🍼 Feeding the newborn
Getting the latch right, knowing the baby is actually getting milk, and preparing formula safely.
⭐ The one idea
Nipple pain and a clicking sound are not things to push through — they are a latch problem. A correct latch does not hurt. Break the suction with a clean finger and start again rather than letting it continue.
🍞 Getting started
| Step | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| 1 · Skin to skin | In the first hour if both are stable — it steadies temperature, glucose and breathing, and most babies find the breast themselves |
| 2 · Watch for cues | Stirring, turning the head, hand to mouth. Crying is a late cue — a crying baby latches badly |
| 3 · Position | Baby’s whole body facing her, ear–shoulder–hip in a line, nose level with the nipple |
| 4 · Wait for a wide mouth | Brush the lip, wait for a wide gape, then bring the baby to the breast — not the breast to the baby |
| 5 · Check the latch | See the list below |
| 6 · Feed on cue | Roughly 8–12 times in 24 hours, both breasts offered, no clock |
✅ A good latch
- Mouth wide open, chin pressed into the breast, nose clear
- Lips flanged outward, like a fish — not tucked in
- More areola visible above the top lip than below the bottom one
- Slow, deep sucking with audible swallowing; cheeks rounded, not dimpled
- No pain after the first few seconds, and no clicking
To take the baby off: slide a clean finger into the corner of the mouth to break the suction first. Pulling off is what damages nipples.
📊 Is the baby getting enough?
You count what comes out, because you cannot measure what went in.
| By day 4 onwards | Expect |
|---|---|
| Wet diapers | 6 or more a day |
| Stools | 3–4 a day, yellow and seedy |
| Swallowing | Heard during feeds |
| Weight | Up to 10% lost at first, back to birth weight by about 10–14 days |
🌿 Milk, engorgement and mastitis
| Stage | When | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Colostrum | First few days | Thick, yellow, small in volume and that is correct — full of antibodies |
| Transitional | About days 3–5 | Volume rises — “the milk coming in” |
| Mature | From about day 10 | Thin and bluish at the start of a feed, creamier at the end |
Engorgement: both breasts, hard, hot, painful, around days 3–5. Warmth before a feed to get it flowing, cold after for swelling, and feed often. Do not skip feeds — that makes it worse.
🚨 Mastitis
One breast, a red wedge-shaped painful area, fever and feeling like flu.
Keep feeding or expressing from that breast. Stopping is what turns mastitis into an abscess. The milk is safe for the baby.
Plus: antibiotics as prescribed and finished, rest, fluids, and check the latch, because a poor latch is usually why it happened.
🍼 Formula feeding
| Do | Why |
|---|---|
| Use iron-fortified formula | Iron stores from birth run down at around 4–6 months |
| Mix exactly as the tin says | Never dilute it — extra water causes seizures from low sodium, and under-feeding |
| Warm in a jug of warm water | Never a microwave — it heats unevenly and scalds the mouth |
| Hold the baby, semi-upright | Never prop a bottle — choking, and ear infections |
| Keep the teat full of milk | Less swallowed air |
| Throw away what is left | Saliva has got into it; it is not safe to keep |
No honey before 1 year — infant botulism. No cow’s milk as a drink before 1 year. No solids before about 6 months.
🧬 Mixing powdered formula — the numbers
Standard powdered infant formula is one level scoop to every 2 fl oz of water. The scoop in the tin is measured for that tin — do not swap scoops between brands, and do not pack the powder down.
- Wash hands. Put the water in first, then add the powder.
- One level scoop per 2 oz — so 4 oz takes two scoops, 6 oz takes three.
- Cap and shake or swirl until no lumps are left.
- Test the temperature on your wrist. It should feel barely warm, not hot.
Adding extra water to make a tin last is dangerous, not thrifty. Dilute formula causes water intoxication — hyponatremia, then seizures. Extra powder is just as wrong: it dehydrates the baby and overloads the kidneys.
⌚ How long prepared formula keeps
| Bottle | How long | Then |
|---|---|---|
| Made up, straight into the fridge | 24 hours | Throw it out |
| Made up, left at room temperature | 2 hours | Throw it out |
| Started — the baby has fed from it | 1 hour from the start of the feed | Throw it out |
| Opened tin of powder | About 1 month | Check the label |
Twenty-four hours, not four days. Expressed breast milk keeps about 4 days in the fridge; prepared formula does not, because it has no living cells and no antibodies to hold bacteria back. That contrast is exactly what a test question is built on.
🧺 Cleaning bottles — what is actually required
- Before the very first use: sterilize — boil for 5 minutes, or use a steam or chemical sterilizer.
- After every feed: take everything apart, rinse, then wash in hot soapy water with a bottle brush, or run it through the dishwasher. Air-dry on a clean rack.
- Sterilize again every day only for a baby under 2 months, born preterm, or immunocompromised — that is the group where the extra step earns its keep.
Boiling bottles for 20 minutes after every single use is not the instruction, and it is a common wrong answer. It wears out the equipment, and washing properly is what actually removes the milk residue bacteria feed on.
🥤 Storing expressed breast milk
| Where | Roughly how long |
|---|---|
| Room temperature | About 4 hours |
| Fridge | About 4 days |
| Freezer | Months, depending on the freezer |
Thaw in the fridge or in warm water. Never in a microwave, and never refrozen. Label with the date, use the oldest first, and swirl rather than shake.