Baby feeding tips

Whether you decide to breast or formula feed your new born, you will find endless amounts of tips on how to feed baby in baby care magazines, as well as useful advice from your local baby care visitor or paediatrician.

What is most important when feeding your infant or new born, is that both you and baby are relaxed, and in a comfortable position. Remember if you are breastfeeding your baby, your baby will be on each breast for an average of ten minutes so it is essential that you are “sitting comfortably” so to speak.

Finding the right position for breast feeding is important, as if you are relaxed, then your milk will flow better and baby will feed better in turn. Depending on the type of birth you have had, you might find it uncomfortable to breast feed baby sitting up due to vaginal stitching, or stapling in the case of having had a cesarean birth. Sometimes putting a cushion over your lap will help, as when baby wriggles, he will not directly touch or hit the delicate wounded area.

In the first few weeks of life, a lot of mothers prefer to breastfeed baby lying on their side, with baby lying snuggly beside her, either on the sofa, or equally good, in or mothers bed. This is obviously the optimum position for nighttime feeds, disturbing everyone as little as possible.
A good tip to remember, right from when your baby is new born, is to distinguish between daytime feeds and night time feeds, using dull lighting, and interacting as little as possible with baby during the night, as he will then learn from a very early age that night time is for sleep, and will progress rapidly in sleeping more hours during the night than during the day.

When giving a daytime feed, talk and chat to your new born, sing to her and interact with her, making feeding time a joyous occasion. When new born reaches a few weeks old, she will start to stay awake for a short while after her daytime feeds, and this method will help get baby into a good routine.

When breastfeeding, a good tip is to have a drink by your side, especially if you baby is summer born or you live in hot climes. To produce milk, you need to drink an increased amount of liquids, and even during a feed you may feel thirsty, so keep perhaps a bottle of mineral water at your side that you can sip away from, keeping you happy, and not having to move.

Tips for bottle feeding babies are to always follow the instructions on how to make the formula, and follow the guidelines as to how many feeds baby should take, and the amount at each feed. If baby seems to be taking a lot less feed than the chart on the formula, take a visit to your baby care center, but you must remember, these are just guidelines, and if it states on the formula that you must increase the amount of the feed by 30ml after each month, this does not mean that from one day to the next, just because your baby is now two months old instead of one, she will automatically adjust the same day to the new amount.

The best tip when feeding baby is to do what you think is best, and what both you and baby are comfortable with. If you are relaxed and happy, baby will be too.