Not enough milk feeding what to do. What to do if the baby does not get enough breast milk. Drugs that increase lactation

24.08.2022

The problem with the lack of breast milk is familiar to many mothers during breastfeeding. Someone has little breast milk from the very beginning of feeding the baby. For some, its amount decreases periodically during periods of lactation crises. And for some, it almost disappears at some point due to stress or violation of the regime. It happens that the problem is generally far-fetched, and it just seems to the mother that she does not have enough milk. In each of these cases, you need to act differently.

Not enough milk? Need to check

The main reason for the transition of children to artificial feeding is hypogalactia or, in common terms, a lack of breast milk. But according to research by doctors, in fact, only 3-4% of women have little milk. And even they can most often provide their baby with at least mixed feeding.

Usually there are two situations:

it just seems to mom that there is not enough milk;
the amount of milk actually decreased due to improperly organized breastfeeding, too much work on the nursing mother or stress.

So the first thing to do is to determine if there is really not enough milk. There are several simple methods for this.

If a small child under 6 months gains less than 125 g per week, then this means that he really does not have enough food.
The baby should urinate at least 12 times a day. This can be checked by counting wet diapers. A sleeping baby should be checked every 20-30 minutes to make sure you don't miss a pee. Better start in the morning. And if the baby wet 10 diapers in 12 hours, then you can no longer count further. Everything is fine. If there were 7-8 signatures, then you will have to continue counting.
Since almost everyone now uses disposable diapers, it is quite possible to weigh them to determine the amount of sucked milk. To do this, put all the diapers per day in a bag and weigh it. Place the same number of dry diapers in another bag. The difference will be the amount of urine per day, which should be at least 360 ml, i.e. about 30 ml per pee.

Previously, the method of weighing the child before and after feeding was used. Now it is considered uninformative and its use is not recommended.

There is no point in worrying if:

the breast has ceased to fill, which means that mature lactation has come;
little milk is expressed, a healthy baby sucks more efficiently than a breast pump;
the child very often asks for breasts, for him suckling is not only food, but also communication.

What and why should be done so that there is enough milk?

If it turns out that there is really little milk, then you do not need to immediately buy the mixture. Having started to feed, it is very easy to transfer the baby to completely artificial feeding. It is necessary to try to increase the amount of breast milk and increase the efficiency of sucking in the child.

To do this, several conditions must be met:

Breastfeeding needs to be supported in the family. Otherwise, at the first problem, the young mother will be so nervous that the amount of milk will actually decrease. To do this, during pregnancy, it is necessary to prepare those closest to the fact that the baby will eat exclusively breast milk in the first months, and the mother will need help and support. We need to explain to everyone why this is so important. With relatives and friends who do not support breastfeeding, it is better not to communicate for some time, or at least not to discuss the topic of breastfeeding. Naturally, we believe that the mother herself wants to breastfeed.
At the time when breastfeeding is being established, the little one needs to be fed on demand, i.e. give him the breast as soon as he wants, and let him suck until the baby himself gives up the breast. The more the breast is stimulated and emptied, the more milk it produces. Feedings during this period should be at least 12 per day. Lots of feedings, lots of milk.
It is necessary to master the correct attachment to the chest. The position can be any, the main thing is that both mother and baby are comfortable. But at the same time, the baby's knees and nose should look in one direction, i.e. the head must not be turned. The tummy is pressed against the mother. The child should capture almost the entire areola. His mouth should be wide open and the bottom lip turned out. There should be no extraneous sounds. Mom shouldn't be in pain.
The baby should only suckle at the breast. If you have to supplement, then you need to do this with a spoon, cup, syringe or supplementary feeding system at the breast. It is convenient to use special soft spoons. In the life of a baby, there should be no place for a pacifier. If he is used to falling asleep and calming down with a pacifier, then it should be replaced with a breast. The more it is stimulated, the more milk it contains.
The child cannot be fed. He should drink breast milk, not water.
Be sure to put the baby to the chest in the early morning. This allows you to stimulate the production of the hormone prolactin, and hence lactation.
Mom should eat right and drink enough fluids. Be sure to eat hot food 3 times a day, and lightly snack three more times.
Just before feeding and during it, you can drink any warm liquid. This will not increase the amount of milk, but it will make sucking easier for the baby.
A breastfeeding woman needs to rest and get enough sleep. This is where families need to help. After all, if you feed day and night, then you will have to sleep with the baby during the day. Someone at this time should be doing household chores.
Thinking about breastfeeding, and indeed about everything, needs to be positive. In a nervous, anxious mom who constantly thinks about not having enough milk, the release of oxytocin is suppressed by stress hormones. This means that there will actually be less and less milk.

