Feeding Baby! How Much How Often?

Nature Feeds On Demand

How Much Milk For Baby?

• Preterm: 3 ounces per pound per day.
• 5 days -3 months: 2.5 ounces per pound per day.
• 3-6 months: 2 ounces per pound per day.
• 6-9 months:  1.5 ounces per pound per day.
• 9-12 months:  1-1.5 ounces per pound per day.

• So a three month old boy weighing 13 pounds would require 26 ounces of milk a day. Which would be 6 feedings of 4+ ounces or five feedings of 5+ ounces. A happy baby has a full belly to feed the body and the brain.
• While breast milk offers many advantages, mothers often supplement feeding with formula.
• Baby’s Only – is an organic formula on the market currently – they are the only one using water process to extract DHA & ARA lipids naturally derived from egg phospholipids achieving a more natural fatty acid profile. If you don’t want to feed your baby liquid GMO’s you would opt for an organic formula to protect your baby’s brain development as we do not know the effects of GMO’s on a baby’s developing body. While Baby’s Only formula is marketed towards toddlers, it does receive the FDA’s approval for infant formula; Nature’s One calls it a “toddler formula” because they believe babies should be breastfed for at least the first year of life.

I breastfeed my baby boy, I know first hand the struggles of breastfeeding and the issues of changing to formula. As a parent coach it is a delight to share information with first time Moms. Give a call if you are having issues and we can set up a time to get together. Until then…welcome to the hood. Parenthood is filled with surprising twists and turns. I’m here to help you along the way.

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Feel Calm By Soothing The Senses

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When we are in a distressing situation or feeling emotionally overwhelmed we can lash out and hurt others or we can find ways that provide us with comfort and pleasure. Finding ways to help ourselves feel better, calmer and more relaxed can be life changing. When you know how to find comfort in an uncomfortable world you begin to nurture yourself and others.

Self-Soothing The Senses

Soothing the senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch. These are the senses that get overstimulated and also provide the windows of opportunity to self-soothe. When you notice any distress in your body, think of strategies that will short-circuit the stress or help you to cope with overwhelming emotions or situations, through the senses.

Change your vision by focusing on something beautiful in nature. Listen to soothing music. Smell some of your favorite scenes in nature or simply notice the smells around you that you like. Drink a soothing cup of tea. Take a bath and feel the water caress your body. Pet the dog. Enjoy something soft or smooth.

Here’s an example environment to soothe all the senses. Create an environment designed to soothe. An un-clutter, softly lit, calm colored room perhaps. Include soothing music of the sounds of nature or water. Have a cup of warm tea. Notice the clean smells around you. Enjoy fabrics that caress the body in softness or smoothness. Sink into your own being and aura.

As you begin to practice self-soothing, things will begin to get better and you will find over time that it is easy and well worth the focus.

Notice How You Self-Soothe

A young child learns to self-soothe from being soothed by their caregivers. Caregivers comfort a child with touch and holding them close to the heart. Over time the child will learn to calm oneself. Soothing activities are critical for the healthy development of any child.

As adults we find comfort in companionship via friends, family and huggers that pull us close to their heart. Self-soothing is a basic skill important for emotional and physical well-being.

For emotionally sensitive people, self-soothing is a life raft. Learning how to effectively self-soothe during moments of upset may not come naturally to everyone and can require thought and action. A stress response is a natural part of our survival pattern. Creating sensations that say there is no emergency helps calm the body’s alert system so the brain can regain its ability to think and plan. If you are sipping hot tea under a soft blanket or lazing in a bubble bath, then there must be no reason to run at full speed to the nearest cave!

Whatever the reason or origin of emotional sensitivity, self-soothing can help. Marsha Linehan recognized the importance of self-soothing and included these skills when she developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy.  Self-soothing is part of finding a middle ground, a gray area, between being detached or numb and experiencing an emotional crisis or upheaval. Allowing yourself to experience the uncomfortable emotions (without feeding them and making them more intense) enables the emotions to pass. Soothing yourself helps you tolerate the experience without acting in ways that are not helpful in the long run, or blocking the emotions, which makes the emotions grow larger or come out in ways you didn’t intend.

Here is a lovely article about noticing how babies and adults self-soothe.

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My Life As A Dyslexic by Ema Drouillard

Who Wants To Be Normal Anyway?

In 1988 I was a photographer for the Right One, one of the first video dating services. My job was to photograph the new members for five images on a page. From this page people would pull the members video to view. It was a fun job.

One morning as I was walking up the stairs with my gear, I took a fall on the stairs. That fall resulted in neck surgery and a very long recovery. During this recovery all the systems I had put in place to assist me in operating in my life, fell apart as well. Loving friends moved my belongings while I was in the hospital to a more suitable place to recover. My car was sold and gone. For me everything was moved and changed. I was also medicated and in a great deal of non-stop pain. My dyslexic was really in my face and without my systems in place, I was lost.

