How to understand that there is not enough milk for a newborn. Does the baby have enough breast milk? The method gives unreliable indicators if

14.04.2019

How can a mother who is breastfeeding know that her baby has received enough milk? Breastfeeding mothers often have these doubts, since the breast is not a bottle, where you can clearly see how many grams of milk the baby has eaten.

The weight and length of the child must be continually increased. This is the first sign that the baby is eating well. Some mothers weigh their baby before and after feeding.

How to understand that a baby does not have enough breast milk - basic indicators

Baby sucks milk in a special way

At correct feeding, if you wean your baby, you will definitely see a lot of milk in your mouth. The child pauses briefly during meals to rest.

When the baby does not have enough milk, it seems to hang on the mother's breast. Milk does not come and he, sucking on the breast, waits for him for a long time. These pauses will be fairly frequent.

Baby's excrement changes color

After birth, the baby's feces are meconium. Breastfeeding changes the baby's stool, it gradually begins to brighten. The child no longer eats colostrum, but full mother's milk... The feces of a well-nourished baby will be creamy or watery. Stool shades range from green to mustard. In the first weeks of life, the child will often walk on a large scale, later this process will not occur more than 2-3 times a day.

Urination is an important indicator of proper newborn nutrition.

If the child does not have enough milk, then he will rarely pee. If you change the diaper 5-6 times a day, then you can rest assured - the child eats enough.

False indicators that the baby is not getting enough milk

The chest does not seem full

The female body works according to the individual needs of the child. After the first weeks of breastfeeding, your breast will produce as much milk as your baby drinks. Do not wait for a ton of milk rush and huge breasts.

The baby sleeps all day and night

In the first weeks of life, you will have to encourage your baby to eat at a specific time. Wake up your baby and bring it to your chest. The child is still too weak, he needs to tune in and get into the rhythm.

The baby cries while eating and after taking milk

If a child is crying, this does not always mean that he is hungry. The baby may have a stomach ache, he may not get enough sleep, he may be irritated by odors or noise.

The baby often requires a breast

It is up to the child to decide when he needs to eat milk. You don't have to worry about your child starving if you see them gaining weight. If the baby often requires breast and at the same time is slowly gaining weight, is capricious and pisses little, then you should feed him with milk mixture.

The mother is obliged to monitor her baby's food intake. Timely measures taken will help to establish the process of feeding the baby. Be sure to consult with your doctor and keep regular monitoring of the development of the child.

This video shows that the child drinks milk correctly and has enough of it:

All parents want their children to grow up healthy and happy. While the baby is still tiny, the concept of health and happiness is closely related to how much the child has enough nutrition. Therefore, many mothers may be faced with the question: how to determine if a baby is getting enough nutrition? Especially often this question is asked by mothers who are breastfeeding. How to find out, Is the child eating enough? How long should the baby be at the breast? Is not it little milk? Child crying from hunger or for another reason? What if the child "Uses the breast as a nipple"?
We will try to answer these and many other important questions!

In fact, there are only two reliable ways to determine if a mom has enough milk:

Weight gain of a child per week: from 125g and more.

According to the tables of the weight of the child of the World Health Organization healthy babies gain from 500 g to 2 kg for each of the first 6 months of life. If the child is not typing anything, or not gaining enough weight- this is a reason to look for mistakes in the organization of breastfeeding or contact a breastfeeding specialist.

The number of urinations per day: 12 or more.

A child who receives nothing but mother's milk directly from the breast must pee at least 12 times a day. You need to count urination without a diaper, diapers, sliders, pants. If baby pissing a little, this is an occasion to think about how correctly breastfeeding is organized and, if necessary, correct those moments that cause difficulties. As a rule, first of all, it is advisable to begin to latch the baby to the breast more often and to check how well the baby grips the mother's breast.

All other signs are not reliable and cannot help the mother determine whether the baby is full.

Consider the most common ways that mothers mistakenly use:

Feelings in the chest:

milk rush is not felt
breasts don't fill up between feedings
breasts have not changed during pregnancy

All of these are ours individual characteristics... We have different hair, legs, noses - and the chest is also different for everyone, we perceive and feel everything differently.

The amount of milk you have expressed.

It is very popular method for determining the amount of milk in the breast, but, unfortunately, also not reliable. Our breasts are designed to give out the largest number milk in response to breastfeeding by the baby, provided correct attachment... When we act on the areola with our hands or a breast pump, the hormonal processes necessary for milk production are much weaker, and as a result, many mothers can literally pump out drops. So if you can't express milk- this does not mean that there is no milk in the breast.