nesting method

To establish lactation, you can try the nesting method. At the same time, the mother spends 2-3 days in bed with the child. It is desirable that she be dressed in a thin shirt, and on a small one there was only a diaper, in order to ensure constant skin-to-skin contact. The baby suckles the breast as much as he wants. This is a very good method to restore physical and emotional contact between mother and child, and to improve lactation, but it requires help from someone close. These days, someone needs to take care of mom and the house.

If a baby was born weak or premature, then he may not have the strength to suck milk from his mother, even if there is enough of it. In this case, the woman will have to pump for some time to feed the baby. But, if the condition of the child allows, it is better not to use the pacifier and the bottle. As soon as the child gets stronger, he will be able to suck out the amount of milk he needs himself.

lactation crises

It often happens that at some point the child suddenly becomes short of milk, although before that there were no signs of a shortage. Such moments are called lactation crises. They are usually associated with growth spurts in the child. Those. the amount of milk is not reduced. It's just that the baby begins to grow rapidly, and he needs more milk. Mom's breasts do not have time to adapt so quickly to the needs of the baby. She needs 2 to 7 days for the amount of milk to increase according to the needs of the baby. That is why there is a temporary shortage of milk.

Lactation crises usually occur at 3-6 weeks, as well as at 3, 6 and 12 months, but each child is individual. During a crisis, the baby begins to act up, hang on his chest for a long time, and ask for it more often. The baby is crying and obviously not eating enough.

Another common cause of lactation crises is the psychological state of the mother. Constant fatigue, chronic lack of sleep, lack of communication, inability to devote enough time to yourself lead to a constant bad mood. He is especially spoiled by the lack of understanding and help from loved ones.

During a lactation crisis, the child should not be supplemented. A healthy baby is quite able to endure a temporary lack of milk for several days. But if you give the mixture, then you can easily make it from the baby an artificial one. Supplementation reduces the time the baby sucks at the breast, which means that less milk is produced. The baby must increase the amount of milk himself, which he does when he “hangs” on his chest.

Drugs that increase lactation

If it is found that there is really little milk, then you can try to increase its amount with the help of herbs and medicines. Usually, fennel, anise, dill, Apilak, Lactatosan seeds are used for this. Some benefit from breast massage with special breast oils during lactation. They contain essential oils of anise or fennel.

For mothers at risk, the use of special nutrition already during pregnancy is justified. This includes women who had problems feeding a previous child. The same funds can be used by mothers who slowly receive milk after childbirth. Just do not forget about the basic rules for successful breastfeeding, and use medications with them, and not instead of them.

Nuts, especially walnuts, fatty fish, cheese, ginger, lingonberries, honey, royal jelly, bee bread are considered lactogenic products. But, unfortunately, most of them are highly likely to provoke allergies, you can’t eat a lot of them. In this case, you need to carefully monitor the skin and stool of the child. At the slightest sign of an allergic reaction, stop eating dangerous foods.

Here are some medicines that increase the amount of breast milk:

Femilak. It can be used already during pregnancy. Improves the health of the expectant mother. Increases lactation in lactating women. Contains milk protein and taurine.
I thought mom plus. Increases the amount of milk, and is also used to prevent osteoporosis and caries.
Lactogon. Contains royal jelly, as well as herbs that stimulate lactation: dill, ginger, carrots, oregano, nettle. May cause allergic reactions in children and mothers who are sensitive to bee products.
Apilactin. Contains royal jelly and flower pollen. Can be used immediately after childbirth by women at risk. But, just like Lactogon, it can cause allergies.
Milky Way. Contains galega extract. Well tolerated, designed specifically for nursing. Women from risk groups can use it immediately after childbirth. And the rest during periods of lactation crises.
Mlekoin. A homeopathic remedy that can be drunk throughout the breastfeeding period.
lactogenic teas. They are produced by various companies: Grandmother's basket, Hipp, Fleur alpine and others. They are very good to drink warm before and during feeding. But you can also make homemade herbal teas from rose hips, cumin, anise, oregano, nettle, dill. They work no worse than industrial ones.

