Is the baby getting enough breast milk? How can you understand that a small child does not have enough breast milk? Baby doesn't get enough milk

23.02.2022

In modern society, there is an “ideal picture” of a nursing mother. The main attribute in it is a tight, milk-filled breast, from which at any time of the day you can express the required amount of nutrient fluid. At the same time, the child, full and contented, snores in his crib and wakes up only occasionally, only to eat milk and fall asleep again.

It is because of such false stereotypes that a young mother begins to doubt whether she is capable of breastfeeding if her breasts are not particularly poured, and the baby still continues to be naughty after applying. In this article, we will dispel all myths and tell you how to understand that a child does not have enough milk and what to do about it. Useful advice from breastfeeding experts will help prevent the erroneous transition to artificial mixtures and preserve what is given to mom by nature.

How many times a day does a baby eat?

With the advent of the baby into the world, every mother, without exception, begins to wonder how often the child needs to be fed so that he fully develops and grows up healthy. To begin with, it should be noted that the first day after birth, the baby needs very little food to get enough. At this time, the mother produces colostrum. It is not much, but at the same time it is much more satisfying than mature milk. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to supplement your baby with formula at this time.

Approximately on the third day, milk begins to arrive and its amount increases every day. The baby begins to eat more and more often. This is where most mothers begin to think about how to understand whether the baby has enough breast milk. Pediatricians advise applying a newborn baby every 2-3 hours. Thus, he can eat up to 12 times a day. The duration of one feeding is 15-40 minutes. But all these frameworks are conditional, since each child is an individual with his own character and needs.

How to establish a baby feeding system?

The beliefs of our mothers and grandmothers that a baby should be breastfed every 3 hours and not a minute earlier are outdated. Today, lactation consultants and modern pediatricians recommend adhering to on-demand feeding. Its essence lies in the fact that any mother is able to provide her child with milk. And this does not depend on the size of the breast or the age of the woman.

The volume of milk produced by the mammary glands depends on two main factors:

application frequency. According to lactation consultants, the amount of milk required for feedings is determined at the stage of lactation. And the child claims it directly. The more often the baby will be applied to the breast, the more milk will arrive at the next feeding. If you stick to the regimen and offer the baby a breast only every 3 hours, then initially there will be less milk than the baby needs. With this mode, lactation usually ends after 2-4 months.
duration of feeding. At first glance, it may seem that the baby is just sleeping and using the breast as a pacifier. In fact, prolonged sucking stimulates lactation. Therefore, applying both 50 minutes and 2 hours are the norm for breastfeeding.

Moms who adhere to the “on demand” methodology do not suffer from how to understand whether the baby is getting enough milk. It will always be present in the chest in the volume that is necessary for him and which he approved on his own.

How do you know if your baby is getting enough breast milk?

Breastfeeding consultants advise mothers not to try to determine the amount of nutrient fluid they have in their breasts, but to monitor the condition and development of their baby. And you can understand whether a newborn baby has enough milk by the following signs:

application frequency;
duration of feeding;
normal weight gain;
healthy appearance and sleep;
swallowing reflex.

A newborn baby can ask to breast up to 25 times a day. This regimen can last up to three months of age. But the baby should not just lie at the breast and suck it, but take sips. At the beginning of feeding, they will be more frequent, since the first milk is received by the baby. Then the throats become less frequent, but the baby begins to suck with diligence, as it produces thicker and more nutritious back milk.

Not every mother has a scale on hand to determine how much weight a baby is gaining while breastfeeding. Of course, this can be done in a children's clinic, but once again there is no need to visit the hospital with a newborn baby in your arms. To understand that the baby does not have enough milk, both in the first days of his life, and in 1 month, the wet diaper test will help. What is it?

The essence of the test is that for 24 hours, the mother needs to completely abandon disposable diapers, and use only ordinary cotton diapers. At the end of the day, you need to count how many times the child peed. He must do this at least 12 times within 24 hours. This result indicates that the baby has enough mother's milk.

