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Very often, young parents have a dilemma about how much a newborn should eat. Should the baby be fed at fixed times of the day or should he be fed whenever he wishes? The amount and appearance of the food is also very important. The toddler should be constantly monitored for weight, it is also necessary to observe the stool.
According to most specialists, the first feeding should take place one hour after giving birth, firstly to stimulate the lactation process, and secondly, it is important for establishing a mother-child bond. How much should a newborn eat? Is it necessary to set fixed times for eating?
How much should a newborn eat daily?
How much should a newborn eat per day? According to specialists, a newborn baby should eat at least 10 times a day in the first weeks of life. Adequate breaks between meals are very important, which should not be longer than 3 hours. However, at night, the newborn should eat every 4 hours at least.
Regular feeding times can ensure that your little one is properly fed.
Of course, don’t forget that your newborn may also feel thirsty, so you may need to breastfeed or bottlefeed between meals.
How much should a newborn eat? Pediatricians and nutritionists agree that a newborn needs to consume about 95 kcal per kilogram of its body weight throughout the day. Of course, the portions may be individual as each child has a different food requirement. However, the optimal amount that a toddler should eat during one meal in the first days of life is about 20 ml.
In the first days of a child’s life, weight loss may also occur and this is natural and should not be of concern to parents. On the second day, the baby needs to be fed all the time, in the following days the situation is similar, but it slowly starts to normalize. The desire to eat constantly is due to the increasing need for calories.
How much should a newborn eat after the first week of life? After a week, a properly developing newborn may need even about 70 ml of food, taken at once. From then on, the number of feedings should stabilize, it may be from 8 to 12 a day. How long is one feeding? It all depends on the needs of the baby, of course, but most of the time, uninterrupted feeding takes about 20 minutes.
How much should a breastfed newborn eat?
When it comes to breastfeeding, moms can have trouble estimating whether the baby has eaten enough milk. The indicator that the toddler is already full may be a soft breast, the child may already turn his head, he falls asleep while feeding. After two weeks, the amount of food eaten may be up to 100 ml, and at the end of the first month of life, the daily food requirement may be up to 700 ml.
What are the signs that my baby is hungry or thirsty?
First of all, a hungry newborn is restless, tearful, can put his hands in his mouth, hugging him, and turns his head in search of a breast or a bottle. It is very important to control the weight of the child, if, despite solid food, the child is losing weight, is also lethargic, has no appetite, go to the pediatrician for consultation. You also need to watch your newborn’s stool as its color and consistency are a signal of what is happening in the baby’s body, how the food is digested.
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