Why do newborns need to suckle so much when their tummy is so little?

Dr Pamela Douglas12th of Sep 202326th of Dec 2024

From an evolutionary perspective, a newborn expects a great deal of suckling at her mother's breast in the first days of life.

It's not hunger that makes your newborn cry for the breast in the first two or three days of life - it's the need for sensory motor nourishment, the need to be up close to your body, drinking in the wonderful, wrap-around sensory motor experience of suckling at your breast.

Some health professionals illustrate that it's not the need for milk which primarily drives suckling at first, by offering comparative estimates of the size of a newborn's stomach.

Newborn age	Item similar in size to the newborn's stomach
Day 1	Cherry
Day 2	Walnut
Day 7	Apricot
Day 28	Hen's egg

Next up in the first days of life

What you need to know about your newborn's poo and wee in the first week of life

What is meconium?

Meconium is the thick, sticky, dark-green or black stool babies pass in the first days of life. It's made up of matter which has been swallowed by the baby in the womb before he was born - intestinal cells which were shed into the gut, lanugo (or newborn hair), mucus, amniotic fluid, bile, water.

During the birth, amniotic fluid stained with meconium is a possible sign of fetal distress, which will be closely monitored by your health professionals.
If your pregnancy goes more than 40 weeks pregnant, you might also have meconium-stained amniotic fluid without fetal distress. Your health professionals will be monitoring your situation.

Most babies pass their first meconium in the first 24 hours of life, and the majority have passed all their meconium within 48 hours. Some babies only have one really large meconium stool. Others have many, and are also normal. When baby starts...

Why do newborns need to suckle so much when their tummy is so little?

Next up in the first days of life

What is meconium?

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