If the number of wet diapers is less than 10, a woman is advised to contact consultants who will help increase the amount of breast milk needed by the baby.

Counting the number of soiled diapers

The following method will make it possible to understand that the child does not have enough milk at 1 month. As a method for determining sufficient nutrition at an older age, it is not suitable.

The method is based on the fact that a breastfed newborn should defecate at least 2-3 times a day. At 5-6 weeks of a child's life, his stool becomes less frequent. At this time, the baby can defecate both 1 time per day and 1 time in 5 days, which is the norm for breastfeeding.

False signs of insufficient lactation

When breastfeeding, there are situations when a young nursing mother begins to think that the baby does not have enough milk. How to understand whether lactation is really insufficient, she still does not know. In addition, the following false signs can set a woman on:

No feeling of fullness in the chest. By about the 6th week of a baby's life, the mother stops feeling hot flashes. She may feel like her chest is empty. In fact, by this time, “on demand” breastfeeding is just being established, when milk arrives exactly as much as the child needs to eat.
Reducing the number of soiled diapers. If a newborn baby defecates up to 6 times a day, then as they grow older, the number of bowel movements decreases. This is due to the physiological processes in the body and if the child feels normal, there should be no cause for concern.
Increasing the baby's appetite. Suddenly, the baby begins to demand the breast more often and does not let go for longer. This behavior is explained by growth spurts. If the principles of the “on demand” feeding methodology are followed, the volume of milk produced will increase within a few days and cover the needs of a growing organism.

Control weighing

Many mothers are wondering how to tell if a baby is not getting enough milk at 5 months when wet diaper tests and soiled diaper counts are no longer informative. At this age, the pediatrician may recommend control weighing. It is carried out, as a rule, in a children's clinic, but if desired, it can be done at home.

The essence of the method is that the baby is weighed before feeding and immediately after it to determine the amount of milk eaten. If, for some reason, the child eats less than it should be, then the pediatrician will definitely make a disappointing conclusion and recommend feeding the baby with a mixture.

In fact, control weighing during breastfeeding is useless. With each application, the baby can suck out a different amount of milk, but in the end, in a day it turns out that he ate more than it should be according to the norms.

Modern norms of weight gain

It is not currently an objective way to determine that a child does not have enough milk while breastfeeding. To understand how to feed the baby further, the norms of weight gain and growth will help.

According to the World Health Organization, a breastfed baby can gain 125-500 g per week or 0.5-2 kg per month. However, it is not recommended to weigh it more often than once every 7 days. Weight gain in young children occurs in jumps. Today, the baby may not gain anything, and tomorrow he will recover by a third of the established norm. It is recommended to weigh the child at the same time, for example, in the morning, and preferably in approximately the same clothes.

Is it possible to count the amount of milk in the breast?

Almost every mother is discharged from the hospital home with tight breasts. During this period, lactation is so strong that she does not even have to think about whether the baby has enough breast milk. How to understand how much nutrient fluid arrives before each feeding?

The older generation of women in the family may be advised to express milk into a bottle in order to calculate its volume and check with the norms, which, by the way, are developed for artificially fed children. In fact, there is absolutely no need to do this. Breastfed milk is produced according to the needs of the baby. Its volume at different hours of the day may be different. The main thing is not the amount of nutrition produced by the mammary gland, but its quality and good weight gain.

How to understand that the child does not have enough breast milk?

The first thing that should worry a mother if she suspects insufficient lactation is the baby's anxiety and weak weight gain. But there are other clear signs of how to understand that the child does not have enough milk at 3 months, as well as at an earlier and later age. They are as follows:

severe underweight - less than 500 g per month for newborns and 300 g for three-month-old babies and older;
nervousness of the child after breastfeeding - the baby does not have enough milk and he starts to cry;
wet diaper test - informative only in relation to children who are not yet 5 weeks old;
deterioration in the baby's well-being, lethargy, pale skin color - indicate dehydration.

If one of the above symptoms is detected, the mother should immediately contact a lactation consultant and try to increase lactation. It is worth warning that the last sign is especially dangerous, as it may indicate more serious health problems for the crumbs.