Control weighing before and after feeding.

Control weighing is still carried out in polyclinics - and, alas, they are not a reliable way to determine the amount of milk. When a baby is fed on demand, he knows that as soon as I ask, mom will always breastfeed. And he sucks not only to eat and drink, but also to satisfy all his needs: while sucking on the breast, the processes of urination and defecation are easier for the child, it is easier for him to calm down and assimilate new information, any stress passes without a trace. Accordingly, the amount of milk sucked by a child varies from feeding to feeding and even during the day, and control weighing is not indicative.

Baby behavior at the breast and between feedings.

The mother draws conclusions about the lack of milk in the breast on the behavior of the baby at the breast and between feedings. For example: first, a child willingly takes a breast, sucks for a few minutes, and then breaks away and cries, picks up again and throws again. This behavior is very easy to mistake for hunger anger, as if my chest is empty, no milk... In fact, as soon as the baby kisses the breast, the hormonal processes of milk production are immediately triggered, that is, milk appears in response to the baby sucking on the breast, demand creates supply. And the example of breast behavior described above is most often rejection behavior due to the use of breast substitutes - pacifiers, pads, bottles, so-called nipple confusion. The child is angry not because he is hungry, but because he wants to suckle in the same way as a bottle and a nipple are sucked, but he cannot. The child gets confused and upset. In addition, when the baby's latch on the breast is shallow, superficial, the baby simply does not have the ability to suck out the required amount of milk and this leads to more long feedings and more anxious behavior at the chest.

Another reason to think about the amount of milk in situations where the baby often asks for breast. But as we already know, the urge to suck arises not only from hunger.

So, what should a mother do who thinks that she has little or not enough milk?

The first step is to assess the child's weight gain and then count the number of urinations. If both are normal, it means that the child has enough nutrition, and you need to understand where doubts arise that baby has enough milk in what real reason anxiety of young parents.

If one or both symptoms have shown, that is, there is a real lack of milk, it is imperative to look for the cause and eliminate it as soon as possible. And the reasons may be, for example, the following:

superficial breast capture by a child ();
rare and / or short feedings;
feeding according to the regimen;
limiting the time spent at the breast;
ineffective breast emptying;
using a pacifier and / or bottle;
supplementation with water.

In this article, we tried to consider the issue insufficient production milk. We will be happy to answer all your questions. And our wonderful Milk Fairies from the support group will be happy to help every mother to enjoy breastfeeding!

P.S .: This topic seemed so important to us that we wrote, in which we tried to reveal in more detail the possible reasons real milk shortage.

Polina Novoselova,
breastfeeding consultant

It is sometimes difficult for newly minted mothers to figure out on their own whether there is enough breast milk their crumb.

The baby is crying ... The first thought that brings mothers literally to panic: "What if he is hungry?"

Yes, it's not bottle feeding. You cannot tell offhand how much profit - how much has disappeared from the chest.

Often, all the concerns of moms about the lack of milk are far-fetched, have no basis at all. And mom's panic leads to inevitable and natural dysregulation of many processes in the body. Including, the processes of milk production are disrupted.

The best way to explain this is famous expression"Thoughts are material." Mental processes in the body (in in this case, our thoughts) are closely related to somatic phenomena (find their expression in the features of physiology). So vicious circle closes.

Today we will investigate, which indicates a true shortage of breast milk. Let's find out the reasons for this condition. Let's discuss what mom needs to do in a situation of insufficient breast milk.

Signs for Suspecting Lack of Milk Production

These symptoms may include the following situations listed below. Although I will immediately make a reservation that it is not at all a fact that each of these situations was caused precisely by a lack of milk.

1. Little or no weight gain in the child.

You need to understand that physiological loss weight (up to 10% of body weight) can only be in newborn children. They are born with a certain amount of water and fat, which they lose in the first days of life. Then the children must constantly gain weight.

There are special tables with average figures normal increase weight per month. Please note that these are average values. It is impossible to be strictly guided by these figures. All children are individual, so they can gain weight in different ways. Someone is picking up in jumps. Someone grows slowly but surely.

I will only say by combining the data of science and practical experience that weight gain in a month less than 500 grams already makes you think. If this happened only in one month, then it's okay. And if a child gains less than 500 g for several months in a row, then you need to look for the reason.

