New mums take 3 months to feel confident caring for their baby, says research

Getting to grips with a newborn is no mean feat.

They follow their own rules and just when you think you have the hang of feeding, sleep training or leaving the house with them, things change and you're back to square one. New mums take three months on average to feel confident taking care of their babies, a study has found. In a survey of 2,000 mothers in the US with children aged three or under, over half of them said they spent the first few months worrying about their baby. The most common worry for new mums was their baby's health and wellbeing, with many saying they were concerned about their little one getting sick. The second most common worry for new mums was how much to feed the baby, followed by worrying about the financial cost of having a new baby. More than one in five mums said they weren't confident in how to feed their baby according to the research, conducted for US baby formula company Store Brand Formula. If you're unsure about how much you should be feeding your newborn, this viral post might come in handy. It shows how small a newborn's stomach is as they grow over the first month and should help to reassure anxious new mums that they are feeding their babies enough.