Actions for low lactation in a woman

If a mother finds that her baby is not getting enough breast milk (how to understand that this is really the case, it was described above), lactation consultants may recommend the following to her:

feed more often - reduce the intervals between feedings to a minimum so that the baby is almost always at the breast;
offer both breasts at one feeding;
do not stop feeding until the baby stops sucking;
make sure that the attachments to the chest are correct - the child should wrap his lips around the areola, and not just the nipple;
full rest in every free minute;
balanced and high-calorie diet rich in protein;
sufficient fluid intake;
a complete rejection of pacifiers and bottles - they are contraindicated in children with insufficient weight gain.

What is useful for a nursing mother to know?

Even adhering to the “on demand” feeding methodology, a woman may face a lack of milk. With breastfeeding, such periods do occur systematically. These are lactation crises. They arise as a result of sharp jumps in the growth of the baby. In a lactation crisis, it is possible to understand that the child does not have enough milk, as in the cases described above, by the restless behavior of the crumbs and insufficient weight gain. Their duration is approximately one week. During this time, mother's breasts have time to rebuild and all signs of a crisis disappear.

How to keep breastfeeding?

The main obstacle to normal lactation is the expectant mother's constant fears and doubts about the quantity and quality of breast milk. You should not offer the crumbs a bottle of formula every time he is naughty after feeding, if he is gaining weight normally. You need to understand when there is a real problem and how to deal with the situation in time.

And finally, it should be recalled that no artificial mixture will be more nutritious and valuable for the baby than breast milk.

Any mother often worries about whether her child will have enough breast milk, while the question of its overabundance almost never arises. The whole problem is to accurately determine that the child does not have enough breast milk and what should be done in this case.

Lack of milk for a child who is breastfed is unpleasant in that the child will begin to lose weight as a result of a lack of nutrients. You can determine the lack of breast milk by the following signs:

no weight gain with monthly weighing;
the child shows anxiety, constantly comes off the breast, after which he grabs the nipple greedily again;
the baby makes a lot of sucking movements with a minimum of swallowing. The normal ratio is considered to be one swallowing movement for four sucking;
the baby cannot withstand the due time intervals between feedings, which are from two to three hours.
the child has a sharp decrease in the total amount of urine excreted and in general he begins to urinate rarely. During the first month of his life, the child, as a rule, urinates every hour, by the time he is one year old - once every two hours.

If a nursing mother has doubts about the lack of breast milk for a child, it is necessary to make control feeding and weighing. For this purpose, special scales are used, which show the weight with an accuracy of one gram. They weigh the baby immediately before feeding and immediately after it, in order to accurately determine the volume of milk that he sucked. A similar procedure should be carried out several times during the day, in order to accurately determine the total and average volume of milk that was sucked out. It should always be remembered that the normal rate of milk that was sucked out during the day is one-fifth of the child's body weight.

How to understand that there is not enough breast milk

Many breastfeeding mothers worry about whether their child is full. It is one thing if feeding is done from a bottle, when you can immediately determine how much has been consumed, and quite another is breastfeeding, in which it is rather difficult to determine by eye the amount of milk eaten by a child. In order to know for sure whether the child is full or not, one should focus on some objective indicators.