For mothers, it is important to know one more figure for normal body weight gain - in a week. Because how the baby grows, you need to monitor constantly, here and now. It is an impermissible mistake to find out about the problem in a month, when the mother and the baby go to the scheduled doctor's appointment.

So, on average, a baby gains from 120 to 240 grams per week. If your baby's gain is less than these numbers, then this is a reason to worry. If no others apparent reasons no, the child may be malnourished. It is necessary to immediately try to correct the situation by stimulating lactation or adding supplements.

table approximate values age and weight of the child:

Age	The weight
0-3 months	3-5 kg
3-6 months	5-7 kg
6-9 months	7-9 kg
1 year	9-11 kg
1.5 years	10.5-12.5 kg
2 years	12-14.5 kg
3 years	13.5-15 kg

2. Decrease in the excretory function of the child's body.

This clever scientific expression is translated into normal human Russian simply - the child does not stain the diapers a lot. In other words, rate how often your child poops and pees. Quite a simple and inexpensive way.

Breast milk is 90 percent water, so there is a simple pattern - how more baby drank milk, the more urine he excretes. The child needs to be left without disposable diapers and count wet diapers. Urinate infant should be at least 10-12 times a day.

Stool frequency in children varies. A child up to 3 months old can have a chair after each feeding. It is very good. Or maybe even less than once a day. And this is also not a tragedy, but more often than not - a variant of the norm.

It is important to take into account the weight gain, the child's mood, and the consistency of the stool. For example, when a baby sucks only front milk rich in carbohydrates but poor in fat, the stool will be lean, greenish, and the weight curve will be flat.

If you have already counted 10 wet diapers for less than a day, then put all suspicions of a lack of milk out of your head.

What are some common situations that do not indicate a lack of breast milk?

The baby often requires a breast.

Sucking on the breast for a baby is not only a way to get food, but also a way of close contact with mom. The baby may crave for a breast to satisfy hunger or thirst, or maybe to calm down in an unfamiliar situation.

Sometimes, if the mother behaves incorrectly at the beginning of breastfeeding, the situation "Mom - nipple" develops. Then the child literally hangs on his chest for days, even if he does not want to eat at all.

If the child often requires breast, it is necessary to analyze the situation well in order to exclude underfeeding.

First, it is important to check if the baby is correctly latching on to the breast. Very often, the baby hangs on the breast for a long time and often requires it when he takes the nipple incorrectly. Then he gets little milk, and the baby tries to compensate for this by increasing the feeding time.

Also, very often this behavior is observed during periods of the so-called lactation crises. As a rule, crises in lactation can occur in the 3rd - 6th weeks of a baby's life, as well as at 3, 6.7, 9, 12 months.

During these periods, the intensity of milk production temporarily decreases. The reasons for this condition of the mother are in hormonal changes her body. Part of the reason may be the ever-increasing need for the baby's breast milk.

The period lasts lactation crisis on average 2-4 days, sometimes up to a week. But this state just needs to be experienced. The problem is solved by frequent attachments of the baby to the breast, an increase in the mother's drinking volume.

It is important during these periods to try not to acquaint the baby with a bottle or other "mum substitutes". After all, children quickly figure out where it is easier for them to suck. Of course, getting milk from a bottle is easier. The next day, the little sly guy will not want to suck, he will get angry, tear the nipple.

If mom, unknowingly or for some other reason, gives the bottle again at this moment, then it's gone. The baby will refuse breast milk or will suck only the most easily available front milk... And this is fraught with the cessation of lactation altogether for the mother.

Mom's breasts are no longer so heavy and dense by the time of feeding.

Only at the beginning of the formation of lactation does mommy's breast become rude, it becomes heavy, as if poured.

After 5-6 months of lactation, the breast no longer reacts so much to the flow of milk. This is fine. Soft breasts speaks not of a lack of milk, but only that lactation is established and proceeding normally.

Milk is not leaking as much.

Many mothers, referring to the fact that before feeding or during feeding from the free breast, milk was leaking intensively, suspect that there is a shortage of milk when there is little milk leaking. It is also an unreliable symptom of a lack of milk.

This speaks not at all about a decrease in the amount of milk, but about the degree of maturity of lactation. Over time, the muscular part of the breast ducts (the so-called sphincters) becomes, as it were, more trained.

By contracting, the circular muscles of the sphincters no longer allow milk to flow wasted in the same volume as before. The body adapts not to waste its resources. Therefore, after a certain time of adjusted feeding, these changes occur, which characterize "mature" lactation.

