Feeding your newborn baby – how to tell if your baby is getting enough milk

If your newborn baby is hungry - he/she will tell you all about it!!!! In fact they won’t stop telling you about it till you get the message!!!! They will be trying to suck a fist, twisting their head from side to side, or trying to latch on any passing item that might come near their face. (I am talking here about a healthy well infant - an infant that rarely cries, and only cries weakly needs to be seen promptly by a Health Care Professional to establish what is going on).

New born babies, weighing roughly more than 3 Kilos/ say about six and a half pounds, usually feed about every 3 hours in the early weeks. With breast feeding babies - they may feed every 2 hours when they are initially establishing breast feeding - I know this can be exhausting, but things will sort themselves out in time - so hang in there. It works out roughly at about eight feeds over a twenty-four hour period (in a day, in other words). Now I don’t want you to get into this thing where you say, "but the nurse said a baby weighing six and a half pounds, and my baby only weighs 6lbs 4ozs. What I am trying to do is give you the overall principles of how to work out what is going on with your baby, because I believe that with guidance - you CAN and WILL be the BEST CARER IN THE WORLD for your baby. For some reason, and I know Health Professionals are often to blame, they make caring for a baby into the most mystical and far fetched exact science - where, if you ended up doing seven feeds in a day, instead of eight, you have committed a deadly sin. Maybe your baby that day had seven really good feeds, and didn’t want or need another for the day.

The main thing is - a newborn baby who is getting enough to drink, will be sleeping for periods between feeds (no, no exact number of periods), WILL BE GAINING WEIGHT (which will show up on the scales - over a period of a week - Your Health Care Professional will be monitoring the amount of weight gain your baby has to establish if it is adequate), and will be having about seven or eight wet nappies a day - What goes in - has to come out!!
That’s why we say feeding about every 3 hours, and wetting about 8 nappies a day. If you have a big "boofer" a 4.5 Kilo baby/ like 10 lbs, they very soon behave like an older baby, and will be happy going for 3 to 4 hours between feeds - that’s about 6 feeds a day. They stay at this frequency usually the first few months, and then when they’re a bit bigger - you might get lucky, and get to miss that middle of the night feed!!!! Oh for a night of unbroken sleep!!!!!! Pity nobody mentioned that this was going to be like running a marathon - every day of your life!!! I get so angry when a NEW MUM puts herself down - you show me someone else who works this hard. If you are managing to keep your baby clean and fed, and having some decent nourishment yourself - you are doing extremely well.

These days we do what we call "demand feed" the baby. Do you like eating when you are not hungry - no well, nor do they. Some feeds will be bigger/ that is they will suck for longer before dropping off to sleep, and some feeds will be shorter.

There is ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING WHEN IT COMES TO FEEDING A NEWBORN BABY - it is very important that they don’t go for too long between feeds. One gap of say 5 to 6 hours ONCE in a day is all that should be allowed in the early days. This is because they can drop their blood sugar very easily, which in turn means that they have trouble maintaining their body temperature, which starts a vicious cycle of potential problems. New born babies also have a tendency to become "jaundiced" (a yellow discolouration of their skin), which can make them sleepy, and the less they feed, the more sleepy they become - and you don’t want to get into a downward spiral.

If your newborn baby is still sleeping after 6 hours (remember we calculate the feeds from the beginning of one feed to the beginning of another feed) - then you need to wake up your baby. The easiest way to wake your baby is to change their nappy/diaper. They usually start to protest immediately. They then remember that nice warm stuff and demand that it be given to them instantly. New born babies are TOTALLY INTO INSTANT GRATIFICATION - (We’re supposed to grow out of this as we "grow up" into adults!), but it is totally normal and acceptable behaviour for a newborn baby.

If you have trouble waking your baby - you need to contact your Health Care Professional.

OK so in summary - your newborn baby will feed about eight times a day in the early weeks, and be maintaining a steady weight gain, and be having about 7 to eight wet nappies a day - that way you know he/she is getting enough! Why didn’t I just say so in the first place???? I want you to understand what is going on - so that you can start to work things out for yourself - cause I know YOU ARE going to be the best Mum/Dad in the world - I really mean that.

For those first time parents who are looking for further information on breast feeding, my Valuable Resources section will link you to resources that can help you.

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Changing your baby’s diaper/nappy – Keeping your baby’s bottom free from rashes

Basically your newborn baby is going to need about six to eight diaper/nappy changes a day!!!!!
Both urine and faeces (wee and pooh) can burn your baby’s skin.

