How often should I feed my baby

Being new to this whole parenting experience can be a bit overwhelming, scary, and tedious. It has been for me at least. Prior to my daughter coming to this wonderful world mother and I had taken baby and parenting classes. In those classes we took never did they mention how often a baby should be fed. Thankfully we spent enough time at the hospital to where it was obvious she needed to be on a feeding schedule. Not many other parents will be in the same situation we are in. For those who are wondering how often a baby should be fed please take a read at this.

Coming home with our daughter from the hospital it was made obvious that she should feed every three hours just about 4oz of milk. Due to her struggles she’s had lately they brought the volume down to 2oz of milk (27 calorie form).

From what I’ve read and experienced thus far I can recommend the following.

• Feed every three hours

Why should I feed every three hours? Feeding every three hours means that the baby will feed 8 times a day. Which is ideal by medical needs, health and growing needs as well. Babies often wont finish all their milk in the first sitting. Feeding every three hours gives you three hours to allow the baby to finish all of the milk. You can feed differently within the three hours. For example in the first sitting it can drink 1oz then the next hour it can finish the other amount. As long it finishes the whole amount by the third hour you’re good to go.

• Place the nipple (bottle feeding) on the roof of the mouth

What does this do? Often babies aren’t able to latch on to the nipple of the bottle. It takes them a while. By placing the nipple on the roof of their mouth it creates sensation and allows the baby to latch onto the nipple a lot quicker. If this doesn’t work you can also try putting your pinkie under the chin of the baby to also create sensation and allow them to start sucking.

If you’re worried about diaper changing feel free to change the diaper before every feed. This has been wonderful for us.