FOR THE NEWBORN (Part 1)

Congratulations on your new baby!  It is a new and exciting time in life, but also very scary and tiring.  For the first few days of your baby’s life, have very few expectations.  They should learn to eat, sleep, poo and pee, and that is about it.  Babies should poo and pee at least once within the first 24 hours of life.

Breastfeeding is not an automatic skill that babies are born with, and Moms should not expect a natural instinct as to the techniques necessary to breastfeed.  It is a difficult process.  Breastmilk takes 3-5 days to start coming in and this is NORMAL.  Babies are made to only need a little bit of colostrum (precursor to breastmilk) in the first few days.  This does not mean your baby will not feel hunger however.  Generally, for the first 24 hours of life, babies sleep like angels and cry very little because they are resting from the birthing process.  The following 24 hours are when baby starts to feel hunger and most Moms only have a little bit of colostrum to give them at this time.  This is ok.  Your baby will not starve or dehydrate.  Just keep breastfeeding, this will make your milk come in faster and help your baby learn to feed.

Do not expect to have a regular feeding schedule until about 5 days of life.  Babies will feed erratically in the first 5 days of life.  For example, they may feed for 5 minutes, stop for 10 minutes, then want another feed, then stop and not want a feed for 2 hours, etc.  It will be unpredictable.  Following that time, most babies will breastfeed for about 30 minutes every 2-3 hours.

To Be Continued… Stay Tuned!

**Disclaimer – Any information found in these blog posts is only for informational purposes and not intended to replace the diagnosis and care of a physician.  Should you have any specific concerns about your child, please consult with your family doctor or pediatrician.