"I literally express drops after feeding."

I often hear this phrase from mothers who, before suspicion of a decrease in the amount of milk, as a rule, did not express their breasts. And then, after feeding, Mom nervously tries to drain the leftovers. Naturally, it gets negative result or very little milk.

Here the question is ambiguous, since many factors affect milk production and its exit from the ducts of the mammary gland.

For normal discharge need milk comfortable posture mothers, skin-to-skin, eye-to-eye contact with the baby. It is important that the breast is correctly compressed during expression, similar to the work of a baby's mouth.

The emotional state of the mother during feeding or pumping is also incredible important factor... After all, the release of milk from the ducts is provided by the action of an emotionally dependent hormone - oxytocin.

This is confirmed, for example, with cracks in the mother's nipple. WITH painful sensations when feeding, you cannot relax, which means that there is no release of oxytocin. In this regard, there is no rush of milk during feeding.

If this problem is not resolved in time, then lactation quickly collapses.

The baby is worried about the breast.

It happens that mommy notices anxiety, arching, twisting of the baby at the breast, as soon as he begins to suck. This situation often indicates not a lack, but a rapid flow of milk from the breast.

At the beginning of a feed, an oxytocin spike occurs and the milk comes out quickly and easily. Naturally, the child cannot cope with it, chokes, does not have time to catch his breath. The baby's first reaction is to dodge, as if to get away from the stream, to catch his breath.

Another situation in which the baby may be anxious at the breast is inappropriate grip on the nipple. The baby makes a lot of sucking movements and a minimum of swallowing. This ineffective work bothers him, and he begins to be capricious.

Make sure that the grip on the chest is correct. If you cannot cope with this task on your own, then a breastfeeding consultant can come to your aid. There are many of them now.

I will give a few signs correct position baby and seizure of the nipple during feeding (in more correct posture feeding - sitting):

during feeding, the head and body of the crumbs are on the same line (head, shoulder, hip joint);
the child's chin is pressed against the chest;
the baby opens his mouth wide;
the lips tightly clasp not only the nipple, but also part of the areola. Underlip while turned outward;
the tip of the tongue covers the gums, and a dimple (hollow) forms in the middle of it. The nipple is placed in this hollow so that the wave-like movements of the tongue can expel milk from the nipple;
nasal breathing is free;
feeding does not cause any pain in mommy.

The time intervals between feedings are not observed.

Still, no matter how much mommy tries to adhere to equal intervals between feedings, the child decides for himself when and how much to eat. We, adults, also note from time to time that an increase in appetite, then a decrease in it.

Children are the same individuals. Although normally, after a while, a certain feeding regime is still developed spontaneously or with some participation of the nursing mother.

In one feeding, a baby can eat less than the norm for different reasons. Possible reasons- uncomfortable, wet, choked, distracted. This means that next time the baby will ask for food much earlier than the mother expected.

It is often observed that the baby is applied to the breast more often at night than during the day. That is, having eaten a little during the day, the child eats up his norm during the night.

It is, of course, exhausting for a mom who doesn’t practice. joint sleep with the baby. But you should not be afraid of this. Night feeds have a beneficial effect on stimulating lactation.

And even at night, milk is especially rich in a hormone that normalizes human biorhythms, or a sleep hormone - melatonin. Thanks to this hormone, babies sleep more peacefully and longer after night feeds.

Is checkweighing informative?

Often doctors advise mothers to spend check weighing baby before and after feeding. So it is proposed to find out how much the baby ate from the breast. But this method is not very informative for many reasons.

First, there must be a high-precision medical scale that not everyone can afford to buy. After all, weighing a child once in a polyclinic does not make any sense. In addition, the child may not want to eat normally in unfamiliar conditions.

Adequate conclusions can only be drawn from the results of regular weighing over a period of some relatively long period... That is, you need to regularly weigh the baby after feeding for at least a few days.

Secondly, a child can eat 90 ml in one feeding, and 180 ml in another. That is, in subsequent meals, he picks up what he did not eat in the previous feeding.

The mother is undoubtedly worried and tense during such “control feedings”. It is not possible to achieve a normal, relaxed state. Thoughts like “how can I do everything right” or “how much will he eat from me” haunt me. This condition of the mother is also transmitted to the baby. The weighing results after such feedings are not very correct.