you can count the number of diapers that the child managed to wet. For a baby who is getting enough nutrients, it is normal to urinate six or eight times a day. To get a real picture, it makes sense to abandon disposable diapers in favor of gauze or fabric for one or two days.
it is worth carefully examining the child's stool. If it is yellow in color and has a granular texture, possibly with some undigested lumps, then this indicates that the stool is normal. A baby who receives a sufficient amount of high-calorie milk, has a stool once or twice during the day, since mother's milk has a significant laxative effect.
green stools in a child may indicate lactase deficiency. This means that as a result of feeding, he sucks out the foremilk, so called because it contains a lot of sugar, but does not get to the so-called hindmilk, which has the greatest nutritional value. Perhaps the whole question lies precisely in the fact that for his full development, just such a diet is not enough for him.
the breast should be carefully evaluated before and immediately after feeding. If after feeding the breast softens and falls off, despite the fact that before feeding it was full and tight, therefore, the child has eaten. If the breast leaks between feedings, this is evidence that good milk production is taking place.
It makes sense to follow how the baby breathes during feeding. If he releases his chest on his own, after which he falls asleep, or does not sleep, but he looks cheerful and his cheeks are rounded - therefore, he is full. In the event that after the child has eaten, he burps curdled mass or whey, this is evidence that there is no problem of lack of milk at all - on the contrary, the child is overfed. However, if spitting up milk occurs, you should contact your pediatrician, as there may be other problems.
you should pay attention to how the child gains weight. With a normal diet in the first two months of life, children gain from one hundred to two hundred grams of weight per week, up to six months, 500-1100 grams per month, from six months to a year, 550-650 grams per month. These are average parameters, since weight gain depends on a number of different factors, such as the weight of the child at birth, his height, physique.
to determine whether the baby has enough breast milk or not, the following test can help: you need to squeeze the area of \u200b\u200bthe baby's skin over the bones and muscles with two fingers. If he gets enough milk, his skin is firm to the touch with a good layer of fat. The skin, loose from the bones, muscles and at the same time wrinkled to the touch, indicates a lack of milk for the baby. It is necessary to contact the pediatrician and establish breastfeeding. Your pediatrician may prescribe supplemental formula if needed. In any case, you should consult with a pediatrician, since the issue of feeding is very important and it is advisable not to make mistakes in it.

The process of breastfeeding is natural, it is regulated by the child and the body of his mother. Sometimes the process is disrupted and the total amount of milk decreases, the baby begins to act up from malnutrition. The reason for this state of affairs may be a lactation crisis, which is a natural process that should not be experienced.

Various literary sources interpret such a concept as a lactation crisis in different ways. This is the name of a temporary decrease in the amount of milk produced by the body of a nursing mother or a sudden lack of milk caused by an increased appetite of the baby.

Experts have not come to a consensus regarding the causes of this phenomenon. Some believe that the amount of breast milk is directly dependent on the waxing and waning of the phases of the moon. Others are of the opinion that the amount of milk is not decreasing, but the whole point is that the amount that until recently was sufficient to satisfy the baby's appetite is not such today, since there is a growth spurt.

Lactation crises occur, as a rule, between the third and sixth weeks of a child's life and at three, seven, eleven months and a year. Usually the crisis lasts three or four days, but never longer than one week.

All this time it seems to the mother that her child is hungry. At the same time, milk from both breasts is drunk by him, he is capricious, more and more often applied to his chest, nervous.

All this does not mean at all that during the indicated periods a woman will not have enough milk. Many women are not even aware of the existence of such days and feed their children, as if nothing had happened for a year, two or more.

Not enough breast milk, what to do?

If the fact of a lack of breast milk for feeding is confirmed, a woman can seek advice from a specialist, if such an opportunity exists. In the event that such an opportunity is not available, you have to deal with this problem yourself.

Today, more and more experts are inclined to believe that a newborn baby should be fed at his request, and not by the clock. The child is better oriented when he should eat. However, if the baby is not suckling well and is gaining weight, you should feed him every two hours. At night, in order to feed, the child should be awakened every three or four hours.

For the entire time that the process of breastfeeding is being established, it is extremely important to eliminate all pacifiers, nipples, and you should also not give the baby water to drink in order to make up for the lack of milk. When supplementing a child with formula, this should be done with a spoon or syringe, but a bottle cannot be used for this purpose.

If a lack of breast milk is established for a child, a woman should adhere to a proper diet and regimen. Three times during the day you should take hot food. The diet of a nursing mother should include all kinds of cereals, pasta made from durum wheat, meat, fish, eggs, poultry, baked, boiled and stewed vegetables. When a month has passed after childbirth, it is necessary to add raw fruits and vegetables, fermented milk products to the diet.

