Babies decide for themselves how much they eat. Feeding is a hot topic for their mothers. The most important questions are how much a child should eat at 2 months, how much weight he needs to gain, so that at a monthly examination by a pediatrician, the mother does not get a reprimand for the baby "starved".
Infant 2 months old
How much should a two month old baby eat
The need for a child of 2 months in nutrition, more precisely in its quantity, depends on several factors:
- appetite;
- mood;
- physical activity during the day;
- well-being;
- birth weight and height;
- individual metabolism.
A hungry baby himself gives signals that it is time to feed him, you just need to watch him:
- the awakened baby begins to open and close his mouth;
- sticks out his tongue, smacks his lips;
- when a nursing mother picks him up, he looks for a breast, begins to twist his head;
- groans;
- cries if previous signals have not been heard and understood correctly.
The nutritional norm of a healthy full-term baby is on average 7 meals per day, a one-time volume of one meal is 100-120 ml, the total volume per day is about 800-850 ml. The interval between feedings should not exceed 3-3.5 hours. In the future, as they grow older, the intervals between feedings will increase.
Important! You should not wake up a healthy full-term baby for the next feeding. She will eat when she wakes up.
The kid woke up and is ready to eat a hearty meal
How to determine the amount of food
The food needs of each child are different. There are "little ones" who are content with a small amount, others love to eat. One was born large, the other miniature. Of course, they will eat differently. There are several formulas that will help you calculate how much formula or milk a baby should eat at 2 months per day, based on physical indicators:
- The Reich method. Divide the weight in grams by the height, expressed in cm, multiply the result by 7.
- Gaybern's method. At two months, the baby should eat a daily volume of milk or mixture equal to a sixth of the body weight, expressed in grams.
These formulas should only be applied to term infants.
The amount obtained according to the formulas is divided by the number of feedings, and the volume of the mixture or milk that the child should eat at one time is calculated. If a baby eats 6 times in one day, the next day it will already turn out as many as 8, which means that this is exactly what he needs. These norms are not rigid.
Important! A child at two months of age should eat only breast milk, i.e. be breastfed, or an adapted infant formula (artificial feeding). The third option is when there is a lack of breast milk, mixed feeding is carried out, while several feedings a day give milk mixture instead of breast milk, or combine both in one feeding. Complementary feeding at this age is unacceptable, even if there is a lack of weight.
If the room where the child is, the temperature is above 19 ° C, and the humidity is below 50%, there is a chance that the baby will want to drink. You can drink mineral water for children without gas at room temperature. The volume of water per day is calculated by the formula: 30 ml per 1 kg of weight. A baby can drink about so much, but you should not force it.
If necessary, add water
Feeding types and possible problems
The best food option for a newborn is breast milk. This is the most natural, natural baby food. Hence the name of feeding - natural. There is a ton of evidence supporting the benefits of breastfeeding:
- Food for the child is always available, always with you, even if you leave the house. The temperature of breast milk is always the most optimal for the baby, there is no need to cool or warm up.
- Mother's milk is rich in substances that help digest food and fight infections, and builds natural immunity.
- Financial savings - no need to buy expensive formula, saving time - breastfeeding faster than warming, diluting, stirring, cooling, etc.
- The composition of milk changes, adjusting to the needs of the body. In one month and a year, milk will provide the child with the nutrients he needs for his age.
Scientists who study the principles of breastfeeding conditionally divide it into three types.
Natural feeding
Breastfeeding options
- Feeding by the hour. This type was especially widely used in the former USSR. Its essence lies in feeding strictly according to the regimen with clear intervals and a mandatory break at night. In theory, it should have been convenient: discipline from birth and orderly family life. In practice, this is very difficult to implement, since you cannot literally shift the feeding even for a minute. A break in feeding at night threatens the baby with hungry tantrums, lack of sleep at night and lack of energy during the day for the whole family. It also threatens the nursing mother with loss of milk in the breast. By 2 months, lactation is just beginning to establish, if you do not feed at night, the milk will completely disappear.
- Feeding on demand. The principle is based on the method of constant attachment to the chest at the slightest sign of anxiety. Childbirth is a huge stress for a child, it is possible to get rid of it only by constantly being at the mother's breast. It turns out not so much feeding on demand as communication. The number of breast attachments per day reaches 30 times or more. For successful implementation, the mother is instructed to walk less and constantly be with the child in her arms. Sleeping only with the baby and constant night feeding, the baby literally should not let the breast out of the mouth. There are positive aspects to this method:
- Frequent breastfeeding causes constant irritation of the nipple. This is the best way to maintain lactation.
- The problem with the amount of milk is being successfully solved.
In addition to the advantages, such feeding has negative aspects:
- Frequent breast irritation dramatically increases the likelihood of nipple injury.
- The inability of a mother nursing in this way to combine feeding with other responsibilities (cooking meals, cleaning, washing, going to the store, etc.).
- Refusal to drink from a bottle when the breast is temporarily unavailable. The risk of ending up in the hospital if you refuse to drink for vital indications.
- Severe moral and physical exhaustion of a nursing mother, a dad deprived of attention.