It should also be said that the child loses weight during physical activity... Sucking is the biggest physical activity for the baby. During physical activity, energy is spent, which is formed in the body as a result of the decomposition of organic substances. That is, with the control weighing, you, in fact, will not know how much the baby ate, but how much he ate minus the organic substances decomposed to obtain the required energy.

In the end, the baby may just poop or pee while feeding. As a result, you will get a false negative result.

Summary: control weighings provide an opportunity to realistically assess the situation. But they need to be carried out regularly over a rather long period of time. You need to do this at home. Weighing should be carried out on the same good, accurate medical scales. There is no way to do this - choose other methods of weight control.

Not enough milk: what to do?

If you still determine that you are low on breast milk, then following tips For you.

Drink

Increase drinking regimen- one of the main recommendations if you want to increase milk production. It is not so important what you drink. It can be tea, dried fruit compote, herbal infusions... The main thing is to keep the drink hot. It is desirable that this be a sweet drink.

It is believed that some herbal infusions increase milk production. Even special milk teas and teas are sold. But there is no evidence-based medicine about increasing milk production. herbal teas with fennel, anise, dill, caraway seeds, fenugreek and other herbs.

Milk production is affected by the hormone prolactin of the anterior pituitary gland (part of the brain). Another hormone, oxytocin, affects the exit of milk from the ducts. This hormone is produced in the hypothalamus (this is another part of the brain). It is clear that herbs cannot affect the work of these hormones.

But, probably, herbs can still have a certain effect not on the process of milk formation itself, but on milk flow. In particular, by influencing psychological condition mother. The fact that the psychological state of a nursing mother affects lactation was mentioned above. This issue will be discussed further in this article below.

In addition, herbs can, having a biologically active effect, influence the formation of milk indirectly, for example, by normalizing the digestion or blood circulation of the matter.

When consuming herbal infusions and teas, be aware of the possibility of allergies to their components. Essential oils that are in plants can cause a baby allergic reaction... Therefore, be careful with them.

It is worth saying that any hot drink simply makes it easier for milk to exit the ducts. Milk production is unchanged and remains under the influence of prolactin. This acceleration of milk output is perceived by mothers as an increase in its volume. Therefore, almost everything that mom drinks should be hot.

It is also very important for a nursing mother to realize that she is doing something to maintain lactation. Formation of a dominant breastfeeding in the brain - effective method significantly prolong lactation.

Nutrition

The nutrition of a nursing mother should be rational. There should be at least five meals. Hot meals are required at least three times a day.

In the menu of a nursing mother, you need to include a sufficient amount of protein products - meat, fish, legumes. Protein is construction material, which is so necessary for the rapidly growing body of the baby.

Also, the diet should be enriched with such carbohydrate foods as bread with bran, whole grain bread, cereals from unpolished cereals (buckwheat, millet, pearl barley, oatmeal), pasta from durum wheat.

This gives "long calories" to the nursing mother, plus it also provides the body with vitamins (especially of group B) and microelements. Please note: porridge should in no case be instant cooking!

That is, the use of these products improves the vitamin and microelement composition of milk. Improving the quality of milk can be seen as one of the indirect ways to deal with the problem of insufficient milk supply.

You need to be careful with vegetables and fruits, as bright red and orange foods can cause allergies in the baby. Some vegetables can contribute to the development of the baby. intestinal colic... But in general, vegetables and fruits in the mother's menu should be present and make up at least 45% of the entire diet.

Gradually, you will figure out which fruits and vegetables you and your baby are well tolerated in this moment time. It is worth giving preference to those cultures that have been growing from time immemorial in our latitudes.

All imported products atypical for us are potential allergens. I really do not want to face an allergy in crumbs during this difficult time.

Now I will mention about special mixtures for nursing mothers. They are also called protein-nutritional mixtures. These products are enriched with proteins, amino acids, vitamins and microelements. They practically do not affect the amount of milk, but qualitative composition can influence in the most positive way.

Nursing mothers who, for some reason, cannot provide for themselves good nutrition(with enough protein, vitamins and microelements), can take advantage of the offer of manufacturers of such nutritional mixtures... The composition of all such products for nursing mothers is approximately the same and is calculated taking into account daily requirement women in vitamins and minerals.

Stress and anti-stress in the life of a nursing mom

All recommendations for moms who want to increase milk production begin with a recommendation that you need to learn how to relax, not get hung up on the problem. Your worst enemy, aggravating milk shortage, is negative emotions like "again nothing concrete can not advise."

