2 Week Milestone
2 WEEKS and too cute!
VITAMIN D
Current CDC recommendations are for all infants to receive 400 IU of vitamin D unless they are consistently drinking at least 32 oz of formula per day. It is the only supplemental vitamin babies need.
In fact, “vitamin D” is not really a vitamin; it’s a hormone that our bodies can make with enough daily direct sunlight exposure on bare skin. However, we should protect ourselves (and especially our babies) from direct sunlight to prevent burns and increased risk of skin cancer. Especially at northern latitudes, and especially for dark-skinned infants who have higher levels of melanin to block UV light absorption, Vitamin D supplements are necessary to ensure healthy bone and teeth formation. You can learn more on our post about Vitamin D and other vitamins while breastfeeding (including information about how maternal levels of Vitamin D transfer through breast milk) on our Tips & Tools page.
POOP
If breastfed, your baby is probably passing watery yellow stool several times a day at this age. Formula fed babies usually pass stool less often and have darker colored stools (brownish). Either way, between 3 and 5 weeks of age, babies’ digestive tracts and normal flora (healthy gut bacteria) have grown and matured. Your baby may suddenly stop passing stool as often; in fact, it is normal for some exclusively breastfed babies to poop just 1-2 times a week. Your baby is NOT constipated, and you have NOT lost your milk supply – this is all normal! The only indicator we use to know that your baby is getting enough milk is their weight gain. Your baby’s stool may also become less seedy (as their digestion matures) and may range in color from light brown to greenish to orange to bright yellow. Read more here.
GROWTH
Most lose a little weight after birth and regain it by 10-14 days of age. Babies generally gain 1-2 oz a day in the first month of life (boys gain weight a little faster than girls).
If your baby has not surpassed their birth weight at two weeks, or you don’t know how much your baby weighs, please contact us to schedule a home weight check, or call your clinic for an appointment. A KINDNESS team member is always available to answer your questions and weigh your baby between your clinic visits, even if you are simply curious.
BOTTLE FEEDING
If your baby is exclusively breastfed, we recommend you wait another couple of weeks before introducing a bottle of expressed milk. Read our post on bottle feeding for more information about why 4-8 weeks is the best “window” for bottle introduction.
If you are providing supplemental milk to your baby at this point but breastfeeding is your goal, read more here about best practices for supplementing during the first month of baby’s life.
If your baby is formula fed, they probably have bottle feeding down. Here are a few reminders about bottle feeding:
Always hold your baby while bottle feeding
Don’t prop the bottle, lay your baby down to sleep with the bottle, or put anything other than formula (mixed by the instructions on the can) or human milk in the bottle.
Maintain eye contact with your baby while they are feeding. For a baby, eating isn’t just about getting fed—it’s about bonding, too.
Babies have meals and snacks just like we do, and they won’t always take the same amount each time.
Hold the bottle in a “gravity-neutral” position so your baby can eat at their own pace, take breaks, and take as much or as little as they need. Check out our bottle feeding blog post and downloadable bottle feeding guide for more information.
DISCLAIMER: We know when you surf the web for information, you can get conflicting results, and it’s not easy to know whether you are finding evidence-based, high quality recommendations. That’s part of our job here at Kodiak KINDNESS; we are here to support your informed decisions about infant feeding through your baby’s first year. We’ve done some background work, and to the best of our knowledge, this post reflects current best practices. However, the information contained in this post and any links contained herein is for your informational use only; it is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Furthermore, Kodiak KINDNESS is not responsible for the accuracy of any information contained in this post or links contained herein; it is for you to review at your own risk and discuss, as needed, with your health care professional in order to make a plan that suits your individual circumstances.