(Collapse) - How Much and How Often Should My Infant Be Fed? Most experts suggest you nurse or feed your baby whenever she seems hungry.

A newborn baby may need to be fed as often as every 2 hours or perhaps more frequently for a while. In the beginning, mothers may want to try nursing 10 to 15 minutes on each breast, then vary the time as necessary. During the first month, formula-fed babies will most likely take about 2 to 3 ounces of infant formula at each feeding. Call your baby's doctor if you need to awaken your newborn frequently or continually urge your baby to suck.

You can be assured that your baby is getting enough to eat if she seems satisfied, produces about six wet diapers a day, sleeps well, and is gaining weight regularly. A rigid feeding schedule is not important; you and your baby will eventually establish your unique feeding pattern. Your baby knows (and will let you know) when she is hungry and when she has had enough. Watch for signs that your baby is full (slow, uninterested sucking, turning away from the breast or bottle), and stop the feeding once these signs appear.

As your baby gains weight, she should begin to eat more at each feeding and go longer between feedings. Still, there may be times when she seems hungrier than usual. Continue to nurse or feed on demand during this time. Nursing mothers need not worry - breast-feeding stimulates milk production, and your supply of breast milk will automatically adjust to your baby's demand for it.

(Collapse) - Nowadays, you probably won't leave the hospital without a little lesson in this technique. Try it, after you've made sure your baby isn't hungry, wet, or tired. It can be used to help settle your baby down when he's overstimulated or when he just needs to feel something close to the tightness and security of the womb. Once your baby is about a month old you might want to stop swaddling him while he's awake as it may interfere with mobility and development in older babies. It's fine to keep swaddling your baby while sleeping if he seems to sleep better that way; he'll let you know by crying or kicking when he no longer wants to be bundled up.

How do I perform this cozy art?

• Lay a blanket on a flat surface and fold down the top-right corner about 6 inches.

• Place your baby on his back with his head on the fold.

• Pull the corner near your baby's left hand across his body, and tuck the leading edge under his back on the right side under the arm.

• Pull the bottom corner up under your baby's chin.

• Bring the loose corner over your baby's right arm and tuck it under the back on his left side. Some babies prefer to have their arms free, so you may prefer to swaddle your child under the arms so he has access to his hands and fingers.

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Dear JP,
As far as I know, no one is sure what causes babies to hiccup. What I can tell you is that they are quite common in newborns--sometimes beginning even before birth--and that they tend to cause parents far more distress than they do the babies themselves.

The answer to the other part of your question--how to get rid of them--is actually that you don't have to anything. You can consider your baby's hiccups as just another newborn reflex that will gradually become less frequent and eventually go away.

If you feel the need to do something, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests mixing up 1/4 teaspoon of sugar in four ounces of water and offering a few sucks. Can't say that I had great success with this method, but you can decide if it's worth a try.

(Collapse) - Hello, BETH!

It's only week two of your baby's life, but it may seem as though you've lived a month since just last week. Lack of sleep, breast feeding challenges, and postpartum recovery may be slowing you down. But don't despair: It will get easier! Your newborn is settling into life outside the womb — eating and sleeping around the clock. She's probably also spending a few hours each day quietly and alertly absorbing her new environment.

Comfortably curled
Because he was curled up inside your uterus until recently, your newborn baby will probably look "scrunched up" for a while, with his arms and legs not fully extended. He may even appear bowlegged. Don't worry. He'll stretch out, little by little, and by the time he reaches his half birthday, he'll be fully unfurled! In the meantime, as he adjusts to life outside the warm, safe confines of your womb, he may enjoy being swaddled.

Ruled by hunger and sleep
Food is the most important thing in your newborn's life, with sleep running a close second. Most newborns will eat every two to three hours around the clock. Sleeping schedules are equally intermittent and quite variable from one infant to another. Most newborns sleep for a total of 16 to 17 hours in a 24-hour period, but that's usually broken up into eight or so naps. By the end of the first month your baby may have developed something of an eating and sleeping pattern. But don't count on it; you may not notice real regularity for months

Crying is his main form of communication
Having undergone the trauma of birth, your baby is now trying to deal with an onrush of stimulation. You may not be able to detect much of a personality just yet, as he spends his time moving in and out of several different states of sleepiness, quiet alertness, and active alertness. Although the only way he knows to communicate is by crying, you can communicate with him through your voice and your touch. Most babies love to be held, caressed, kissed, stroked, massaged, and carried. He may even make an "ah" sound when he hears your voice or sees your face.

