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Feeding Your Baby | |||
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Babies do not
arrive with schedules to match our own. It is best to feed young infants
when they seem hungry and adapt to their feeding rhythm. for some babies
this may mean eating every two to three hours. Breast fed babies under
one month may nurse 10 to 12 times a day Formula Companies Ross--Similac & Similac Advance Mead Johnson--Enfamil Lipil Washington Pediatric Home Page What To Do When Your Baby Cries |
Feeding is one of your baby's first pleasant experiences of nurturing and it should be a comfortable, relaxing interaction with your baby. Don't look at it as "it's time to feed the baby again" but rather as a time to take 20 or 30 relaxing minutes, clear your head, and enjoy being a parent. Talk to your infant. Never prop a bottle. Breast feeding is great, but a mother should choose the method that is best for both her and the child. Bottle feeding doesn't make you any less of a mother nor will it prevent or slow bonding with your infant. If you choose bottle feeding, generally it is not necessary to sterilize the bottles or boil the water unless there is some question about your water. Whether you choose breast or bottle feeding, before feeding you should wash your hands well. In years past (and still in some hospital nurseries), infants were placed on a four hour schedule--not because that is what's best for the baby but because it best met the hospital needs or schedule. If you have a fairly passive baby, this four hour routine may work. However, if your baby is more vocal, trying to force a schedule is only a good prescription for an unhappy baby--and parent! For most infants it is probably best to allow them to develop their own rhythm and feed on demand. This will vary from infant to infant--some infants will eat in three hours; some will consume large amounts every two hours for two or three feedings and then sleep six or seven hours before eating again. The amount of feeding may vary. Never attempt to make an infant finish a bottle for the parent's sake. Babies have a right not to be hungry sometime. A rough rule of thumb is don't spend more than 30 minutes trying to feed an infant. Eventually, by about 4 to 6 weeks of age an infant will consume about 30 ounces of formula a day with the range of normal being about 24 to 36 ounces in a 24 hour period. Although it is easy to tell how much a bottle fed baby is receiving, you cannot quantify how much a breast fed baby is receiving. Breast fed babies may nurse every 2 to 3 hours--10 to 12 times a day is not unusual for a young infant. The interval will gradually lengthen as the baby matures. You can tell if a breast fed infant is getting sufficient breast milk if she is urinating several times a day, and at least for the first few weeks stooling at least once or twice daily. At each visit we will review your baby's weight gain and growth in length and head size. Often breast fed babies seem to cry more or be hungry more in the evening--actually breast fed and bottle fed babies cry the same amount during the day, it just that bottle fed babies spread their crying throughout the day and breast fed infants seem to cry more in the evening. This is found in breast fed infants of every culture, and although the motherly inclination is to worry that the infant is not getting enough to eat, this is usually not the case. You should avoid the urge to offer the infant a supplemental bottle as this may cause your milk supply to decrease and gradually lead to bottle feeding. That's all right if that's what you want but if you really intend to breast feed do not offer water or supplemental formula bottle at least until the nursing is established for several weeks. The mother's milk supply responds to the needs of the baby. If the baby depletes her supply, her body responds by producing more. Having said that, now I will contradict myself and tell you if sometime your breast fed infant is inconsolable one evening to the point of severe frustration, one trick that will sometimes work for temporary peace is to offer a supplement. However, if you do this daily, the effect will gradually wear off and if you do it too frequently your milk supply will decrease and you will soon no longer be breast feeding.
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Types of Formula The various formula companies and their corresponding formula are listed on the left. Generally you should use a formula with a regular amount of iron. In the past, it was thought that formula containing iron could "bother infants." Now we know that in most cases that's not true, in fact low iron formula does not contain enough iron to prevent iron deficiency (which we now know can cause long term problems with learning). All formula fed infants should be on iron containing formulas by at least three months of life and preferably from birth. Although there is little iron in breast milk it is well absorbed (however vitamin D supplementation is now recommended for breast fed babies and these preparation all also contain iron. For a long time products such Similac and Enfamil have been proven to be excellent infant formulas and a leader among nutritional research and physician education. Most recently this has included the addition of DHA and ARA to that is thought to help improve vision and developments. There are some other formulas currently directly marketed such as Carnation and Parent's . Although these are acceptable, they certainly are not any better, may not be quite as good, and may not represent that much of a savings. It might be reasonable not to use these until your infant is 6 months of age or older. Their companies have not shown the commitment to research, physician and patient education, and to WIC that the other formula companies such as Ross or Meade Johnson have exhibited. In general, breast milk or formula is all an infant needs to grow until 6 months of age and it is recommended that they be continued for the first year of life. Although rice cereal is probably not harmful, it is not needed until the infant is four to six months of life. Contrary to popular opinion, feeding rice cereal in the evening has not been shown to help infants sleep through the night. Do not feed fruits or vegetables before four months of age as this may be potentially harmful--perhaps predisposing to food allergies. Water can be given but it is not necessary to do so unless it is a hot summer day or you just want to give him something extra. Too much water can be dangerous. Similarly juices do not add anything that is not already present in the formula except excess sugar. Juices are not particularly healthful and the decision to give them should be because the infant is constipated or because you want to give extra fluids for some reason. Bottles should never be propped. If you have a well or live in a city that does not fluoridate your water fluoride supplementation will help decrease tooth decay as your child grows. Currently only Union, Pacific Sullivan, and Krakow have fluoridated water. Currently fluoride supplementation is recommended beginning at 6 months for those communities without. Please call your water department if unsure. No Cows Milk Until One Year of Life There was a time when infants were give whole cow's milk in the first year of life. Depending on how early this was done, up to 70% of infants were iron deficient or anemic by one year of life. If changed to whole milk at 6 months of life, about 50% of infants were iron deficient--even if given iron supplementation. Why is this important? Studies have shown that iron deficiency in infancy can affect later school performance.
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