Frequent Feedings: Tuning Into your Baby’s Hunger Cues
One of the most common questions new parents ask is when they should feed their baby.
Much breastfeeding advice points parents to the clock; however, breastfeeding has been around a lot longer than clocks.
There’s a simpler way of knowing it’s feeding time, one that focuses on your baby. Babies are incredibly smart, and when you tune in to your baby, you’ll be amazed at how much he can tell you. Doing this is also a great way to become a more sensitive parent, which will serve you well over your child’s lifetime. Here are a few general ideas:
Responding to early feeding cues: although many parenting books describe how a new parent eventually learns to tell the difference between a ‘hungry cry’ and a ‘tired cry,’ babies should ideally be fed before they are crying at all. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that crying is considered ‘a late indicator of hunger’ and parents are encouraged to feed their babies before they get to this point. Ideally babies should be fed when they are showing early feeding cues such as:
a. rooting (turning her head from side to side with a wide-open mouth)
b. putting his hand to his mouth
A baby who is hungry but not yet frantic is going to better respond to his hardwiring and more easily take the breast n the best possible way. In contrast, a baby who is upset and crying has a more difficult time settling down, latching on, and feeding well.
From Breastfeeding Made Simple by Mohrbacher and Kendall-Tackett 2010
Next post: Less Crying is Optimal for Mother-Baby Attachment
