What new adoptive parents need to know about eating, sleeping, and pooping with a newborn. We talk with Dr. Scott Cohen, pediatrician with Beverly Hill Pediatrics and author of Eat, Sleep, Poop: A Common Sense Guide to Your Baby’s First Year.
[sws_blue_box box_size=”530″]Eat
• The vast majority of adoptive parents will bottle feed their baby. How to choose a formula.
• Is wet or dry formula better for the baby?
• What type of bottle is best?
• Does the bottle type differ if the baby is born premature or has Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome?
• Does the temperature of the formula matter?
• Can you make the bottles up once a day or do you have to make it fresh for each feeding?
• When should you consider a specialized formula and what options do you have?
• How often should a baby eat?
• Other feeding options: adoptive mother induce lactation to breastfeed; donated breast milk.
• How do you know if your baby is getting enough food?
• If your baby spits up a lot when should you worry that they aren’t getting enough food?
Sleep
• What is a typical wake sleep pattern for a newborn?
• When should you expect your baby to sleep for 5-6 hours?
• Is the sleep/wake cycle affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)?
• At what point can you start trying to get your baby to not wake up many times for a feeding at night?
• Will introducing solid food, even if watered down, help your baby sleep through the night?
• How can you establish healthy sleeping habits for your baby?
• When do most babies start sleeping through the night and what is “sleeping through the night”—how much sleep?
• Sleeping on the back, no pillows, blankets, bumpers, stuffed animals
• Sleep training
Poop
• How often should babies poop? What is normal?
• What does typical healthy newborn baby poop look like?
• How do you know if there is a problem?
• How can you tell if your baby is constipated? And what should you do?
• “P fruits make you poop”
• What type of diaper is best?
• How to treat diaper rash?
• How can you tell if your baby has a yeast diaper rash?
• What is colic?
• How do you treat colic?

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Music credit: Michael Ashworth