I myself am a mother infant... Moreover, a mother who works at home in parallel with the performance of the direct duties of the mother of the baby.

I understand that recommendations in the style of "often latch the baby to the breast" and "find a way to relax" are not very compatible with real life and with each other. Indeed, these recommendations are both correct and in many respects contradictory.

Another thing is that not everyone understands how to do this. I will try to explain and give examples of the types of relaxation available to mothers who think that there is no time to even wash and comb their hair another time.

Self-massage, hot bath, cold and hot shower, listening to calm music, yoga, meditation, aromatherapy ... These methods of relaxation can be embedded in any everyday day of a nursing mother. They don't take too long.

Many relaxation techniques can be combined. For example, a bath is combined with listening to music. In the shower, you can do self-massage of the feet or hands.

Of course, you cannot do without the help of loved ones in such a situation. An important task is to explain to your loved ones that the peace of mind of the mother and child, their health now depends on the attention, understanding, perseverance and resilience shown by all family members in this critical moment.

Non-drug stimulation of lactation

Attaching and pumping

One of the main recommendations for reducing the amount of milk is to increase the frequency of breastfeeding. Frequent latching promotes the flow of signals to the mother's brain that the baby's needs are growing - it's time to increase milk production. The principle of "demand - supply" works here.

The more the baby sucks, the more is sucked in place. milk will come next time. This is why pumping after breastfeeding stimulates lactation.

And in no case should you assume that by expressing you are taking an extra portion of milk from your baby. Once this remaining milk stagnates in the breast and is unclaimed, the brain will receive a signal that milk in such volumes is not needed - we will reduce production.

And production will be cut, rest assured! The body will never do unnecessary work.

Therefore, do not leave a drop of milk after feeding, express. Constantly tell your body - you need more milk, you need more. See, everything is used up, nothing is left.

This is especially important in the first month of feeding, during the formation of lactation. The child is still small, does not have time to eat everything. We need to help him.

In the first 3-4 weeks of lactation, there is a rapid increase in the amount of milk if all milk is used. And if milk remains in the breast, the build-up does not work.

After a month, lactation is established, the amount of milk does not increase as quickly. You can relax a little. But remember - once or twice the unused milk in the breast has burned out - and this amount of new milk will produce less. And it will hardly be possible to return it.

Those who are not too lazy to work in the first month will feed the baby for a long time and successfully. Then you can relax. After all breastfeeding- this is not only a benefit for the child. It is also a huge relief for mom, especially at night.

Expressed milk can be offered to a baby not from a bottle, but from a spoon, a syringe, since at such a critical moment all substitutes for a mother's nipple will play a cruel joke with you.

And now let's get back to the situation that there is still not enough milk.

Today, there is an excellent feeding system at the mother's breast, which provides breast stimulation by sucking the baby, even if there is little milk in it. Mothers very often face such a problem when it is impossible to force the baby's half-empty breast to suckle. The supplementary feeding device solves this problem.

The system is a reservoir with a lid from which two thin catheters come out. The tip of this catheter is inserted into the corner of the baby's mouth while sucking on the breast. With the sucking movements, the milk flows to the baby, and he does not even know about such a trick.

The Breast Feeding System (SNS Supplementary Feeding System) is shown in these photos.

Thus, two tasks were solved simultaneously: stimulation of the breast by sucking the baby, and the baby receives nutrition and is not capricious.

Of course, it is better to have expressed mother's milk in the tank than to replace it. All formula milk tastes sweeter. Children feel this and can refuse to breastfeed just because of this.

There are and are quite effective physiotherapeutic methods for stimulating lactation. UHF, ultrasound, vibration massage are very common, but only a doctor can prescribe them.

Negative point - mom needs to be absent for certain time to the clinic for these procedures. Doing them at home is prohibited. This circumstance makes the use of such procedures absolutely impossible for many mothers.

Medication stimulation of lactation

To stimulate lactation, homeopathic medicines such as Mlekoin, Lactogon are sometimes recommended, Milky way... It is worth saying that no studies have been conducted to prove their effectiveness. From my personal experience I got more work as a pediatrician positive feedback about these drugs than negative ones.

The choice is yours, but remember that self-medication is unacceptable. Any drug should be prescribed only by a doctor who has assessed your characteristics and propensity for allergies. For example, if you are allergic to any beekeeping products, it is contraindicated to use Mlekoin.