The problem of lack of breast milk is most often far-fetched. Quite often there are situations when the mother believes that there is not enough milk, and the child at the same time adds one and a half kilograms per month. But even if there is really little milk, in most cases the problem can be dealt with by eliminating errors in the organization of breastfeeding and adjusting the mother's daily routine. And lactation crises can simply wait out.

Lyudmila Sergeevna Sokolova

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Article last updated: 04/30/2019

How to know if a newborn is getting enough breast milk

You can find out that a child does not have enough milk by a number of characteristic signs. Timely measures will help to solve problems with lactation and provide good nutrition.

At the beginning of natural feeding, many mothers are concerned about the question of whether the child has enough breast milk. Concern is natural, because it is not possible to determine the exact number. And if the baby is anxious and naughty, then suspicion develops into confidence, and mothers decide to supplement with formula.

You should not rush to make such a conclusion, first you need to observe the baby and carry out a series of simple manipulations.

How much milk does a baby need under one year old?

In their desire to feed the baby, many people forget that the child eats exactly as much as he needs. Breastfeeding on demand will provide him with the necessary amount of food. For full feeding, you should not give a second breast until the first is emptied. This will ensure that you get the rich "hind" milk you need to satisfy your hunger.

You should not give formula to a baby unless it is clearly established that his anxiety is caused by hunger. Constant overeating of a newborn can form into a habit, which subsequently leads to obesity and health problems due to excess weight.

Signs indicating a lack of milk

Crying, sleep deprivation and whims are often not related to hunger, but have completely different reasons. He may be disturbed by loud sounds, harsh light, colic, cutting teeth. To understand that the child does not have enough breast milk, you can by the following signs:

Within two weeks of birth, the baby's weight increased by less than 500 grams.
The milk in the breast ends before the baby has time to let it go. He begins to show excitement, not releasing the nipple from his mouth.
The number of urination becomes less than 10 times in one day.
Fecal masses become dense and thick.
At the end of feeding, the baby does not calm down, but continues to look for the breast.

To know for sure if the baby is getting enough breast milk, you can use several tricks.

Count wet diapers. The method is not effective if the baby is in a diaper all day, so you should set aside one day and save him from being in it. More than 10 urinations must occur during the control time. If there are fewer of them, you should think about the insufficient nutritional value of breast milk.
Weigh the child. Experts have calculated that with a normal feeding regimen, weight gain should occur in the range of 0.5 to 2 kg per month. By six months, the weight of the child should double from the original, and by the year it should triple.
Count the number of bowel movements. If the baby eats willingly and satisfyingly, then its number of emptyings should reach 4-5 times a day.

Not all doctors support this rule. Many experts believe that with well-established feeding, breast milk is completely absorbed. If the child is cheerful, active and calm, the absence of feces for up to 5 days is considered the norm.

Observe and listen carefully to the child during feeding. With proper breast capture and active nutrition, the child makes characteristic swallowing movements with a certain frequency. If the throats are inaudible or extremely short, the chest grip should be changed to achieve the correct position.
If, when analyzing the information received, it turns out that the child does not receive enough food, several simple steps should be taken to increase it.

Do not rely on the method of weighing an infant before and after feeding. The duration and amount of breast milk consumption is influenced by many factors, the indicators may vary with each feeding, and it is impossible to determine the exact value.

How to increase breast milk production?