During this long recovery I did something most dyslexic people would never approach. I wrote an article about my dyslexia and submitted it to the Reader’s Digest for publication. It took a computer and many friends to review it before it was ready for submission. Once submitted to my surprise and delight they published the article in 1989. I have recently come across the pages I submitted to the Reader’s Digest and have included the article here for you, My Life As A Dyslexic. In the article I share my life experience up to that time with dyslexia.

Today dyslexia is more familiar to people but still many families are affected and there is always room for understanding, clarity and information. Recently HBO created a documentary film, The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia. Well done and well worth the view. Share with anyone you know that may benefit from the information. The more the dyslexic understands about dyslexia the more fully they can live their unique experience. Which can be rich and full.

In my coaching practice I enjoy working with people that are dyslexic, highly sensitive and empaths as these are my personal experience as well. Call today! 415-409-9264.

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Newborn Baby Care Six Must Do’s

What Your Newborn Wants You To Know

1.  Baby Sleep Patterns

Your newborn baby will sleep sixteen to seventeen hours a day. Usually two to four hours at a time, day and night. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, sleep when your baby naps as well. Sleep with the baby on your chest for the deepest sleep at nap time for both of you. Your body heat will be soothing to your baby’s immature digestive system providing warmth on the tummy. Your heart beat has been your baby’s home. What might it feel like to be without another heart beat at this time?

2.  Underdeveloped Digestive System 

Your baby’s digestive tract is not fully functional. In the first six months, your baby’s digestive system will undergo enormous change as it develops the ability to produce enzymes to digest food and antibodies to protect itself.

The esophageal valve, which controls the entry of food into your infant’s stomach, is underdeveloped. This is why babies frequently spit up. These digestive shortcomings, along with the immature state of the infant kidney, can put your baby at risk for dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and insufficient absorption of nutrients. All of this activity will waken your baby with the pain of gas and air bubbles. Remember to burp your baby and massage the tummy for relief. Also your body heat helps…it works like a heating pad and is soothing to the tummy. A warm bath with a 1/2 cup of pink Himalayan salt, will relieve the gas.

3.  Regulating Body Temperature

Your newborn baby can not adjust to temperature changes as well as an adult. Babies can lose body heat rapidly, nearly 4 times faster than an adult. They will feel colder sooner than you. Babies don’t have much body fat. Their bodies are be too young to control their own temperature, even in a warm environment.

When your baby gets too cold, the baby uses energy and oxygen to generate warmth. If skin temperatures drops just one degree from the ideal 97.7° F (36.5°C), your baby’s oxygen use can increase by 10 percent. You can check to see if your baby is overheated by feeling her ears and fingers. If your baby is hot, red, and sweaty, the baby is overwrapped. If your baby is only slightly warm and not sweaty, the temperature is probably perfect.

Any time the baby does not have your body heat, the baby needs a fabric against the skin. Just like you would if you were to lay down to sleep. A baby that is experiencing thermal stress is very hard to calm down. A day out in the elements without proper temperature control can create a evening of stress for everyone.

4.  Heart To Heart

Your baby has just arrived from a warm wet nest that has kept your baby curled up and protected. To arrive to dry air while still developing a digestive system and being alone is a very new experience. The most soothing act for your baby is to be body to body with you or another loving family member. Heart to heart, it’s the rhythm of the heart that calms. This experience can be trumped by the feeling of being rocked, in a rocking chair or a glider.

5.  Swaddling Your Newborn

Tight bundling is so successful at soothing infants that some babies even have to be un-swaddled to wake them up for feedings. Babies can feel like they are free falling in dry air after being cocoon in the womb. Never put your baby into bed with loose blankets. Make sure your babies swaddling is snugly wrapped around your baby’s body so it doesn’t loosen during the night. Loose blankets can get around a baby’s face and contribute to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The swaddling is lose near the bottom around the baby’s hips and legs. There is a sleepy for this, check out zipadee zip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_bBAlrsw04

6.  Crying Is Your Invitation To Listen

Crying is the only voice your newborn baby has to communicate what is needed. The parent’s job is to listen to this new voice and hear the clues in the crying. It’s an inquiry that you will  soon learn. Is the baby hunger, wet, have gas, too cold, under some kind of stress? What is needed? Don’t let anyone tell you it’s okay to let a newborn cry. It’s not. If you can not respond get someone to help that can. Babies cry to communicate not to manipulate. They have a need and are telling you. Are you listening?

Learn how to perform an amazing baby calming method by Doctor Robert Hamilton.

Receive one on one mommy coaching from a born baby whisperer.

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