Feeding on demand should not jeopardize the existence of the family. If everyone is happy with everything and everyone is happy, you can use this method.
- Free feeding. Feeding according to the child's appetite, including at night. The intervals between feedings are at least 2 hours. Stay at the chest - within 15-20 minutes. If the baby gets hungry earlier than the scheduled time, he needs to be fed and calm down. Do not wake a sleeping baby if it is time to feed.
You should not keep it on the chest for more than 20 minutes. It is enough for him to eat. It is always clear whether the baby is swallowing or just sucking.
Important! During feeding, you should try to feed only from one breast, in the next feeding give the other. This is not always possible - there may be cracks on the nipples, or the child clearly wants to eat more. Then feed from the second, but after that it is necessary to pump, so that the breast becomes empty, like the first. In the next feeding, supplement with expressed milk. The more the baby sucks out milk, the more it will be formed, so over time the amount will reach the desired rate.
Often times, the baby will cry when trying to take the breast from him. If you can see that there is still milk left, the baby does not suck it, but only keeps the nipple in his mouth, then he simply does not have enough mother's communication, hunger has nothing to do with it.
Happy life toddler
The ideal option would be a type of feeding in which all family members will be comfortable and comfortable. Mom will be rested and calm, there is enough milk in her breast, and there is time for dad. Dad who has slept enough goes to work and provides adequate nutrition to the nursing mother. A baby with appetite eats 6-7 times a day, 100-120 ml, sleeps at night in a row for at least 6 hours, gains the necessary weight and develops according to his age.
Mixed feeding
With a lack of breast milk, they often switch to mixed feeding. For one feeding, the child is first offered breast, so that, while hungry, he actively ate 20-50 ml of useful breast milk. Then give the milk mixture 70-100 ml or replace the milk with the mixture in several feedings.
How much formula a baby should eat at 2 months is determined depending on the amount of breast milk. Nutritional norms in this case remain the same as during breastfeeding, but they are much more difficult to track. The satiety of a child is determined by his behavior. Most often, such feeding does not last long, and the child completely switches to artificial nutrition.
Artificial feeding
Features of artificial feeding
Feeding at 2 months with the mixture should be carried out according to the regimen. The mixture has a composition, although it is as close as possible to mother's milk, but still it is not milk. The mixture is absorbed and digested longer. Therefore, the intervals between feedings are already 3-3.5 hours. Prepare the mixture according to the instructions on the package. Errors in cooking can lead to overfeeding of the baby. Breast milk changes its composition over time, and the formula must also be selected according to age.
Special special mixtures designed to solve certain problems with the child's digestion (lactose intolerance, metabolic disorders, allergies) should be prescribed by a pediatrician. It is necessary to change the mixture only according to indications. If you can choose a mixture, it is better to give preference to the one that is most commercially available. Using a rare, unique blend will become a big problem for the whole family.
The temperature of the mixture should be equal to the body temperature of the child. The nutritional norm of a 2 month old baby per willow is one sixth of the body weight.
But this norm can only serve as a guideline - if the baby needs more, hungry crying is heard from time to time, it is better to take care of the additive in advance and dilute the mixture with a margin of up to 30-50 ml.
If a bottle-fed baby behaves like a "baby", the reasons may be as follows:
- I didn't like the taste of the mixture, then the brand change would be justified;
- An uncomfortable position of the body when eating, be sure to find an acceptable posture in which it will be comfortable;
- The nipple on the bottle is not suitable for him, through a too large hole, the mixture is simply poured into his mouth, there is no time for food, the small hole forces him to exert so much effort that the child gets tired without having eaten. The ideal option for checking the nipple is that no liquid flows out of an inverted bottle, frequent drops flow out when pressed.
Choosing the right nipple
How to understand that a child is full
The baby ate and fell asleep calmly. Mom is still worried: is there enough milk (mixture) for him, maybe he still needs to feed more, because he is small and cannot say himself? In addition, with gv, it is rather difficult to understand how many milliliters the baby ate, there are no marks with volume divisions on the chest.
For this, there is indirect evidence of the "satiety" of a 2-month-old baby:
- The number of urinations per day is within 10-12 times. It is easy to calculate if the baby is in a cloth diaper or in a diaper. Then you just need to count the number of soiled diapers or liners in a reusable diaper. Harder when the baby is in a disposable diaper. In this case, it is worth adhering to the principle that the diaper must be filled between feedings. The urine should be clear, odorless and colorless.
- By the consistency and regularity of the stool. A well-fed child should have a light yellow mass in the diaper without large inclusions; in terms of density, it resembles sour cream.
- Weight gain per week should be 150 grams. Weigh should be done at the same time before feeding in the same diaper or clean dry diaper.
- The child's behavior is calm, not capricious for no reason, active in the intervals between sleep.
- The presence of motor skills in their age - in an upright position is able to hold his head, raises his head while lying on his stomach.
- Restful night sleep. A hungry child will not sleep at night and will not let others.
Well-fed baby
There are cases that a two-month-old baby does not eat the established food rate, while steadily gaining weight, his night's sleep lasts 6-7 hours, hungry screams from him are inaudible. This means that he is satisfied with how much he eats.