If the mother decides to postpone artificial nutrition and try to establish breastfeeding, then the following measures will help her in this:

Increase in application frequency. Everyone knows the axiom: the more milk the baby eats, the more its production will increase. Lactation is directly dependent on the number of attachments, so the exclusion of nipples and pacifiers would be a reasonable solution.
Feeding from one breast to the end. Many mothers are faced with a situation where the baby, actively eating for the first 5-10 minutes, suddenly begins to act up, and calms down if you offer him another breast. This is due to the fact that the "hind" milk is more fatty, and it takes more effort to suck it out. Toddlers, being lazy, prefer to get lighter, but energetically less valuable “front” milk, which negatively affects their saturation.
Increased night feedings. It is nightly attachments that play a major role in ensuring a sufficient amount of breast milk. No need to worry about the fact that this can be harmful, food does not stay long in the baby's stomach, moving into the digestive tract. Feeding from 3 to 8 in the morning provides the strongest release of the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for the formation of breast milk.
Increasing fluid intake by the mother herself. In order for the female body to function properly and produce the required volume of breast milk, it should be provided with a sufficient amount of liquid. A breastfeeding mother should drink at least two liters of water daily.
Expression of milk after feeding. The same principle applies as with increasing application frequency.
Calmness and relaxation. Violation of lactation is often associated with psychological problems, so it is recommended to discard all negativity, focusing only on positive emotions and images. Tea with mint or chamomile flowers will help to relax only if the baby is not allergic to these components. Drinking warm liquids also stimulates the flow of milk.
If you have problems with attachment or doubts about insufficient saturation creep in, you should contact a breastfeeding specialist. In the maternity hospital, the answer to this question can be obtained from the neonatologist, who will help determine the degree of saturation and resolve the concerns that have arisen.

Conclusion

To find out if a newborn has enough breast milk, you should watch him for a while and make sure that whims and irritations have other causes. By counting wet diapers and the number of bowel movements, you need to make sure that they are not lower than those that neonatologists and pediatricians adhere to.

When in doubt, the best solution is to contact a breastfeeding specialist who will help resolve these issues. If in the process of observation there is an opinion that the child does not have enough breast milk, you should wait a little with feeding with an artificial mixture, and try to establish a full breastfeeding.

Update: October 2018

Have you had a long-awaited baby? Or are you looking forward to its arrival? Then this article will help you learn a lot of interesting things about lactation. You will learn what lactation is, lactation crises, what causes them, how to determine whether a child has enough breast milk, and also a very important point - how to increase lactation for a nursing mother.

Every woman, with the exception of 0.01% of girls who have contraindications to breastfeeding, can and should breastfeed a child. This will not only provide the child with good immune protection, help maintain the health of the gastrointestinal tract, but also give your crumbs that necessary close contact with his own mother, which cannot be replaced by anything else.

A little about lactation as a physiological process

Lactation is a natural process in which the production, accumulation and release of breast milk by the mammary glands of a woman takes place. In addition, this is a hormonally dependent process, that is, the process of lactation is regulated by many hormones. secreted by the pituitary gland and stimulates the production of milk by the glandular tissue of the mammary glands. Milk accumulates in the glands and lactiferous passages.

Oxytocin is released when the baby suckles the breast and provides contraction of a number of muscles in the milk ducts, thus it is responsible for the release of milk. Also, oxytocin stimulates uterine contractions, which suggests that breastfeeding can accelerate the involution of the uterus, which leads to a rapid cessation of postpartum hemorrhage.

The first days after childbirth, a woman secretes colostrum, during which time the child receives only it. For some women, colostrum begins to be secreted during pregnancy.

This is an individual feature of such women, but it should be mentioned that colostrum should not be squeezed out during pregnancy, thereby stimulating the production of oxytocin, which means that the uterus contracts and premature birth may occur.

Colostrum is extremely nutritious and very healthy, it contains not only many nutrients, but also immunoglobulins, which are so important for a newborn baby. Albumins and globulins (proteins) contained in colostrum do not require splitting in the child's gastrointestinal tract, they are immediately absorbed in the baby's intestines. For 3-5 days, colostrum is replaced by milk.

The baby has enough colostrum in the first days of life, in no case should you supplement the baby with a mixture, drink water or anything else!

Why is there not enough milk for a child - lactation crises

Almost every woman breastfeeding a baby at least once thinks about the fact that suddenly the baby does not have enough breast milk. This is a very common mistake young mothers make. Below we will analyze in detail what mistakes women make that can lead to the loss of breastfeeding.

