 24 hours: 1 bottle = 90 ml of water + 3 measures of milk.
• 5 to 6 bottles of 120 ml per 24 hours: 1 bottle = 120 ml of water + 4 measures of milk.

However these figures are only an average because at one month, baby can sometimes take up to 8 bottles per day. The important thing is to listen to your child’s needs in order to adapt to them and let him take the quantities he needs without forcing or restricting him. In the event that the baby is breastfed, breastfeeding is done on demand, depending, therefore, on the needs of the infant.

Be that as it may, the requirements subsequently change in stages, often from 30 ml to 30 ml.

Meal times

The first days of life, the bottles will be relatively close together because the newborn drinks small amounts of milk more regularly.

Thereafter, the bottles will gradually become smaller. Quickly, it will be necessary to space baby’s meals from 2h30 to 3h minimum, to give him time to digest well.

As for meal times, bottles can be given at flexible times depending on your child’s appetite. But do not wake your baby up to feed him, unless his last meal was more than 5 hours ago or on the advice of your pediatrician (if baby is having trouble gaining weight, for example). Hunger will wake him up quite naturally and he will know very well how to let you know!

At one month, remember that the only way to communicate for a newborn is to fidget and cry. So you don’t have to worry about crying: your child is just trying to express himself so that you can step in and meet his needs, especially when he is hungry.

Whether breastfed or bottle-fed, babies establish their own rhythm fairly quickly with more or less predictable meal times. For your part, you will quickly decipher your child’s crying and you will learn to anticipate his eating needs.

From birth to one month, a baby is usually fed on demand and then claims to eat on its own every three to four hours. roughly, day or night. That said, if he drank less at the previous meal, it is likely that he will be hungry sooner.

Be careful, however: just because your baby is crying doesn’t mean he is hungry! He may be hot, cold, in need of comfort and to feel close to him, or just sleepy, for example.

If you are breastfeeding your child, the ideal is to feed him on demand: you will offer your baby to breastfeed as often as he asks you to. Breastfeeding is a special moment that will require you to be all the more attentive to observe and listen to your child in order to adapt to his rhythm.

The first few days, the baby does not give a real signal of hunger: he has phases of sleep followed by phases of awakening. It is necessary to take advantage of the awakening moments to feed your child who will suck instinctively.

It is also necessary to ensure that the infant has between 6 to 8 feeds in 24 hours, often with several feedings at night because he cannot stand the prolonged fast.

At one month, generally, feedings take place every three or four hours. However, always make sure you allow at least two or even two and a half hours to pass between two feedings to give your baby time to digest your breast milk. In the weeks and months to come, your feedings will become more evenly spaced naturally as your child gets older.

When it comes to the length of each feed, there is no rule: some babies gobble up their milk ration at lightning speed, others take their time and fall asleep on the breast. All you have to do is adapt to its way of eating.

Just remember to change sides from one feed to another: offer one breast for one feed and the other for another feed to stimulate your milk production. In order not to be mistaken if you do not feel a big difference in volume when you palpate your chest, two solutions can help you:

• The notebook technique: note in a notebook the time of the feed, its duration and the side given
• The elastic technique: take a hair elastic and at the end of each feeding, change your wrist according to the given side. It will be your benchmark for the next feeding!

If your child seems to be restless when you put him to the breast, be sure to help him find your nipple so that he does not get too angry when he is too hungry. On the other hand, if he refuses the breast, especially after having already breastfed, do not force him because a child knows early on how to listen to his signals of satiety and fullness.

And remember: Throughout your breastfeeding period, each feed is a special moment between you and your baby. It is a moment of sharing, where you devote yourself to your little one. Snuggled up in your arm, he feels confident so close to you. To make this moment as pleasant for you as it is for him, find a calm and comfortable corner where you will come and sit at each feeding: a sofa or an armchair for example, possibly helped by a pillow or your pillow. feeding with milk.

If your child is bottle-fed, be sure to choose early-stage milk and take these few preparation precautions:

• Always pour cold water (bottled or tap) into the bottle, dosing the amount according to the graduations on it.
• Heat the bottle in a bain-marie, in a bottle warmer or in the microwave.
• Add a level measuring spoon of milk to 30 ml of water. So for a 90 ml bottle, count 3 measures and 4 measures of milk for a 120 ml bottle
• Screw on the nipple then roll the bottle between your hands before shaking it up and down to mix the powder well with the water.
• Always check the temperature of the milk on the inside of your wrist before offering it to your baby. This will prevent any risk of burns.

Some babies swallow their bottles at an impressive rate, others will spend almost an hour there and sometimes fall asleep on them. Each person at his own pace ! But anyway, if your baby tells you he’s not hungry anymore by rejecting his bottle, don’t force him to finish.

On the other hand, if your child easily finishes his bottle and still seems to be hungry, do not hesitate to prepare another small bottle of 30 ml (1 dose of milk) for him. And if this happens over two days in a row, increase the quantity of the bottle by 30 ml: go from 90 to 120 ml for example. This is how your child will gradually increase his amounts of milk.

As for burping at the end of the meal, it is not mandatory: some babies do, others don’t. It all depends on how much air they swallowed. Some bottles also limit the latter. You will quickly get to know your child and quickly know if he needs to vent this too much air or not.

With the exception of two specific vitamins – Vitamin D and Vitamin K – there is no justification for supplementing an infant. Vitamin supplements can even be harmful: Vitamins A, D, E and K in excess, for example, build up in the body and can damage the liver.

Vitamin D: essential when baby is breastfed

Vitamin D plays an essential role in the mineralization of the skeleton of the child. It allows the child to fix calcium well to densify his bone mass.

While breast milk is undoubtedly the most suitable food for infants, it does not contain enough Vitamin D to cover its needs. That is why, when the mother has decided to breastfeed, pediatricians prescribe it in the form of drops to be given to the baby every day.

And for good reason: vitamin D is only provided for a third by food and two thirds by exposure to the sun: it is in fact essentially synthesized by the skin under the action of ultraviolet rays. Infants, never being exposed to the sun, must necessarily have vitamin D supplementation when breastfeeding.

On the other hand, for bottle-fed babies, this additional vitamin D intake in the form of drops is not necessary because infant milks are all enriched with vitamin D.

Vitamin K: systematically

Vitamin K, produced by intestinal bacteria, plays a major role in blood clotting. In newborns, there is not enough production, which in rare cases can cause severe bleeding. To avoid any risk, babies systematically receive a dose of Vitamin K at the time of birth and then on the 3rd day of life.

In France, recommendations suggest continuing this supplementation in breastfed babies, but there is no international scientific consensus. “As long as breastfeeding is exclusive, a baby should receive vitamin K at the rate of one 2 mg vial by mouth every week. As soon as the diet is diversified or artificial milk is introduced, there is no need to continue the intake of vitamin K ”, however, indicates Dr Dominique Turck, professor of pediatrics at the Faculty of Medicine of Lille and expert in nutrition.