Using these drugs without a doctor's prescription, you act at your own peril and risk.

But before you start stimulating lactation, you need to know for sure whether your baby is really short of breast milk. I hope this article helped you decide on this issue. And let breastfeeding be a joy to you, and your baby to health!

A practicing pediatrician, twice mother, Elena Borisova, told you about the signs of a lack of breast milk and how to solve this problem.

No one can doubt the benefits anymore breast feeding. World organization health care encourages exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age and continued breastfeeding for 2 years or more. Nevertheless, many women still continue to doubt their own ability to breastfeed their baby. This is due to the old Soviet stereotypes about the feeding regime, the timing of the introduction of complementary foods and the amount of breast milk, necessary for babies one feeding every month of life.

Meanwhile, one should not forget that each child develops individually and his needs for food may not coincide with the recommended regime norms prescribed in "smart books".

This article is about how to understand your baby and be calm that the baby is eating breast milk.

How to determine the amount of milk required for a baby

When the baby is artificial, then he is offered a certain amount of the mixture at regular intervals. The recommended amount of formula is calculated according to the age and weight of the child. On average, up to 6 months, a newborn needs such a volume of nutrition, which is equal to 1/6 of its body weight. This rule applies to both formula and breastfeeding. But one child simply will not eat so much, and the other will not drink even half of his portion. So on breastfeeding.

It turns out that there are norms, but not all children fulfill them. It is almost impossible to accurately determine the amount of breast milk that a newborn will need per feeding. It is only known that different children drink from 700 to 1200 ml per day. Moreover, the daily volume of milk both at the 2nd and at the 5th month may not differ much, but the baby's weight will still increase. This is because the composition breast milk changes every day to meet the individual needs of the growing baby.

Weighing your baby before and after feeding is an objective way to monitor effective breastfeeding

How to determine the amount of milk drunk by a baby

If a nursing mother is haunted by the question of how much milk her baby is getting, she can carry out a control weighing. To do this, just before feeding, the baby is weighed on a special electronic baby scale. It is then fed and re-weighed. The difference in weight will reflect the amount of food eaten.

Important! The newborn must be dressed in the same clothes before and after feeding, otherwise the result will be unreliable.

In one feeding, the baby can suck out 50 ml of milk, in the other - 150 ml. This is quite normal, but only if the baby is fed on demand at intervals of 2 to 3 hours and is not supplemented with any other liquid.

Summing up the numbers of all feedings per day, we get daily amount milk drunk by a child, which is equal to 700 - 1200 ml.

How to know if your baby is getting enough milk

In order to determine whether the baby has enough breast milk, it is necessary to completely abandon disposable diapers for one day. This is done so that the mother can control the amount of urination of the baby. Children who are exclusively breastfed and not supplemented with any other liquid, from 2 weeks to 6 months of age, should urinate at least 12 times a day. This is the most main indicator the fact that the baby has enough milk.

But there are also other criteria by which you can find out that the baby is receiving breast milk in sufficient quantities:

The periods of sleep, wakefulness, and play far exceed the periods of crying.
The baby's skin is pink and firm.
The skin near the fontanel does not drain.
The baby's eyes are shiny, tears come out during crying.
Weight gain of at least 125 - 150 g per week.
At least 12 urinations per day.

If all these indicators are positive, then the baby is certainly eating up mother's milk.

The main criterion for sufficient feeding of the baby is a normal monthly weight gain.

Signs of not having enough breast milk

When a baby does not have enough breast milk, he does not gain weight and behaves restlessly. In addition, the mother may notice that the baby comes off the breast with a cry during feeding, and then picks it up again. The situation can be repeated several times. This behavior of the child can be triggered by colic or poor milk flow, and not a lack of it, so it is necessary to find true reason anxiety toddler.

Sufficiency or lack of milk will be indicated by the number of urinations performed by babies. This is perhaps the most important criterion to pay attention to. But stool frequency has nothing to do with the amount of milk.

If the child has frequent crying without tears and a sunken fontanelle, then an urgent need to consult a doctor, as this may be one of the signs of dehydration.

In conclusion, I want to reassure young mothers. Women who really cannot provide their baby with breast milk are only 2%. It is clear that a mother who loves her baby will be constantly concerned about his nutrition and health. Fearing that the baby is malnourished, doubting the amount of breast milk is a problem for all nursing mothers without exception. To overcome these problems, you need to be confident in your abilities, take care of your health and nutrition, good rest sharing a dream with a child. And our advice will help you to correctly understand and solve any problem.

