The first six weeks: What newborn feeding cues and nappies can tell parents

Skin-to-skin contact, feeding patterns and nappy changes can help families understand how a newborn is settling in the crucial first six weeks.

In the first six weeks after birth, families are often learning three things at once: how to feed a newborn, how to settle them and how to read their signals. Talitha Herrick, a private practice midwife with My Midwives Brisbane, said those early days are less about imposing a routine than about helping babies feel safe, close and regulated. That approach is consistent with advice from the NHS and Cleveland Clinic, which both describe skin-to-skin contact as a simple way to support temperature control, breathing, bonding and early feeding cues.

Herrick said the best place for a newborn straight after birth is on a parent’s bare chest, where touch, warmth and scent can encourage feeding instincts. She also pointed to colostrum, the thick first milk produced in pregnancy and the days after delivery, as a key source of nutrition and immune protection. Paediatric guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics and information from Pampers describe colostrum as nutrient-dense, easy for newborns to digest and helpful in supporting gut health and immune defence during the transition to mature milk.

A useful early sign that feeding is going well, Herrick said, is a comfortable latch with audible swallowing and a baby who relaxes after a feed. She advised parents to watch nappies closely in the first days: wet nappies should increase daily, while stools typically shift from black to brown, then green and finally yellow as milk intake improves. That guidance aligns with newborn-feeding advice from Cleveland Clinic and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which both stress that diaper output and a baby’s behaviour are practical indicators of intake in the early days.

Herrick said it is normal for newborns to feed frequently, including overnight, with many babies waking every two to three hours and sometimes clustering feeds more often in the early weeks. She added that babies often lose some weight at first and should generally be back to birth weight by about day seven to 10, then begin gaining steadily. The NHS and UMass Memorial both note that skin-to-skin care can support breastfeeding and help stabilise a baby’s breathing, heart rate and temperature, which can make the early feeding period easier for both parent and child.

Parents should seek medical advice if output drops, orange stains appear in the nappy after day five, the baby looks jaundiced or unusually pale, or the infant becomes floppy, lethargic or difficult to rouse, Herrick said. She also recommended urgent care for any baby under three months with a fever of 38C or higher. Her wider message was that the first six weeks are a time for observation, patience and support, not perfection: newborn cries do not always signal distress, and families often benefit from midwifery, lactation or other health professional advice as they learn what their baby needs.