Now Newborns Do Come With Instructions

A. Newborn senses

Babies respond by opening their eyes, relaxing their arms and legs, and by smiling (not on purpose).

If your baby is frowning, yawning, has the hiccups, crying, or putting up his/her hands as a stop sign then he/she maybe receiving too much stimulation.

You have to spend time with your baby to learn his/her ways and to know how much stimulation he/she can handle

When crying occurs you want to respond to your baby quickly by feeding him/her, changing the diaper, making sure that he/she is not too hot or too cold or just want some attention from you. You can talk to your baby, rock, hold, and/or swaddle your baby to comfort him/her.

Newborn babies usually sleep about 15-20 hours a day,  about 2-4 hours at a time. Newborn babies go through wake-sleep cycles. Right after the delivery your baby may be very awake and this is a good time for breast-feeding and getting to know your baby. Then after a couple of hours your baby will go through a sleep cycle and you may not be able to get him/her to breast-feed, but this is normal. Advice: you sleep when your baby sleeps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are breast-feeding you will need to wake your baby up to feed every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3-4 during the night, but if you have given it your best shot and your baby will not wake up because he/she is in a sleep cycle, lay him/her down, you go to sleep and try again in 3 hours. For bottle baby who are in their sleep cycle your baby may only take 15-25cc of formula and this is okay for the first day.

Chapter 2     Breastfeeding and Bottle Feeding Your Baby

This is a particular pet peeve of mine. I hear people tell moms all the time that all babies are the same, guess what they are not! Just like you are not like your brother or sister, all babies are not the same especially when it comes to breastfeeding. What satisfies one baby may not satisfy the next because they are all different and that is the way God made us.

Therefore, i will begin by telling you the “ideal” situation for breastfeeding, and then i will tell you the what ifs. Because i have experienced both.

Let me begin by saying that breastfeeding takes work, time, and a whole lot of effort on your part and your baby, so if you really want to breastfeed......do not give up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ideal situations:

Breast milk is the best and most preferred milk for your baby.

Babies who breastfeed have fewer illness and allergies, because of the antibodies in moms breast milk.

Correct positioning is the key to successful breastfeeding.

Your baby should be tummy to tummy with you while breastfeeding.

“Ideally” you want to breastfeed exclusively for the first two to four weeks to get a good milk flow coming before you begin to introduce any bottles to your baby.

Breastfed babies should eat every 2-3 hours or on demand.

Right after birth moms have what is called colostrum, it is only a small amount, but it is high in glucose, protein, and immunoglobins  enough to keep your babies sugar up.

True breast milk does not come in until 3-5 days.

Because breast milk does not come in until 3-5 days, your baby may want to eat more than every 3hours and you may need to breast-feed on demand

Once your milk comes in your baby will be satisfied  and begin to sleep longer

You should begin your next feeding on the breast that you finished with.  If you started feeding on the right breast and finished on the left side, then the next times you feed your baby you should start on the left side.

Burp your baby between breast and afterwards. Breastfed babies do not always burp, especially during the 3-4 days before the milk comes in.

You should start by feeding for 10-20 minutes on