From birth, the newborn is seen by a pediatrician in the maternity ward. The slightest anomaly is detected and taken care of by the medical profession. So it's a healthy baby that parents entrust to me at the office. However, the infant cries, fidgets, seems uncomfortable, leaving you, dear parents, bewildered and worried.
Disturbed sleep, digestive disorders, a certain nervousness, especially for the first child, are the most frequent reasons for consultation. The body and physiology change most rapidly in the first month of life. This evolution also requires for you parents, to understand your baby well and to know the evolution of your little one at different ages.
Better understand your child born prematurely :
We consider a child born at term between 39 weeks and 41 weeks. A child is said to be premature when born before 39 weeks or weigh less than 2.5kg. The most important sleep transformations take place during the first month of life. The most frequent anxieties of mothers who come to see me are "should I wake my child up while he is sleeping to feed him?", "Is he getting enough sleep?" Since birth, a baby sleeps and eats. It makes sense that the genes present are linked to sleep and digestion. Sleep and digestion are therefore inseparable in understanding your baby's discomfort.
What you need to know, and what you will not always be told :
1. Sleep is progressive. The sleep of a premature baby will not be the same as that of a term baby, and will also be different from that of a child or an adult. In your premature baby, sleep is predominant on food: he will not wake up to eat, your baby will need to be woken up every three hours to make him eat (follow the advice of your pediatrician).
2. Feeding varies depending on the age of your baby.
3. Your premature baby's fatigue is related to his low weight. His diet will be more difficult. Again, don't panic, you just need to know your baby to understand that their feeding should be fast and require a minimum of force.
4. Breastfeeding can be divided, and the full feeding can be done several times.
Dear Moms, you may wonder if your milk is of good quality when you see your baby having up to twelve meals a day. Rest assured, your milk is of excellent quality (check the weight gain) but your baby's low weight means that a full breastfeed is achieved in two or three intakes of a few minutes. Despite the impressive number of intakes, your baby is only eating six meals a day. When your baby gains strength from the tips above, he can breastfeed longer, eat a full meal, and eat three hours apart.
5. A bottle-fed baby will gain weight and strength faster. You will need to remember to regulate your baby on his milk quantities and space out the hours of the bottle if he is gaining weight properly in order to avoid overfeeding which can be the cause of regurgitation.
Enjoy the pampering, these are magical moments. Trust yourself you are superb!
Rafaele Hana FEDIDA
Ostéopathe D.O
Jerusalem