New mothers very often ask themselves the question of how to understand if the baby has enough breast milk? There are many reasons for this, because it is on healthy feeding that further mental and physical development crumbs. There are basic principles, observing which, every mother will be sure that the baby is always full and full of energy.

How much should a baby eat

In the first time after birth, the baby sleeps a lot. He eats very little at this time, going through the adaptation process. The volume of his ventricle is only 7 ml... It is on this stage It is very important to feed your baby colostrum as it is incredibly nutritious. Of course, over time, the baby's ventricle expands, allowing him to eat more.

How you know if your baby has enough breast milk depends on many factors. This must always be remembered. It is very important to organize correctly from the first days of a baby's life. Gradually, the baby will be able to control the amount of food that he needs for development.

Majority experienced professionals are confident that the baby cannot help but eat or overeat while being breastfed. Moreover, later certain period after childbirth, the mammary glands in the mother's breast produce exactly as much milk as the baby needs for good nutrition, this is how nature works.

However, there are some reasons why a baby may be malnourished. Most often this is due to the fact that a nursing mother, for some reason, has little breast milk, due to physiological or physical features organism.

If the stool of an exclusively breastfed baby has light mustard color, this indicates the sufficiency of feeding. The stool should be fairly bulky and frequent.... By the end of the first week of life, the baby should poop about 3 times a day.

The baby who poops exclusively brown stool is most likely malnourished. This indicates that the nursing mother does not have enough breast milk.

2 Feeding colostrum does not promote the accumulation of large amounts of fluid in the baby's body. For this reason, babies rarely piss. It will be enough to change the diaper 2 times a day. you can find out from the article at the link.

When a child begins to eat well, the situation changes dramatically. Much more fluid enters the body of the crumbs, which provokes frequent urination. During one day, he can urinate up to 12 times.... Now you need to change the diaper 6 times a day.

You can pay attention to the above nuances only when the baby is exclusively breastfed. This method determining how to understand that there is not enough breast milk does not work when supplementing with formula.

What to do if the baby is not eating enough

Quite a common problem, when the baby has little breast milk, what to do in this case? First, you need to figure out whether this is really the case. Typically, the following factors indicate malnutrition:

the baby looks lethargic;
rarely asks for food;
poorly gaining weight (what determines the weight gain, see);
have problems with stool and urination.

Treat feeding your baby not as an ordeal, but as something natural for the mother and baby

All of the above factors indicate that the child is malnourished. However, it should be remembered that absolutely no supplementation will be healthier than breastfeeding.

In this regard, doctors recommend not to switch to artificial feeding, but continue to breastfeed and increase the frequency of breastfeeding. What if there is not enough breast milk? First of all, the following rules must be observed:

It is necessary to reduce the intervals to a minimum between feedings. Try to keep the baby longer at the breast.
Offer both breasts at each feed... Let the baby apply first to one, and then to the second breast. At this point, it is important to monitor the swallowing reflex, if it is not there, then it is time to give another breast for feeding. This will allow the baby to eat well.
Stop feeding only when your baby wants it. Be patient, lie down comfortably. After the child is completely full, he will soon stop eating himself and fall asleep. Never interrupt breastfeeding yourself.
Apply correctly. Make sure that your baby does not experience discomfort during feeding. The baby's lips must be covered with a halo.... Otherwise, the baby will suck at the breast inadequately and experience significant discomfort.
If sluggish sucking is observed, try changing breasts more often. During one feeding, this should be done several times if the baby does not have a swallowing reflex.
Discard pacifiers. It is extremely important to do this in order to restore nutritious nutrition. The point is that nipples reduce the intensity and productivity of suckling, which contributes to malnutrition. If you notice that your baby is underweight while breastfeeding, limit his access to pacifiers and nipples. our separate article tells.
Take care of yourself. One of the main factors. Protect yourself from stressful situations ... After all, everyone knows that nervous disorders, stress and anxiety significantly reduce the level of lactation. You can find out more about it in our other article. Observe healthy diet, use more and protect yourself from bad habits.

Do not in any way give up breastfeeding... Try to follow the above recommendations, and feed the baby with formula after each breastfeeding.

How to feed a baby if there is not enough milk? This is not difficult. To determine how much of the mixture to feed the baby, it must be weighed before and after attachment to the breast. This way you will find out how much he ate. The missing volume must be reimbursed.