How much does a baby who drinks breast milk have to eat? Very easy, a breastfeeding baby should feed on demand because there is no way to know how much he is taking in each shot. And a baby who drinks artificial milk? I would say the same, that it is very easy to know the answer, but many mothers are not very clear because they receive very different indications from other mothers, from the pharmacist, from healthcare professionals, from their own relatives or even from the manufacturer, which indicates in the can.
There are those who calculate it according to the weight, and say that if the child weighs 5 kilos, he should take 30 ml per kilogram, then he will receive 150 ml per dose. Others say that it does not go by weight, but by age, so many months, so much milk, which is more or less what they say in the can of the manufacturer, that if he is 3 months old take 90, that if he is 3 and a half take 120, a from 4 months, 150 ml. But my neighbor has a 4-month-old baby who takes 180 ml, and mine, with the same age, at 120 ml begins to complain that she doesn't want more. How to know how much artificial milk your baby has to drink?
The bottle is given on demand, just like breast milk
The first few days you have to limit your intake because the baby's stomach is not prepared for large amounts of food. As you know, at first the breast produces colostrum, the substance loaded with nutrients and immunoglobulins with which the baby is feeding and protecting the first 2-4 days, until the milk rises. And when it rises it is not what the baby goes from not taking anything to extract 100 ml in one shot, but it sucks a little and stops, for a while later, suck another little.
If we extrapolate this to the world of artificial milk, it is logical to do something similar. The first day offer 10 ml and increase every day 10 ml more until reaching 60 ml on the sixth day. That doesn't mean you have to take them. You offer them and he will say if he wants them or not. In some shots it may be over 60, in others it may have enough with 30 or 40.
It is not necessary to force a child to finish the bottles because, as I say, they do not "touch 60 ml". That is what you prepare in case the baby wants it, but that is not what he has to eat.
How much do adults eat? The owner of a restaurant will think. As he prepares the dishes and menus as he considers. Some customers will eat everything and be satisfied, some will want a little more and others will have plenty of ration. That is, the elderly do not eat the same. And not only that, we eat different amounts depending on the time of day. There are those who eat a lot of breakfast but eat little dinner, there are those who eat little breakfast but eat a lot of dinner, there are those that whenever they sit down they eat a lot and there are some who always eat little. Because babies do the same, in some shots they eat more, in others they eat less, and sometimes they leave more and sometimes they leave less.
I prepare what the can tells me and leave a lot
It has happened many times. Parents who prepare the baby what the can says he has to drink and what they say to me "is that I prepare 150 but it hardly takes 110 ml. I have to go insisting and yes, if I am with him half an hour or more I will just ending. "
As this it's a mistake. If a child takes 110 because he does not want more, it makes no sense to prepare 150 ml. You are throwing 40 ml, just over a pot of powdered milk per shot, without need. It is better to prepare 120 ml and so you only have 10 ml left over. What does it take? Of course, if I sit at a table full of food and do not get up, I can continue eating as I go digestion, and not only eat, but also deserve, but it is not plan.
I have been told that if I demand it, it will overfeed
It is common for mothers to explain that the child eats what he wants, and that they prepare what the baby asks for, and that there are those who tell them that it is a mistake because they will overfeed him. Well, this is a bit difficult, because Babies have a cap and usually complain if you give them more (We have just explained that many parents end up insisting that they finish what they prepare). Just be attentive to the signs that the baby gives to understand that he has already finished eating. What leaves you 50 ml when you usually leave 10 ml? Does not matter, do not give more if you do not want. It is on demand. At the baby's demand, not at the demand of what the mother or father thinks they should take.
In fact, you should stop looking at the bottle to know how much it leaves. And if you look at it, let it be to know how much to prepare for milk and not to try to insist that you drink more. Or do mothers who breastfeed know how much their child has suckled in each shot?
But my son throws a lot of milk
It may happen that some babies continue to eat because of the simple fact that milk continues to fall. That they take the bottle with such hunger and greediness that they pass, that they eat more than they can. In such a case, one of two, or then take a breath of milk with the burp or when moving, or if they do not throw it, they spend an hour or two unable to sleep, complaining, shrinking, because they are doing the digestion of Christmas food (for the amount they have come to ingest).
If we see that this happens to him, that he usually stops braking, it is better that we consciously slow it down or prepare less. It is better that you eat less but do it more frequently (if instead of 150 you take 120, you may ask for the next bottle before), not to be after each annoying take, or to take a third of what you have taken and then, equally, ask you right away because you are hungry.
The time to give the bottle, by the way, is also determined by the baby
At all times we have talked about quantities but not frequency. I take it for granted that by saying "on demand" it is clear that it is not only in reference to quantity, but also to frequency. There are babies who ask every three hours, others every four hours and others every two and a half hours. I do not know which is the baby of each one, so a general recommendation should not be made, although in the cans it says that 3-month-old babies should make 7 bottles a day, those of 3 and a half 6 bottles and from 4 months, five bottles a day.
But what if he asks me every two hours? Do i give it water? Do I have him crying until three hours have passed? Well no, it's absurd. If you are hungry you have to eat, so if he asks after two hours, he is fed. And if four pass, then four, you're not going to wake him from the nap to eat.
So summarizing, Babies have to eat whatever they want and when they want, but being artificial milk, always available in the desired amount, parents should ensure that they do not eat too much for possible subsequent symptoms, which come from a very heavy digestion or by throwing out what does not fit inside.
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