Feeding Your Baby

This blog discusses feeding your infant from birth to one year of age and beyond. It provides guidance on various ways to your baby's nourishment. There is no single 'correct' method to accomplish things; each has advantages and cons. Finally, how you feed your baby will be a personal choice for you, based on numerous circumstances unique to you, your baby, and your family.

How to feed baby?

After your baby is born, one of the first decisions you will make is how to feed him or her. From the outset, most mothers will have the option of breastfeeding or bottle-feeding.

Advantages of breastfeeding to your baby

● Breastfeeding gives your kid the best, tailor-made source of nutrients that nature evolved for them. Because it is the simplest diet for them to digest, it may result in less gas and colic.

● Breast milk, especially first milk, protects your kid against sickness during infancy, especially stomach bugs and ear infections. It also lowers the risk of cot death (sudden infant death syndrome).

● Breastfeeding provides long-term metabolic advantages for your kid, lowering the risk of obesity, diabetes, and allergies like eczema later in life.

● Breastfeeding simplifies feeding since a breast-fed baby need no additional fluids (such as water). Breast milk composition varies in hot conditions to give all your baby requires.

● Breastfeeding strengthens the link between infant and mother. It is critical to be hugged nude, against the mother's bare skin, for as long as possible at delivery. This is possible even if you do not breastfeed.

● Breast milk is typically well tolerated by newborns, however not all bottled milks are well tolerated by all babies.

● Breast-fed babies' bowel motions are less fragrant and do not irritate their skin. As a result, breast-fed newborns are less likely to develop nappy rash.

● Breast-fed newborns hardly have diarrhoea or constipation.

● Breastfed babies are less fussy when it comes to weaning.

● Breast milk appears to loosen a newborn baby's mucous and function as a laxative, aiding in the passage of the first poop (meconium).

● Breastfed newborns do somewhat higher in early childhood IQ tests.

● Breastfeeding is soothing for both you and your child (although this can equally be true of bottle-feeding).

Advantages of bottle-feeding

● You have complete flexibility to be away from your infant if you need to work, for example. (Although you can express or supplement nursing with bottle-feeding, this is difficult in the first few days when your breast milk supply is only developing, so you can't stay away from your infant easily.)

● Breastfeeding may be exhausting, especially during the first few weeks when your baby is eating on demand. When you are fatigued, bottle-feeding is simpler to delegate, letting you to rest properly and have more energy overall.

● Breastfeeding may be painful: frequent issues include breast engorgement, leakage, sore nipples, and breast infection (mastitis). Bottle-feeding aids your breasts to recover faster after pregnancy.

● Breastfeeding in public may be unpleasant and embarrassing for you, making it difficult to go out with your infant. Bottle-feeding eliminates this concern (whether feeding expressed milk or formula).

● Bottle-feeding allows you to see how much milk your baby has consumed, which may be reassuring to you.

● Breastfeeding might be challenging at initially. Because not all newborns latch on and nurse successfully, nursing may be stressful, and you may be confused if your baby has fed adequately.

● Breastfeeding can be especially tough if you have more than one infant to feed; utilizing bottles partially or entirely may help you manage.

● Women who have undergone breast surgery, particularly aesthetic surgery, may have a diminished flow of breast milk; the effect varies on the type of operation.

● Some mothers are concerned that they will not be able to make enough milk to satisfy their infant, and bottle milk alleviates this concern.

● Bottle-feeding may be a better option for your baby if you are taking drugs that might infiltrate your breast milk and damage your baby, or if your infant requires a specifically adapted milk due to a medical condition.

● Breastfeeding is not recommended for HIV-positive women unless they live in a country or circumstance where adequate sources of formula and water are scarce.

● Other practical reasons why your infant may need to bottle-feed include your absence (for example, because of adoption, prematurity, or sickness in you or your baby, or because you need to return to work early).

● If your baby is delivered before 32 weeks, it may be more difficult to establish your breast milk supply, therefore occasional bottle-feeding may relieve some of your stress while you try to establish your supply.

● Some ladies just like the concept of bottle-feeding (although they may be able to express for a while if they want to give their baby breast milk).

How to express breast milk?

You may wish to express milk because your breasts are engorged and you want to relieve the pressure, your baby is very early and cannot yet suck, or you need or want someone else to be able to feed your baby. Although it may take some practice at first, expressing your own breast milk is a technique that you can master fast. Breast milk expression is exactly what it sounds like: you 'milk' your breast for the supply it holds and preserve the expressed milk so that you (or someone else) may feed it to your baby from a bottle. You can express milk manually or using a pump (hand or electric) (often easiest at first). Renting 'hospital-grade' breast pumps, which are the most effective, is an option. Expressed milk can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days or frozen for up to six months.

How to feed newborn baby?

You should start feeding your newborn infant as soon as possible after birth. From the outset, you may typically choose between breastfeeding and bottle-feeding. Breastmilk, particularly early breast milk, is extremely beneficial to your baby, and many mothers who want to bottle-feed choose to breastfeed for the first few weeks. This means parents feed their infant the crucial first milk (colostrum) before transitioning to formula.

How often will the baby need to fed immediately after birth?

Your infant, like you, will be exhausted and hungry just after birth. Some newborns will want to nurse right away, while others may be less eager. Your midwife will urge your baby to feed within the first hour of delivery, since this will aid both you and your baby in recovering from labour. It is especially crucial to urge newborns to diabetic mothers to feed during the first half hour or so after delivery, as these kids are more prone to suffering low blood sugar. Babies will differ substantially in terms of whether they want to continue feeding in the first few hours after delivery or whether they appear to need to sleep.