Your baby’s nutrition

At first, your baby only tolerates milk

In principle, your child only needs breast milk (or milk formula as a substitute) until it is four months old. It doesn’t tolerate anything else at all. In the course of the first few weeks of life, you will observe that your baby begins to develop a sleeping and eating rhythm. You should take this rhythm into account when eating. However, it can change every few days, which means you have to adjust to the needs of your baby again and again.

Is your baby fed up?

If you are breastfeeding, it is advisable to ensure that your child does not fall asleep again after the first sips. Otherwise it will only drink the thirst-quenching, but not the filling, nutrient-rich milk that only flows into your baby’s mouth after a few minutes. In our article ” Is my baby drinking enough when breastfeeding? “ you will find some good tips on how to gently stop your baby from falling asleep while breastfeeding.

If your baby gets the bottle, the daily amount specified by the manufacturer is always a good guide. As a rule, you do not need to worry about whether your baby is actually full if:

• You feed it when it’s hungry
• Stick to the recommended daily amount when giving the bottle
• It looks cheerful and happy
• It has a healthy color and firm skin
• Has six or more wet cloth diapers or five to six heavy duty disposable diapers in a 24-hour period. About three of these should be diapers. After about two months, the frequency of diapering in breastfed babies decreases.
• It gains about 100 to 200 grams per week

The last point can of course vary from child to child. As a rule, you only need to weigh your child if there is a suspicion of significant weight loss. Regular weighing will only put unnecessary pressure on you. Your baby doesn’t stick to the statistical guidelines, but to its natural hunger and thirst.

However, if you still want to use average guideline values ​​for height and weight, you can refer to the height-weight curves for girls and boys . You can find more tips about baby nutrition in our “ baby nutrition plan ” and the special “ bottles ” and “ complementary food ”.

Does your baby drink too much?

Your baby cannot drink too much. It always drinks exactly as much as it needs. The amount of milk that is formed in your breast is also optimally tailored to the needs of your baby. So if your baby wants to drink often and for a long time, you shouldn’t prevent him from doing so, because he can’t yet decide of his own accord when he wants to drink and when not. You can offer both breasts to your baby during a feed to make sure he’s drinking exactly as much as he wants.

However, your breasts may produce too much milk. Then it is an advantage to breastfeed with only one breast, as this reduces the amount of milk that is produced in a gentle way. If your breasts are not producing enough milk, it is important that you breastfeed your baby on both sides, as milk production is stimulated and you can be sure that your baby is drinking enough.

If you gently press two fingers on your breast above your areola, you can feel whether your baby is still feeding or not. If it stops drinking and is full, this does not necessarily mean that you have to take it off the breast. Many babies find it so comfortable on mum’s breast that they continue to suckle. You should enjoy this, because it means that your child feels comfortable with you. Nevertheless, you should make sure that the sucking does not last too long, as you can get sore nipples from it. You can find tips on what you can do about it in our article “ 5 tips against sore nipples ”.