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Parents try their best to comfort the new family member and take care of all his needs. You do everything right and still, the baby might seem in discomfort. It mostly happens with new mothers. They feel the baby is taking a long time to breastfeed. They start wondering whether the baby is healthy or not!
Newborn babies have quite a unique way of doing things. They won’t seem in a hurry until they get mature. Therefore, mothers need to be patient with their newborn child. Continue reading this post to learn some important facts about your newborn child’s eating habits and health.
Is It Health for A Newborn Child to Take A Long Time to Breastfeed?
Whether you are breastfeeding the baby or feeding milk through a bottle, he will take his time. New parents do not understand why it is happening. Some parents even wonder whether the baby is taking a sufficient diet or not. They believe it is happening due to health conditions!
Do not get too impatient when breastfeeding your child. It is quite normal for a newborn baby to consume milk slowly. He might easily take 30 minutes to get full. Some babies even take up to 45 minutes to fill their tummy! The baby will surely fill full after consuming his meal in a relaxed way. You should stop worrying about his milk consuming habits.
You must consider a few important factors if the baby takes longer than 30-45 minutes to consume milk. Longer breastfeeding time may also be a sign that there isn’t enough milk to meet his demands! Consider the following factors to know why the baby is taking too long to consume milk:
- Listen: Ensuring the baby is making a gurgling sound while consuming milk.
- Look: Check whether your child is calm and satisfied while breastfeeding or not.
- Check: Make sure the baby is urinating at least six times a day!
- Weight: Make sure the baby is gaining at least 1.2kgs weight each month!
These four indicators tell that the baby is having enough milk to meet his hunger needs. You should not add formula milk to his diet if the above-listed four criteria met. If not, then you must add supplemented milk to his regular diet!
How Long Do Newborn Babies Take to Consume Milk?
Every child is different and babies can have different milk consumption speed. Babies usually take 1-2 hours to digest breast milk. Therefore, newborns often feel hungry after 2 hours.
How much milk a newborn baby needs in a day?
Moms feed their newborn baby whenever he cries and demands food. Hence newborns only breastfeed, it is pretty tough to determine how much milk they need a day. Mothers only notice their baby’s mood, activities, and tummy capacity to ensure the baby is full or hungry.
Your newborn child will take time to adopt new eating habits. Therefore, he sucks milk slowly and calmly. The baby will initially cry for food or when he is wet. He will consume milk much longer than a mature baby. It is about soothing the hunger cravings and newborns enjoy their meal quite patiently. Therefore, moms need to be patient with the child.
Learn about the baby’s food habits during the initial two months
Start observing your child’s breastfeeding habits if you want to avoid future troubles. You will learn how the baby behaves when he is quite hungry. Some mothers worry that they might not feed enough milk to the child because they don’t know the right quantity. Don’t worry about it and check your child’s stool patterns and urine volume. Focus on your child’s weight gains to ensure he is getting sufficient food.
When does a baby develop regular breastfeeding habits?
A newborn child might take 4-5 months to develop a particular schedule for breastfeeding. You should not put any efforts into creating a breastfeeding schedule for the child. The baby will develop it himself and you will know it.
Be patient until your baby starts consuming food within a particular period. Most mothers feed their babies every 3 hours. Some use the bottle to feed the baby regularly. A baby might need 700-800 ml of milk every day. This amount increases gradually.
A baby’s milk consuming speed also increases with growing age and soon he starts consuming the baby formula. That’s how changes occur in a newborn child’s breastfeeding habits. You cannot dictate your newborn child’s habits. Therefore, you should take care of his changing needs in the best possible way.
How to Increase Your Baby’s Milk Consumption Speed?
You would certainly wish that your child consumes milk faster than 30-45 minutes. It can be tough for new mothers to sit that long at the same place. There are a few things you can try to improve your child breastfeeding speed, which is as follows:
1. Be patient with newborn child
Newborn babies have no prior experience of consuming milk. They get all their food supplies in the mother’s belly. Therefore, breastfeeding is a new experience for every newborn child. Mothers need to be patient until the child gets familiar with breastfeeding.
If your baby is 2-3 months old and relying on formula milk, the problem is with the milk bottle. Make sure its milk releasing hole is large enough to maintain a smooth supply of milk. Feeding should not be a laborious task for the child. He must be able to suck the milk effortlessly from the bottle.
The baby might give up and cry if he can’t suck milk conveniently from the bottle. So, be careful with the bottle you choose to feed formula milk to your child.
2. Use a pacifier
Baby will always feel hungry shortly after consuming milk if the bottle hole is too tiny. You must pick a bottle with a pacifier to ensure the baby gets his food easily. Keep monitoring your child’s stool patterns and urine volume to ensure he is getting enough food.
Do not prepare thick formula milk because the baby won’t consume it. Make sure it imitates breast milk perfectly so that the child can consume it conveniently.
3. Maintain a calming environment in the house when feeding your baby
Babies are quite sensitive. They start observing the surrounding environment from the age of 3-4 months. Moving objects, loud noises, and sudden movements can easily distract a child. He will stop breastfeeding or feed quite slowly if you distract him. Do not take such chances! Maintain a quiet and calming environment in the house to increase the breastfeeding speed of the child.
4. When to meet a doctor
Breastfeeding can be a difficult feat for some babies. They might look like putting too much effort into consuming milk but still, they take too long to finish their meals. Some babies even sweat while consuming the milk. You should immediately schedule an appointment with the doctor if it happens to your child.
It can be due to an underlying health condition! The doctor will diagnose the health problem and provide good treatment to improve the baby’s condition. Thus, he will soon consume the necessary amount of milk faster.
What Should You Know About Newborn Breastfeeding Interval?
1. Newborns breastfeed 8-12 times a day!
Every mother has fed her newborn child several times a day. Newborn babies do not take too long to digest consumed milk. They only eat and sleep. The baby will eat when not sleeping and sleep when not eating.
Newborn babies have small tummies. Therefore, they consume quite a small amount of milk after several minutes. They feel full and sleepy. A newborn child can easily digest the consumed milk within 10-15 minutes. He will wake up after 2 hours and seek more food.
2. Newborn babies do not consume the same amount of milk every time
A newborn child needs food every two hours. He will consume a small amount of milk sometimes and sometimes much larger. It depends on the baby’s mood. He will calmly consume more milk if you maintain a quiet environment in the room.
3. Know your baby’s craving signals
Most of the babies start crying when they feel hungry. Many babies also cry when they get wet and wearing ordinary diapers. Therefore, moms always check whether the baby is dry or not. He is surely hungry if he did not urinate of poop. So, this sign indicates that the baby needs more food.
A newborn child can be tough to deal with, but he needs your complete attention. Take care of your child’s food demands and he will soon grow up and get mature.
Conclusion
Newborn babies are not as energetic and smart as mature babies become after 3 months. It is the time when mothers should be extra careful. The baby will stay calm, play more, and cry less if he is full. So, make breastfeeding an effortless task for your child. Provide milk whenever the baby needs it. Thus, you will enjoy your child’s company and see him happy all the time.
