common instructions on watering tomatoes are water deeply and infrequently - avoid over watering due wet feet and shallow watering due to encouraging shallow roots

here is my confusion

my seedlings are still quite small still 3" or so I started late and buried deep as I could. They have been in the ground and containers for a week and I suspect the roots are still small - If I allow the surface to dry - even though there is moisture in the ground I am afraid the plants will starve.

But I am afraid to allow the surface to dry too much when the roots are not established - also afraid that the rich compost in the soil is not yet accessible to the fledgling plants

is is OK, and helpful to spot water around the seedlings to avoid water logging pots and beds while keeping roots moist?

I am feeding with fish emulsion - is including feed in the waterings helpful at this early stage?

I have never started tomatoes from seed before and am unsure quite how to baby them until they are established.

everything is looking healthy now trying to do my best not to kill them before they have a chance.

You have '"rich compost" and fish emulsion. Please stop feeding them for now. For details on that, see pretty much every post after this one; those cranky people are better at these sort of explanations than I am.

Even with watering schedule, you find different ideas and plans because people have different experiences and details about their tomato growth.

Read all about it, take what is good and useful to you, and adjust as needed to make your plants thrive. Even next month or next season, you may have to adjust your thinking to overcome a new problem that wasn't there earlier.