The most common response we receive when providing childcare counseling is, "He won't drink his milk! The most common reason for this is "He won't drink milk! Parents want their children to drink as much breast milk or formula as possible and grow up. But what is wrong? What should we do? What should we do?

Baby and momBoth new first graders

When a child enters the first grade of elementary school, everything is new to them and they are full of anxiety and anticipation. They gradually become accustomed to everything they do by having someone teach them and accompany them. The same is true for babies and mothers. It is truly the first year of elementary school.

Babies are born with the instinct to suck, but they do not start out well. They become good at it by practicing over and over again. As the baby becomes more proficient, even a flat nipple (a nipple that does not protrude properly) can be sucked successfully.
The same is true for mothers. Just because you have become a mother does not mean that you will be able to hold your baby well and put her in a position to suckle from the breast right from the start. It takes many repetitions for the body to learn how to hold the baby just right and in a position that allows the baby to suckle well.

The baby and mother, the two of them, make it together. The more times the baby is sucked, the better the mother's milk production will be. Sucking on the breast stimulates the secretion of hormones, which in turn improves the opening of the mammary glands and the production of mother's milk. However, these hormones are easily affected by stress, and lack of sleep and irritability can interfere with the secretion of breast milk. Please take as much rest and relax as possible during this period.

Give your baby as much breast milk as he/she wants when he/she wants it until about one month of age.
However, each feeding lasts about 15 to 20 minutes.

Not by the bookBabies are people, too

Sometimes I feel, as a first-time mom, as if I am raising a "baby," a creature completely different from myself, and I feel as if I am raising it. I wonder how many cc's I should drink, how many grams I should weigh, what I should feed it, and I feel as if I am raising a beetle. I understand that these are questions because I am trying so hard, but babies are human beings just like their mothers.

Parenting books give numbers as a guide, but they cannot always be followed. There are approximate guidelines, but they do not always work out the same way. Even adults sometimes want to eat and sometimes have no appetite. We don't measure how many grams of rice we eat. Think of it as the same for babies. It is not possible to say that the baby will drink more and more and weigh more and more. When they are tired, the weather, and many other factors affect them just as much as adults do.
If babies could talk, they might say something like this: "Yesterday, so many people came to celebrate, and I was held and nursed, I'm a little tired today.

Instead of worrying about the amount of each drink, judge the total amount to be taken in a day.

In addition, we sometimes see mothers who do not know how many cc's they are drinking when they are breastfeeding, so they want to reassure themselves by giving them more milk after breastfeeding. And that may lead to a consultation about "not drinking milk" for the added milk.
"What? Because breast milk is sufficient, isn't it?" Some people are dissatisfied when I reply, Why not?

Rather than focusing on how many cc's the baby has drank, carefully examine the baby's current condition, whether he still wants milk or not, and whether he is satisfied with the milk or not.

Until about 3 months of age, the baby has not developed a satiety center, so rather than feeling full, the muscles around the mouth are tired from sucking on the nipple! The nipple is let go just when the baby's stomach is full. This is exactly how breast milk functions. Therefore, if the nipple of a baby bottle is dripping with milk, it is too much milk. If you use a bottle with a large hole in the nipple and let the milk flow in and out without using the muscles around the mouth much, you will be surprised at how much milk you can drink. You may think your child "drinks a lot of milk," but you are giving him too much. As a result, he will gain too much weight. There will always come a time when if you are giving your baby too much breast milk, he will not take milk. The baby's body is in a state where it will not accept it.

I would like you to take a closer look at your baby and figure out what kind of condition he or she is in, not just at that moment of not drinking milk, but for a longer period of days, for a month.