Mothers are encouraged to drink a lot during breastfeeding. Tea is well suited, preferably with milk, a variety of compotes, jelly, rosehip infusions. A woman should always keep a cup of drink next to her.

Not enough breast milk, how to supplement?

Sometimes it happens that the mother is forced to supplement the baby with a lack of breast milk or for other reasons. This may be some special condition of the baby's digestive system, which can only be facilitated by supplementary feeding with a special mixture. Whatever the reason, the selection of a mixture for feeding a baby should be done very scrupulously.

Before deciding on the use of supplementary feeding for a baby, you should definitely make sure that he really does not have enough mother's milk. This can be indicated by factors such as insufficient weight gain, infrequent urination (no more than 6 times a day), too strong a smell of urine emitted and its dark color. In its normal state, the urine of an infant is light and devoid of any odor.

The amount of breast milk absorbed by the baby during feeding should be measured. This can be done by weighing the baby in the same diaper or diaper before and immediately after feeding. If during this period the child wets the diaper or diaper, they should not be changed to dry ones.

Supplementary feeding of a child with milk-based mixtures should be carried out if the obtained measurement results indicate that the child does not receive the required amount of mother's milk when feeding naturally. For information on the average amount of milk consumed during the feeding of an infant of a certain age, you can consult a pediatrician or the appropriate tables.

The baby should be supplemented only after breastfeeding and only with the help of a spoon. Otherwise, in the event that the child is not particularly hungry, having received formula for feeding, the baby may not want to take mother's milk again, and in the case of bottle feeding, he will prefer to suck on her nipple, which is easier to do than to suck milk from mother's breast.

A milk-based mixture should be introduced into the child's diet gradually, starting at a dosage of 10 ml per breastfeed, while doubling the amount of complementary foods every day until it is brought to the pre-calculated volume. If it is necessary to supplement several times during the day, no more than one additional supplement is allowed each day.

Supplementary formula should be prepared using the appropriate recommendations that are given for its preparation. These recommendations are indicated by the manufacturer on the can of milk formula or on the box.

An infant receives with mother's milk all the substances it needs for growth and development. Therefore, the worries of a young mother about whether the baby has enough breast milk are quite understandable. In many cases, such worries turn out to be in vain. But what to do if the baby does not have enough breast milk, how to solve such a problem? Consider how to find out if the baby is full of mother's milk, what are the ways to increase lactation.

How to know if your baby is getting enough breast milk

Breastfeeding experts note the main signs, the presence of which indicates that a newborn baby is full of mother's milk.

The child should not just be attached to the breast, but suck it with the result, while making characteristic movements. Pediatricians describe this sucking movement with the phrase: "baby's mouth wide open - pause - mouth closed." In this case, a pause (the baby's chin hangs) means that the baby is taking a sip of milk. The longer such a pause, the more milk the baby received with this sip.

The next sign by which you can determine whether the baby is getting enough breast milk is the nature of his stool. In the first days after birth, the feces of a newborn have a dark green color. An indicator that the baby is getting enough milk is a change in the color of his feces 3-4 days after birth, they become much lighter. But if a baby of the first month of life did not have a single act of defecation during the day, this may indicate that he is not full.

Your baby is more likely to get enough breast milk if he or she urinates at least six times a day. In this case, urine should be almost colorless with a slight milky odor.

In addition to the above criteria, there are signs that may indicate that the baby is not full of breast milk:

By the time the chest is empty, he shows anxiety, anxiety. If the baby is full, most likely, he will fall asleep by the end of feeding;
He does not withstand the intervals between feeding, waking up earlier than 1.5-2 hours after the previous one;
The newborn sucks sluggishly at the breast, while not releasing it for a long time.

Of course, all the above signs may indicate not only a lack of milk, but also some other problems. Infants are often disturbed by intestinal colic, often the cause of their anxiety is associated with the unstable emotional state of the mother.

