Welcome to motherhood, and every day is a new day with your newborn. 

As a new mom, you are trying to adjust to your newborn’s routine. You are learning to understand your baby’s feeding and sleeping needs.

You may often wonder that how often newborns feed?

Feeding your baby is very crucial as they are relying on breastfeeding. 

How Often Newborn Feed

Pediatricians recommend 8 to 12 times breastfeeding during 24 hours. So that would be around 2 to 3 hours once.

Every child is different from the other. 

For example

The feeding habits of your first baby can be completely different from the second baby.

Some newborn babies will breastfeed every hour, and it is called cluster feeding.

Adequate breastfeeding is essential for your newborn. It will help the infants to gain weight.

Approximately 95% of newborns lose around 10% of their birth weight. The weight loss is during the initial few days after birth.

The newborns will shed the water content from their bodies around this period. The lost weight is gained again within two weeks of their birth. 

You may be concerned about feeding less to your newborn. Do not panic. There is a trick to know about it as well.

You can also keep a tab of adequate nutrition in your newborn by checking their diaper usage. The newborns use roughly around 8 to 12 diapers per day. Some days it may be more or less too.

Inform the doctor about the drastic decrease in diaper usage.

How To Know If My Baby Is Hungry

You need to look for your baby’s hunger cues so that you can start feeding them. Feeding your baby based on the need is called responsive feeding.

• Rooting Reflex: The baby will start to turn its face to the sides in search of nipples. You can try this by stroking the finger on their cheeks towards the mouth. Then, the newborn will turn their face towards the side of the cheek which was rubbed.
• The newborn will start to move its head.
• The baby may start to open and close its mouth.
• It starts to suck on its hands.

Look for the hunger cues as an over-hungry baby will refuse to feed, latch, and starts crying. 

Some adults turn cranky when hungry. Likewise, few babies get irritable too if they are starving.

Should I Wake Up My Baby For Feed

You do not have to wake your baby to feed. Do not time it like every 2 hours once. A thriving baby will wake up when they are hungry and drink as much as they need. 

Waking them for feed will develop a fragmented sleep cycle in them. Besides, as the baby grows, their stomach capacity will increase. So they start to sleep longer duration between feeds. So allow them to develop the sleep pattern.

It is advised to wake them up baby for feed only when they are sick. Contact your healthcare provider if you think that your baby is very sleepy. 

Breastfed Infants

Breastfeeding will help in establishing a continuous breastmilk supply for your newborn. However, the production depends on the breastmilk intake during the initial few days. Hence it is indispensable to feed your newborn to the max during the first few days of birth.

The feeding duration during the initial days will be short. The stomach capacity is still tiny. It may be around 30 to 60 ml during the first week and gradually increases henceforth.

The duration between the feeds will increase as they get old. Therefore, there is also an increase in the feeding time.

Breastmilk is easily digested by the newborn. It is because the immature digestive system will handle the breastmilk smoothly during digestion. Thus also exits the digestive system with much ease compared to the formula feed.

Gastrocolic reflex is active in few babies. It is the movement of the bowel right after the feeding. The digestive system during the first few weeks of life is like a funnel. Thus they need to feed very often for nutrition.

Formula Fed Infants

Formula feeding in a newborn also needs to be followed as per the demand. It requires more time to digest the formula feed compared to the breastmilk. 

The formula-fed babies demand the feed with a longer duration between the feeds than the breastfed babies. 

Babies on formula feed will feel a sense of fullness and sleep better. But any day, natural breastmilk will give your baby lifelong protection against many diseases. 

The addition of the water to the formula should be followed as per the instruction of the manufacturer. Do not alter the water in the formula without contacting the doctor.

Reflection

Every day may not be the same for your baby. So they may change their routine frequently. Do not panic and learn to follow your baby’s hunger cues.

Follow your motherly intuitions. No one knows your baby’s needs better than you. You will get there soon and understand what your baby needs.

Keep smiling and enjoy the day with your little one.