You have probably already heard this frightening phrase - lactation crises in a nursing mother. In fact, there is nothing wrong with that.

A lactation crisis is a temporary, natural decrease in the amount of breast milk excreted. This process is natural and, subject to simple rules, does not pose any threat to future lactation.

This phenomenon is caused by a change in the hormonal background of a woman. All crises can occur at different times. The most common terms for the onset of lactation crises are 7-14 days after childbirth, 30-35 days after childbirth and 3-3.5 months later. During these periods, under the influence of hormones, lactation may decrease slightly, which is normal.

These terms are not a dogma, for each woman they can be different, since the endocrine system is different for everyone. The duration of the lactation crisis ranges from 3 to 8 days, on average it is 4-5 days. There is no need to be nervous and worried during this period, to think that the child is starving, there is no need to listen to grandmothers with advice on how to increase lactation, the child has enough milk and will have enough if you follow the simple recommendations below.

How to increase lactation?

There are a few simple rules that will help to establish lactation. It should be remembered that lactation is established after 3-4 months, before that there may be rushes of milk, engorgement of the mammary glands, it may seem that there is no milk in the breast (although this is not at all the case), and after the establishment of lactation, the breast stops “pouring”, milk produced only during feeding. Therefore, if you have already established lactation, then you will not need to increase it.

The amount of milk depends on the level of prolactin and nothing else!

If the lactation process has not yet been established, and you are wondering how to increase the amount of breast milk, then remember these simple tips. In this section, we will talk about what needs to be done to do this. And what you don’t need to do - you will find out a little later.

Feed your baby on demand

Do not follow any regimen, you can not feed the child according to the regimen, he himself knows when he should eat and when to sleep. He may require a breast and after 20 minutes, and oversleep for 5-6 hours, all this is the norm!

Attach the baby to the breast as often as possible, the duration of feeding can be any

The act of suckling triggers the release of hormones, including oxytocin and prolactin. The more the baby breastfeeds, the higher the level of these hormones, which means the more milk.

Often women complain that the baby can suckle for several hours (see). This shouldn't bother you. In the first months of life, the child has a particularly acute need for contact with the mother.

After all, he grew up in her stomach for 9 months and was inextricably linked with her. When a child is born, he experiences great stress, it takes time for him to get used to the world around him. He has a constant need for contact with his mother, so the child can lie at his mother's breast for hours, periodically sucking on it.

He does this not at all because he is hungry, but because he needs his mother nearby, as close as possible. From my personal experience, I will say that a child can not let go of his mother for 6-7 hours, being at her breast. And as a mother and a doctor, I will say that this is normal! Do not forget that in the first 3 months, babies are often worried about colic, and this is another reason to be closer to mom (see).

Be sure to feed your baby at night

Some mothers want to teach their child to sleep through the night almost from birth. Normally, a child can wake up to eat up to a year. And in the first months of lactation, night feedings play a crucial role. The child must eat at night! This is important, because it is at night that the level of prolactin increases, this is a feature of the human endocrine system, which means that during this period there should be feeding in order to increase milk supply.

homeopathic remedies

There are two opinions on this matter. On the one hand, no one has conducted studies of these drugs, in terms of evidence-based medicine, so it cannot be unequivocally said that they have a beneficial effect on lactation. On the other hand, it certainly won't get worse. For many, the “placebo effect” works and lactation increases, for some, the lactation crisis simply stops in a natural rhythm, but the fact that under the influence of these drugs the level of prolactin may also change slightly (see).

Products that increase lactation

The main thing I want to say is that there are no products that increase lactation! Since, none of the foods you eat will affect the level of prolactin (see). The only thing that should be done is not to limit fluid intake. Drink as much as you like. But forcibly drinking an extra glass of water is also not worth it. The body itself knows how much fluid it needs.