In order to determine whether a newborn has enough milk, some lactating women use the control weighing method. The child is weighed before and after feeding, and the difference in weight determines how much milk he sucked. This action must be carried out several times a day, since the amount of milk eaten is always different. More accurate values are obtained if the baby is weighed after each feeding. The daily norm of milk for children of the first four months of life is equal to 1/5 of their weight. However, you need to understand that each baby develops differently, and minor deviations from the norm are not a pathology. The main thing is that he feels good and gains weight steadily.

Baby not getting enough breast milk

So, the mother determined, and the pediatrician confirmed that the child does not gorge on breast milk. What to do in this case? If a woman has the opportunity, she can seek advice from a breastfeeding specialist. But if this is not possible, you can try to cope with such a problem on your own.

Nowadays, more and more pediatricians and breastfeeding specialists recommend that mothers feed a newborn not by the clock, but on demand. The child knows better when he needs to eat. But if the baby is not gaining weight well, sucking for a short time, you need to apply it to the breast every two hours. At night, you should wake up the crumbs every 3-4 hours for feeding.

For the period of establishing breastfeeding, it is necessary to abandon pacifiers, nipples, and do not give the baby water to drink. If the baby is supplemented with a mixture, you need to do this with a syringe or a spoon, but in no case from a bottle.

In the case when the child does not have enough breast milk, a woman must adhere to the correct regimen and diet. A day you need to have three meals of hot food. The menu of a nursing mother should be cereals, durum wheat pasta, fish, meat, poultry, eggs, stewed, boiled and baked vegetables. A month after childbirth, dairy products, raw fruits and vegetables should be gradually introduced.

It is good if the mother will also drink while feeding the baby. It can be tea (preferably with milk), jelly, compote, rosehip infusion. A cup of drink should always be near a woman.

Means for increasing lactation

In some cases, if the baby does not have enough breast milk, the doctor may prescribe lactogenic industrial products, herbal teas, vitamins and dietary supplements to the nursing woman.

Industrial products to increase lactation are of two types. Some of them are designed to correct the diet for the main nutrients. These drugs include "Femilak", it is enriched with a particularly useful substance taurine. You can also use "Dumil Mama Plus", "Enfa-Mama", "Olympic".

Another type of industrial product that increases the amount of breast milk are those that contain special lactogenic supplements. From this group, products such as "Milky Way", galega herb extract can be distinguished.

Quite often, in a situation where the child does not have enough breast milk, special vitamin complexes are prescribed to the mother. Most often, the doctor prescribes drugs: Centrum, Gendevit, Materna.

For some breastfeeding women, dietary supplements help to improve lactation. But before you start using such drugs, you should definitely consult a doctor.

Many women successfully use different juices, herbal teas and traditional medicine to increase the amount of milk.

So, if the baby does not have enough breast milk, carrot juice can come to the rescue. To prepare it, washed carrots are rubbed on a fine grater and the juice is squeezed out. Drink 100 ml 2-3 times a day. It is good to add cream, milk, honey to such juice.

Cumin drink has a lactogenic property. For its preparation, take cumin seeds (15 g), sugar (100 g), lemon (one medium size). All components are poured with water (1 l) and boiled over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Then filter and take 100 ml 2-3 times a day.

You can make a drink from oregano, fennel and anise. To do this, mix oregano grass (10 g), fennel fruits (10 g), anise fruits (10 g). Pour a teaspoon of the mixture with 200 ml of boiling water, insist for two hours, filter. Use 100 ml 2-3 times a day.

In pharmacies, you can buy special lactogenic teas and fortified juices. Before doing this, it is advisable to consult a doctor.

Text: Galina Goncharuk

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Is the baby getting enough breast milk? This question often arises among young mothers. Mostly such anxiety is unreasonable, but it really happens that the baby does not eat up. How to dispel doubts? Very simple. It is necessary to carefully observe the baby on breastfeeding. By highlighting a number of signs, it will be possible to determine with certainty that there is really little milk.

Certain signs will help a mother understand that her baby is not getting enough breast milk. The surest sign of a lack of milk during breastfeeding is the child's anxiety and lack of weight.

