Feeding the baby needs to be an enjoyable experience for you and for your baby, this is your bonding moment. Make it last and you will raise a healthy baby.
If you will be stressed memorizing all the helpful advice of your mom, your friend and other people, it may unduly confuse you and your baby might take that confusion as well.
To avoid this, ensure that you are sensitive in your baby's needs. Feeding her will be easy if you know when he needs feeding and what his body needs.
What does my baby need and how do I tell if I am doing the right thing?
The truth is that no one can give you a precise answer to this question. The only important part of raising a baby is to understand what she needs and how she needs it.
If this confuses you, let us discuss a little further.
What to feed your baby
For newborn babies, breast milk or formula, it is however up to you to decide on this.
If you are a stay home mom, which there are not many nowadays, breastfeeding may not be a problem. What more, breast milk is more popular especially to newborns. This is because health experts believe that breast milk has adequate nutritional elements in it to keep the baby healthy and strong.
For those mothers who need to get back to work after a short while, formula may also be used. Formula milk containing iron is formulated to meet the needs of newborn, so this may be your alternative. You may also try to breastfeed your baby during his first few days, pediatricians believe that babies fed with breast milk experience less colds and is stronger.
When to feed your newborn
During his 0 to 4 months, your baby will require only milk. They may feel full easily but will require at least eight feedings a day. Because your baby cannot tell you when he is full or not, be sensitive when he starts facing away from the milk, this is your signal that he has had enough.
To know when he wants another feeding, he will wake and show signs of discomfort, this is your signal that you need to feed the baby now.
If you are already bottle-feeding, ensure you use sterilized bottles while feeding the baby, warm milk is also necessary to keep up with the temperature of human milk. This is how they take their food inside the tummy and thus is accustom to it. Cold milk may cause colic. Avoid this by giving warm milk, not hot, only warm milk.
When to wean the baby
Weaning is the process of introducing solid foods in order to compliment the nutritional requirement of growing babies.
This may start at 4 months. Never spoon your food and directly feed your baby, this could create problem including choking.
You will need to start by spooning as little as possible to recognize if your baby is accepting this new addition to his diet or will reject it. He may not be able to literally swallow the food, but the different taste my excite him.
In weaning your baby, be wary of the rejection behavior; if it happens, do not force it. Try another day.
Feeding your baby especially in his very sensitive condition, may be somewhat difficult. However, if you want your baby to receive enough nutrients necessary for his growing body, you will need a lot of patience.
As much as possible, make each mealtime enjoyable for your baby. Do not force him when he turns his head away from his food. This is his way of saying, I had enough or I do not want that. If you force feeding your baby, he may not enjoy mealtime, whining may happen. This may end up causing not enough nutrients in his body. You, of course, do not want this to happen.
Mealtime is also bonding time with you and your baby. You may opt to alternate with daddy for him to have the chance of bonding with his little angel.
Feeding the baby can cause anxiety to first time mothers, but with enough encouragement and understanding your baby needs, it may be helpful in nourishing your little bundle of Joy.
Summary:
Use this article to understand what and how feeding the baby may be done properly. Advice from other people may be useful but never be too stressed on minding them. If you are having trouble feeding your baby, the best person to help you is your health care professional.