He only has eyes for you
Your baby's sight is still pretty fuzzy. And since his range of vision is just about 12 inches or so, he can see your face clearly only when you're holding him close. Studies show that newborns prefer human faces to all other patterns or colors. (High-contrast items, like a checkerboard, are next in line.) Give him plenty of opportunity to study your features by gazing at him from a close distance

Learning begins immediately
You may notice short periods of time when your newborn is quiet and alert. This is prime time for learning. Use these intervals to get better acquainted with your child — talk to him, sing to him, give him a tour of the pictures on the walls of your house. But if you try to interact with him and he doesn't seem receptive, don't insist. He may have gotten sleepy or moved into a state of active alertness (when he's working on new physical tricks).

Even this early, babies can recognize faces and gestures intuitively — and sometimes even imitate them. Give your newborn a chance to imitate your facial expressions by putting your face close to his and sticking out your tongue or raising your eyebrows a few times. Repeat it. Then give him some time to mimic your gesture. Even if he doesn't copy you yet, he's keeping close tabs — and learning.

Newborn play
Mobiles with high-contrast patterns and books with photos of babies' faces will captivate your newborn. So will his own reflection, so you may want to prop an unbreakable mirror next to him, or sit him in front of your mirror with you when you do your hair. A play gym with plenty of compelling things to watch, swipe at, and listen to will give your baby practice with arm, hand, and finger coordination skills — and make lying down less boring. In the first few months, he won't move his arms purposefully to reach for particular objects — this sort of movement comes later, in a couple of months.

Remember, your baby is an individual
Each baby is unique and meets physical milestones at his own pace. Developmental guidelines are just yardsticks of what your baby has the potential to accomplish — if not right now, then soon.

If your baby was born prematurely, keep in mind that he'll almost always need a bit more time before he can do the same things as other children his chronological age. That's why most preemies are given two ages by their pediatricians — their chronological age (calculated from their birthday) and their adjusted age (calculated from their due date). Doctors generally assess a preterm child's development from the time he should have been born and evaluate his skills accordingly.

(Collapse) - In earlier times, the babies who lived in understaffed orphanages, or who spent their days lying neglected in their cribs in day nurseries, used to wither in body, in intellect, and in emotions, never fully to recover. Whereas a baby who's cared for mainly by loving, enthusiastic parents, perhaps with the help of others, surges ahead.

Some of the things parents give their children:
• their visible love
• their pride and joy in her tiny accomplishments
• thoughtful playthings
• answers to her questions
• a willingness to let her play freely as long as she does no damage • They read to her and show her pictures.

These are the attitudes and activities that foster emotional depth and keen intelligence

Optimists vs. pessimists
Whether children will grow up to be lifelong optimists or pessimists, whether warmly loving or cool, whether trustful or suspicious, will depend to a considerable extent on the attitudes of the individuals who have taken responsibility for a major portion of their care in their first two years. Therefore, the personalities of parents and caregivers are of great importance.

Children know that they are inexperienced and dependent. They count on their parents for leadership, love, and security.

They are always watching their parents, instinctively, and patterning themselves after them. This is how they get their own personalities, their strength of character, their assurance, their ability to cope. They are learning, in childhood, how to be adult citizens, workers, spouses, and parents by identifying with their parents.

Children gain trust in themselves from being respected--as human beings--by their parents (or caregivers). This self-assurance helps them to be comfortable with themselves and with all kinds of people for the rest of their lives. Respect from parents is what teaches children to give respect to their parents in turn.

(Collapse) - The answer to this question really depends on what lessons you think babies are learning in the first months of life. It is unlikely that they are capable of learning to expect their every whim to be attended to 24 hours a day. That's what being spoiled would mean.

But we know that young infants can't anticipate the future; they live entirely in the here and now. They also can't formulate this thought: "Well I'm going to make life miserable for these people until they give me everything I want" -- another key component of the spoiled child.

Basic trust
What infants are learning during this period is a sense of basic trust (or mistrust) in the world. If their needs are met promptly and lovingly, they come to feel that the world is a benign place, a place where good things generally happen and bad experiences are soon rectified

Secure attachment
A child who has a secure attachment to a parent or caregiver believes deep down that that parent will keep him safe and will provide for his pressing needs. A lot of research shows that this sense of security develops during the first year of an infant's life, and then continues to deepen and change as the child grows.

Babies who do not have a chance to develop an attachment by 1 year of age -- babies, for example, who are raised in orphanages with little or no personal attention -- often have severe problems in forming relationships. Babies with strong, secure attachments are more able to go off to school and to learn.

Some parents feel that babies have to learn at a young age to be independent and comfort themselves.

They worry that picking up babies right away when they cry will make them overly dependent. I like to tell these parents about a very important study on the effects picking up crying babies. Babies whose parents tried to respond promptly to their crying actually cried less, and were more independent as preschoolers, compared to babies who were left to "cry it out."

Their earlier experience had made them more secure, so they were better able to handle difficulties by themselves later on.