If the baby is nervous during breastfeeding, naughty immediately after feeding, you need to suspect that maybe the baby does not have enough breast milk.

Signs of a lack of breast milk:

Chronic underweight. It is possible to determine the exact weight gain at the control weighing.
Nervousness of the baby at the breast and after feeding.
Wet diaper test. You can understand that a child who is breastfed is malnourished by counting the number of urination. It is worth consulting with the attending doctor, who will determine their compliance with the age of the crumbs.
Paleness of the skin, lethargy. All of these are signs of dehydration. When it comes to breastfeeding, it may indicate that the mother is not getting enough milk. However, having noticed these signs, it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor, because dehydration is a rather dangerous condition, and it may well be a symptom of other health problems.

false symptoms

If natural feeding is carried out in the "on demand" mode, then some signs may be misinterpreted by the young mother.

It does not mean at all that there is no milk in the breast if:

Milk flow stopped during or between feedings.
The feeling of fullness in the chest disappeared.
Mom stopped feeling hot flashes.
Unable to express milk between feedings.

If, with all these signs, the baby behaves calmly at the breast, continues to suck, gains weight normally, does not act up - this is not a reason to be upset, on the contrary, everything is just fine. All these symptoms indicate mature lactation. Milk is produced in the required amount during sucking.

The child is naughty at the breast and after feeding. The reason for this is often colic, constipation, air that has entered the stomach during feeding.
Do not draw premature conclusions. You need to hold the baby in an upright position, let it burp and offer the breast a little later.
These signs will not help the mother to determine with absolute certainty that the child does not have enough breast milk.
How to be
When a young mother suspects a milk shortage problem on her own, she may have a question about supplementing her baby with formula.
Most often, you should not rush to run to the pharmacy. Of course, we are not talking about cases where the child is weakened or chronically underweight. For such children, the doctor is obliged to select the appropriate diet and strictly control weight gain and the condition of the baby as a whole.
You can eliminate the problem of milk shortage and reach the required volume by following a number of recommendations:
Do not give a pacifier to a breastfed baby. Until lactation is established, it is better not to give a dummy to the baby. There is no special need for it in “feeding on demand”. On the contrary, the constant sucking of a pacifier by a newborn can affect the reduction in the amount of breast milk in the mother.
If the mother has little milk, it is worth increasing the number of attachments of the baby to the breast. Breastfeeding "on demand" is usually the best prevention of milk shortage and a sure way to correct the problem.
Skin-to-skin contact. The feeling of maternal warmth has a beneficial effect on the nervous system of the baby. In addition, this principle of feeding contributes to the production of oxytocin (the “breastfeeding” hormone) in the mother.
Do not supplement the baby with a mixture, and even more so with cow (goat) milk, unless the doctor has prescribed it.
Do not skip night and early morning feedings. It is this time of day that is the peak of oxytocin production and “lays down the program” of lactation for the next day.

What Mom Needs to Know
During breastfeeding, so-called lactation crises occur from time to time. This is due to the fact that the needs of the baby increase due to growth spurts. At the same time, mother's breasts do not always have time to respond in a timely manner and adjust to new volumes. Usually lactation crises last a maximum of a week, after which everything is restored by itself and, accordingly, the signs of a lack of milk disappear.
The production of oxytocin is facilitated by the frequent application of the child to the breast. The key to successfully overcoming the lactation crisis is the observance of the above recommendations.
Successful breastfeeding requires, above all, the desire of mother and child, as well as perseverance and firm confidence. Then everything should work out!

How not to make a mistake
Doubts and fears of a young mother can be understood, especially if grandmothers constantly affirmatively notice that she has little milk, it is not nutritious enough, and the like. However, this is not the basis for the transition to mixed and even more so artificial feeding. There is nothing more useful for a child than mother's milk. With some effort, it is quite possible to restore and normalize lactation. If in doubt, it is worth getting the advice of a competent specialist. An experienced pediatrician can easily help a young mother find out if her baby has enough milk. It is very good if mom and doctor are for one thing - for natural feeding.