Hi everybody, Melissa here.
So month one with your new baby, not an easy time, totally overwhelming, for any parent
and trying to get a handle on when, how much and how often to feed your baby can be very,
very overwhelming.
It's very important that you go over this with your doctor because you're both going
to be watching your baby very closely to make sure that he or she is eating enough and is
properly gaining weight.
So make sure that you do this.
This show is about formula feeding and scheduling formula feeding.
And I just want to make two quick comments about formula feeding before we get into sort
of the nitty gritty.
And the first thing is that actually one of the real advantages of feeding your baby formula
is that you don't have to worry about vitamin D supplements because this naturally comes
in most formulas like Similac or Enfamil.
So check the box or the container, but it should have extra vitamin D. And the other
thing is iron- iron-fortified formulas.
The AAP recommendations using an iron-fortified formula for the first year of your baby's
life so let's get down to the basics.
There's a lot of debate about how babies should be fed and one thing that everybody has to
know is that during the first few weeks of a baby's life what is most commonly recommended
and the AAP supports this, the American Academy of Pediatrics, is that you feed your baby
on demand.
Well what does this mean to feed your baby on demand?
Basically, what it means is that when your baby manifests signs of hunger, you feed your
baby.
What are the signs of hunger?
Okay, rooting which is opening the mouth and sort of spinning the mouth to the side as
if the baby's looking for the breast or the bottle.
I'll do a bad imitation here.
That's rooting.
Biting the hand, biting the wrists, crying, extreme fussiness- these can all be signs
of hunger.
And under the on-demand theory of feeding, when your baby shows those signs of hunger
you are going to feed your baby.
One other quick thing to say, from everything I've read, the on-demand theory does not mean
that you leave a sleepy baby like nine hours without eating because they haven't woken
up.
You should feed your baby on a regular basis.
Go over all this again with your doctor.
But you have to make sure that your baby is getting regular feedings.
But it does mean that you respond to those signs of hunger and that you don't try to
impose a schedule right off the bat.
Okay, the APP recommends that formula fed babies be fed on-demand during the first few
weeks at least every three to four hours which amounts to around six to eight feedings over
the course of the day.
Now, keep in mind that how often your baby eats will have to do with how much your baby
is eating at each feed.
So if I'm giving formula, how much formula do I need to be giving per feed?
Okay, according to the AAP, usually within the first few weeks of life a typical term
baby will drink around two to three ounces each feeding and will eat every three to four
hours.
Now there is another way to guesstimate this whole thing.
And I am not particularly strong at math and when I first saw this equation I was like
"Holy Moly!"
But there is an equation that a lot of people swear by, it's not an exact science, but I'm
going to walk through this equation with you because it's a very nice thing to do and it
depends on the weight of your baby.
So take a look at this.
And this might be a nice way for you to gauge how much formula to give.
Take the weight of your baby and multiply this by two and a half.
Then divide this by the number of feedings your baby is doing each day.
So for those of us who are not Albert Einstein like me, this is how you do this.
Assume your baby weighs seven pounds and is eating eight times a day.
You multiply her weight by two and a half so that makes 17.5.
And then you take that number and then you divide it by the number of feedings so 8 so
here about 2.1 ounces.
Now you should definitely be going over this with your doctor, especially if you think
that your baby's not eating enough.
But it is a good equation in order to allow you to sort of ballpark this whole thing.
Okay, one other quick comment about formula feeding and babies.
Whereas with breast fed babies, breast fed babies have to work quite hard to suck the
milk out of the breast, for babies taking the milk from the bottle is actually an easier
process.
So there is a phenomenon of over feeding, a baby's actually eating too much at a feed,
and for this reason it's important to have the right nipple for your baby and figure
out exactly what stage nipple your baby should be at whether that be zero or one to three
or six months or whatever it is.
Okay, so despite this issue overfeeding it is nonetheless very important that you make
sure that your baby is full so once you've fed and burped your baby and offered the bottle-
your baby should be rejecting the bottle indicating that he or she is no longer interested that's
a good sign your baby is full.
One other tall tale way to make sure that your baby is eating enough is by looking at
his or her diaper.
And this is what hospitals do and this is what your doctor will ask you about too.
So you want to make sure that your baby is wetting her diaper between six to eight times
a day, that she has a poopy diaper at least three times a day and that she's gaining weight.If
your baby doesn't exhibit these signs, you definitely need to talk to your doctor and
make sure that your baby is getting enough food so that she's right on track in gaining
weight properly.
So I hope these tips will help you in terms of figuring out how much and how often to
be giving your baby formula and I wish you all the best of luck with your beautiful new
baby.