About how much milk should be eaten by a newborn baby

The birth of the first child for every womanaccompanied by an avalanche of emotions. It is an avalanche! On the one hand, it captures the spirit of ecstasy: "I - I could, here it is - my baby, my blood." On the other hand, there is a wave of anxious thoughts: "Oh, what am I supposed to do with it now" or "How much milk does the newborn have to eat to develop normally?"

Pediatricians all agree as one thatThere is a better way to raise a healthy baby than the one that mother nature has come up with. Only breastfeeding removes most of the problems associated with strengthening immunity and the normal development of the baby, not only in the first weeks and months after its birth, but also in the next year and a half.

Breast milk contains microelements and vitaminsin the amount that is necessary for an infant. In the first two or three days in the female breast, colostrum is produced, containing three times more protein than regular breast milk. And further, as the baby develops, the composition of breast milk changes, adapting to the needs of the child. That's why it's not even right to wonder how much milk a newborn baby should eat when the baby is breastfed. The answer is the only and simplest - the child himself knows how much milk he needs.

And for my mother in this situation the best way out -Less to worry about how much a newborn should have for one feeding. After all, any stress, even the easiest, has a negative effect on lactation. If the child's weight gain corresponds to the age norm, if he moistures at least 6-8 diapers per day and the color of the child's chair is light yellow, without any greening impurities, if the baby sleeps quietly between feedings, then the mother should not worry about the fact that the child is malnourished. She must put the baby to her breast when he wants it.

If circumstances require feedingbaby, for example, when the child does not gain weight, restlessly asleep, eats suckily, it is necessary to check how much he eats for one feeding, weighing the baby before and after he eats. The resulting difference is compared with the value of the norm corresponding to the age of the child.

The norm of milk for a newborn is changed byas he grows up. From the second till the sixth week of life a child should receive a day of milk, equal to one-fifth of how much it weighs. At the age of one and a half to four months, the amount of milk eaten must be at least one sixth of the weight of the baby, from four to six months - at least one seventh, six months to nine months - at least one-eighth.

However, the table values ​​of the rate of weight gainfeeding are taken from the calculation of the average statistical values. In fact, this figure can vary depending on the fat content of the milk of the nursing mother. Obviously, if a mother has high-fat milk, the child will eat up a much smaller amount of milk. Conversely, if the milk is not rich enough, the baby will suck longer, and the value of gain in weight will be higher when fed. That is why it is not necessary to hurry with an estimation of how much milk the newborn should eat, and even more so, with a conclusion about whether the baby is short of milk while feeding. In any case, an integrated approach is needed to estimate the amount of milk eaten by the newborn for one feeding.

If on all indicators, as well as onthe results of control feeding concluded that the child eats less than the prescribed, do not rush to the introduction of mixtures for complementary foods. A competent pediatrician can always advise how a nursing mother can increase lactation. Usually the doctor advises to apply the baby more often to the breast, drink more liquid, including special teas that increase lactation.

Unfortunately, there are a number of indications, withwhich the newborn is forced to translate for artificial feeding. For example, with inflammation of the breast in a nursing mother. In such situations, the question of how much milk should be eaten by a newborn becomes really relevant.

The norms of complementary feeding even in these cases should be chosenindividually for each baby and only following the advice of a pediatrician. Of course, it is necessary to be guided by the recommendations given on the packaging of the formula for artificial feeding. For each type of mixture, detailed tables for the calculation of complementary feeding for each age and weight category of the child are given. When mixed or artificially fed, it is also important to observe the intervals between feedings to prevent overfeeding of the baby with milk from the bottle.

And the most important advice to takeon arms to every mother who brings up her little "continuation" - less worried about whether she does anything right, and look more closely at the behavior and condition of the baby, trying to feel his mood, guess the desire. In fact, it's very simple - to hear and understand what your child lacks and fill in time what he lacks.