I would like to get a schedule or guide to newborn nursing and diaper change. A daily schedule. Please

-- Mia Wix (Kwix@charter.net), February 21, 2002

Answers

Hi Mia, I am a Mother of 4 year old and training to be a doula. As long as your baby is healthy, there is no particular schedule, as every baby is different. Generaly, first few days you will need to nurse very often until your milk comes. The more you nurse the more milk production you stimulate. You should feed your baby when YOU think baby is hungry. Baby will not overeat. if baby is not hungry he or she will not eat. Feeding when hungry applies for later feedings too. Keep in mind that in about 3 and 6 weeks baby has a "jump" in the milk consumption so you will find that your baby is hungry more often. As for the diper change, again when it is dirty or reasonably wet. You don't need to change diper after each urination. You have to clean the area. I sugest that you use water and cotton balls instead of commercially sold wet towels because the last ones can easily iritate baby's skin. You should look at several wet and dirty dipers a day. Be alerted if you see any red cristals in the diper - this is a sign of dihidration.

Hope it helps, Yelena

-- Yelena Skorik (lenka_f@canada.com), February 22, 2002.

If you mean a spreadsheet type form for keeping track of when your feedings and diaper changes happen there is a downloadable one at www.doulaworld.com under Mom's Downloads. Carissa

-- Carissa Lentz (rinilope@aol.com), June 12, 2002.

Please send me the schedule

-- Nena Mayo (NenaDBlack@hotmail.com), June 10, 2004.