Some mistakenly think that there is more breast milk, and especially if it is not enough, then you need to drink as much cow's milk as possible (see details on whether and whether a nursing mother can drink). This should not be done for several reasons:

Cow's milk does not affect prolactin levels.
Everything you eat goes into your breast milk, including cow's milk proteins, which can cause a severe allergic reaction in your baby.
Cow's milk is not "processed" into breast milk.
The use of milk and dairy products by a nursing mother causes severe colic in children.

mommy mistakes

Now let's talk about what not to do if you are breastfeeding.

Do not set a feeding schedule. The child will decide when and how much to eat.

Do not give infant formula!

This is one of the biggest mistakes women make! Many, having decided for some reason that the child does not have enough milk, run after the mixture and begin to supplement the child with it. This leads to a number of consequences. The child may completely refuse the breast, because it is much more difficult to suck from it than from a bottle. The mixture is much sweeter than breast milk, it may well seem to the child that the mixture is tastier, and he will refuse breast milk. The introduction of the mixture will provoke not only pain in the tummy, but also severe bouts of colic in a baby with an immature intestine. You also risk not only completely losing lactation, but also provoking constipation and allergies in the child.

Do not give water to a fully breastfed baby until the complementary feeding period! Contrary to the claims of many authors.

Many mistakenly think that milk is food, that the child also needs to be watered. This is not true. Breast milk consists of 80-90% water, and even in dry air conditions during the heating season or in hot climates, this is enough for the child. If suddenly you want to approach the child with a spoonful of water and offer it to him, then offer him a better breast, stimulate lactation.

If a child drinks water, then his stomach is filled (for this he does not need to drink half a glass of water at all, a few spoons are enough), a signal is sent to the brain about the filling of the stomach, so the child skips feeding.

It is necessary to give water with the introduction of complementary foods, at 6 months (see). There are frequent cases of poor weight gain in infants who receive less milk due to supplementation. When the child is bottle-fed, water must be given, but we are talking about breastfeeding.

Don't think that a crying baby is a hungry baby

There are many reasons for a child to cry. If he refuses to breastfeed, but continues to cry, perhaps his tummy hurts, maybe his head hurts, crying at night and in the evening speaks of a possible. He might be wet, he might be scared of something, he wants to see his mom or dad, maybe he's bored, maybe he's teething. There are dozens of reasons for crying in a baby, and it is wrong to think that every cry is due to the fact that he is hungry.

Do not think that if the breast is soft, then there is no milk in it.

Milk is always produced during feeding, if by the next feeding you do not have painful lumps in your chest, then this, on the contrary, is good, you have no risk of lactostasis and, perhaps, you have already established lactation.

No need to express milk after feeding

Pumping is necessary if there is lactostasis. If you express milk after a feed, you are losing the most nutritious "hind" milk. It is better to offer the child a breast once again than to lose the most valuable portion of milk.

Do not use the old rules of weight gain

In modern medicine, comparative tables are used, according to the height, weight and age of the child. Many pediatricians use the old schemes, according to which the child must gain 1 kg in the first month. These schemes were drawn up many decades ago for formula-fed babies. For children who are breastfed, these rules have nothing to do.

Don't give a pacifier

Nature does not provide anything for a child to suck, except for the breast. As a rule, mothers give the baby a pacifier when he cries, and the mother does not know what to do. This is not a reason to plug a child's mouth with silicone nonsense that he does not need. If the child is crying, then you need to find the reason for his crying. The sucking reflex of the baby must be satisfied by suckling the breast. And weaning from a dummy in the future is nothing but stress for the child.

Don't rely on checkweighing

Sometimes it is recommended to weigh the baby before and after feeding to find out how much he ate. This is an inconspicuous method. First, the baby's stomach is designed to receive small portions of milk. A child can eat the daily allowance for 12 feedings per day, which means that each time he will eat a little bit, but often. Secondly, the baby does not always eat the same amount of milk. In one feeding, he can drink 10 ml, in another - 100 ml. But if you see an increase of 10 grams on the scale, then you will immediately begin to panic, because you will decide that the child eats little and does not have enough milk.

Don't introduce complementary foods early

Up to 6 months, the baby has enough breast milk. Moreover, it is useless and even harmful to give him a new kind of food before that time. Up to 6 months, the child has enzymes only for the digestion of breast milk.

