6 WEEKS and smiling!

Vitamin D: Current CDC recommendations are for all infants to receive 400 IU of vitamin D unless they are consistently drinking at least 32 oz of formula per day. It is the only supplemental vitamin babies need. In fact, it’s not really a vitamin, it’s a hormone that our bodies can make with sufficient daily direct sunlight exposure on bare skin. However, we should protect ourselves (and especially our babies) from direct sunlight to prevent burns and increased risk of skin cancer. Especially at northern latitudes, and especially dark-skinned infants who have higher levels of melanin to block UV light absorption, vit D supplements are required to ensure healthy bone and teeth formation. 

Several products are available:

• Tri-Vi-Sol (includes vit A, D, C, artificial flavors and color agents) – Safeway or Walmart
• Just D (only vit D, no flavor or color agents) – Cactus Flats
• D-Drops (concentrated drop, you can put on your nipple just as you latch baby) – online (Amazon etc..)

Some babies don’t like the taste of the vitamin drops and spit them out. You can try any of the options above; sometimes one brand works better than another. If your baby spits it up, don’t give a second dose, just try again the next day. If you are already giving your baby occasional bottles of pumped milk at least daily, it might work to “hide” the taste by adding the vitamin drop to a bottle (only once per day). Use a smaller amount of milk in the bottle with vitamin D added to ensure your baby takes the full dose.

GROWTH and POOPING: Your baby should be growing consistently; the following guidelines are a good reference, but but remember your baby didn’t read the guidelines and may follow their own growth track!

• • baby boys older than one month generally gain 1/3 – 2/3 lbs (5 – 11 oz) per week and double their birth weight between 3-5 months
  • baby girls older than one month generally gain 1/4 – 1/2 lbs (4 – 8 oz) lbs per week and double their birth weight between 4-6 months

Note that after about a month, we only use growth as evidence of adequate nutrition, not output. Your baby’s GI tract and gut normal flora mature rapidly in the first month of life and stooling frequency is no longer correlated to milk intake after about one month. Most babies suddenly start pooping less frequently after one month of age…in fact, some older exclusively breastfed babies poop only 1-2 times a week! This demonstrates how thoroughly digestible human milk is for your baby.

BOTTLE FEEDING: If your baby is exclusively breastfed, now is a great time to introduce a bottle of pumped milk if you wish. Read more here about the timing and strategies for introducing a bottle to a breastfed baby.

This is why the timing is important:  Infants are born with an involuntary suck reflex, meaning they automatically suck on anything that goes in their mouth. A newborn will suck on anything – dad’s finger, mom’s breast, pacifier, bottle… but if we give breastfed babies bottles and pacifiers within the first month, it can interfere with them learning to latch well at the breast. After a while, (usually 2-3 months) their suck reflex becomes voluntary, meaning they can choose whether they suck or not. An exclusively breastfed baby who has not been introduced to a bottle before their suck reflex becomes voluntary is likely to choose NOT to suck on a bottle; they will strongly prefer the breast to the point of refusing a bottle in some cases.
 
So the best time to introduce a bottle to an exclusively breastfed baby is at about 4-8 weeks of age. Even then, a baby knows who his/her mother is (they are so SMART!) and might refuse the bottle from mom (if the breast is close by, they know it!)  – so other caregivers often have more success introducing the bottle. Once a baby is taking a bottle well – CONTINUE to offer the bottle occasionally EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE TO, to keep your baby in the “habit” of accepting the bottle. 
 
If your baby is formula feeding, s/he is probably already an expert bottle feeder. REMINDER: Always hold your baby while bottle feeding, never prop the bottle, lay your baby down to sleep with the bottle, or put juice, cereal or anything other than formula (mixed by the instructions on the can) or breast milk in the bottle. You want your baby to bond with YOU, not to the bottle! Maintain eye contact with your baby while they are feeding. Babies have meals and snacks just like we do, and they won’t always take the same amount. Always hold the bottle in a “gravity-neutral” position so your baby can take the feeding at their own pace, take breaks, and take as much or as little as they need. See the pictures in our downloadable Bottle Feeding Guide.

DISCLAIMER: We know when you surf the web for information, you can get conflicting results, and it’s not easy to know whether you are finding evidence-based, high quality recommendations. That’s part of our job here at Kodiak KINDNESS; we are here to support your informed decisions about infant feeding through your baby’s first year. We’ve done some background work, and to the best of our knowledge, this post reflects current best practices. However, the information contained in this post and any links contained herein is for your informational use only; it is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Furthermore, Kodiak KINDNESS is not responsible for the accuracy of any information contained in this post or links contained herein; it is for you to review at your own risk and discuss, as needed, with your health care professional in order to make a plan that suits your individual circumstances.