Disposables will make your life easier in that they absorb the wetness and keep it away from your baby's skin, and your baby could therefore, in theory do a few "wee’s" before they had any wetness causing discomfort on their skin. Overnight, for instance, a disposable might last about eight hours, whereas with a cotton diaper/nappy - as soon as it is wet - it can start to burn your baby’s skin. Their are now reusable cloth diapers which work similarly to a disposable - check the resource section if this interests you.

"Poohey" nappies need to be removed straight away - they can cause a lot of irritation.

How to go about it?

Simply place your baby on a clean/safe surface - preferably at a working level that will not cause you to hurt or strain your back. A "Change-Table" is ideal - but don’t rely on the Manufacturer making it totally baby safe.

I always recommend getting all the things you might need, placing them where you can reach them easily, and always keep your body pressed up against the table, so there are no escape routes for a rolling baby.

You will need something to clean the bottom/buttocks, somewhere to put the soiled or dirty items, such as a bucket or bag, something to dry the buttocks, and a clean diaper/nappy.

Start by washing your own hands before handling your newborn baby.

If you want to do it the easy way - your baby should lie on his/her back.

99% of babies feel that having a diaper change is worth a good cry - this is normal.

It is important that you remove all traces of urine and faeces from your baby’s skin - be especially careful of your baby’s skin creases and folds.

Be careful, especially with girl babies, to wipe from the front to the back - this is so that you do not introduce the "Pooh" into the vagina, or near the "urethra", which leads to the bladder. (Urine infections in new born babies can cause them to become very ill). Always start with a clean piece of cloth or baby wipe - for each wipe.

With a boy baby - be very gentle, but ensure that there is no pooh left under the foreskin (don't pull back the foreskin).

Soap and warm water are fine - you choose what suits you and your budget.

Make sure all wee and pooh are removed, and that there is no residue of the cleaning agent left on your baby’s bottom.

You need to dry the area before replacing the diaper - using something clean - just dab the buttocks gently.
New diaper on, and Bob’s your uncle! Cotton diapers can be fastened in all sorts of fancy manners these days - ask at your Pharmacy or your Health Care Professional.

Make sure your newborn baby is now safe in the cot or crib etc. and then go about disposing of the dirty nappy.
It is best for faeces to be flushed down the toilet (not including the diaper!) - this applies to both cotton and disposables.

Once you have got rid of the faeces, either place your cotton diaper into a soaking solution (safely out of reach of any young children), or place the disposable in a suitable container ready for disposable.
Check with the Manufacturer on how best to dispose of the diaper - so that it has least impact on the environment.

When you have finished - WASH YOUR OWN HANDS, before getting on with the next job.

By the way, nappy buckets don’t just empty themselves - soaking solutions etc need to be changed about every 24 hours. (These caustic cleaning agents themselves have a detrimental effect on the environment - you make your own decision on which way to go)

If your baby’s bottom shows no signs of redness - this is all that is required.

BUTTOCKS/ SKIN AREAS THAT ARE BECOMING RED OR BREAKING DOWN- otherwise called excoriated buttocks.

This type of skin reaction does need treatment - if only to prevent it getting any worse.

Often if the skin is very red, even water is too harsh for your baby's skin.

In this case - gently clean your baby's buttocks, using something like cotton wool dipped in OLIVE OIL.

Again, make sure all wee and pooh are removed. Gently dab the area dry.

A "barrier cream" is ideal here. Ask your Pharmacist/Health Care Professional fora suggestion.

Something like "petroleum jelly" - Vaseline does work well, because it is waterproof - but do remember that it is a MINERAL OIL and prolonged use can disturb your baby’s natural mineral balance. There are better alternatives, and you will work out which method and product suit you and your baby.

"Wound Management" has completely changed around the world. The new scientific beliefs are so drastically different from what the Medical Profession believed for years and years - that you might find some resistance to my next statement, which is: MOIST WOUND HEALING WORKS BEST.

Yes, my nursing training was in the dark ages, when a baby with bad nappy-rash was exposed to the "air".
I was extremely reluctant to give up this belief. However, years of caring and experimenting with sick infants with urinary problems, I am now convinced that Moist Wound Healing works quicker.

If your baby has a problem with excoriated buttocks, ask around until you find someone who knows about Moist Wound Healing - and then make up your own mind, as to which way to go.

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