How to know if babies are getting enough breast milk

Does the baby have enough colostrum or breast milk, perhaps you need to supplement it with a formula? These questions concern mothers, starting from the hospital. Many children are restless from birth. They may have stomach ache. But usually everything is attributed to the lack of mother's milk. When should you be concerned?

Signs of a lack of breast milk and measures to restore lactation

We immediately note that certain features of the child’s behavior are not a reason to immediately introduce supplementary feeding with a mixture, just pay more attention to breastfeeding, perhaps reconsider putting the baby to the breast, remove the feeding schedule, if it exists, feed at night, etc.

1. When a nursing mother has little milk, the baby often and for a long time sucks at the breast. Especially often this feature is observed in children of the first three months of life. Older babies tend to suck more actively and satiate faster, and besides breast sucking, other interests appear.
Solution: leave everything as it is, let the baby suckle as much as he wants. If you see that the child dozed off during sucking, but he did not actively suck before, swallowed a little (that is, he did not suck milk enough) - do not rush to put him in the crib. If the baby has a fast sleep phase, and it is characterized by rapid eye movement under the eyelids, trembling, awakening due to the slightest rustle, you can try to lightly pat him on the cheek, or move the nipple over his lips, he will wake up and start sucking breast again. By the way, this technique is especially active for use at night, when the child sucks little by little, but very often. Let him suck 1-2 times a night, let him suck for 40 minutes and a little more than he wakes up every hour.

Please note that the baby may ask for the breast more often during teething. In these difficult days for parents and the baby, he rarely eats complementary foods, replacing it with breasts. Babies will have enough milk even after the introduction of complementary foods, so you don’t have to think about how to increase lactation and don’t worry.

2. Insufficient weight gain. There is a certain framework in which the child must fit. So, the minimum weight gain per month is from 500-600 grams in the first months of a baby's life. If he gained less than 500 grams, this is an occasion to consider the next item more carefully.

3. Restless behavior of the child, poor sleep, frequent breast demand. This is how a baby behaves if it does not have enough mother's milk. However, this behavior may be due to other reasons. For example, teething, illness, overwork, violation of the daily routine.

3. A small amount of urination and their pungent smell, a rare stool. A peculiar study is to count wet diapers. For one day, parents refuse to use disposable diapers, use reusable gauze, and count the number of wet ones. Normally, an infant urinates 10 times a day. But this is the case if he eats only mother's milk, does not receive supplementary food and does not drink water.
If there are 8 or fewer wet diapers, something needs to be done with nutrition. The pungent smell of urine is a sign of the presence of acetone in it. And it appears when the body is dehydrated. If a mother has been trying to increase the amount of breast milk for more than a day, but there is still no result, it may make sense to introduce supplementary feeding. But it should be given only after breastfeeding. And it is better to purchase or independently make a supplementary feeding system, using which the baby will suckle the breast at the same time as receiving the mixture. You can find diagrams and photos of these simple devices on the Internet. If you decide to buy, then it is produced by Medela. Long-term bottle feeding will sooner or later lead to a complete transition to artificial feeding.

It is impossible to say unequivocally about whether the baby is full of breast milk by the frequency of the stool. But sometimes, when the baby is underfed, the stool becomes rarer. This sign does not make sense to take into account when the child eats only mother's milk, since the absence of stool can be a manifestation of the complete assimilation of nutrition by the body.

Important! It is impossible to know whether there is enough or not enough milk during breastfeeding by the type of mammary glands, their size, texture, sensations during feeding. With established lactation, and this happens within a few weeks after childbirth, the mammary glands of a woman outside of feeding are soft and painless, it even seems to someone that they are empty. But it's not. Milk is stored outside of feeding in special bags - alveoli. When the nipples are stimulated, the hormone oxytocin begins to be released, and milk from the sacs enters the mammary glands. This is called the rush of milk. Only these “tides” may not become very noticeable over time. But this is not the best way to understand if babies are getting enough breast milk. Many long-term (more than 2 years) women report that they have not felt hot flushes at all for many months, nevertheless they continue to feed their children, and quite often.

Also incorrect data gives a test for determining the amount of milk, by expressing it and analyzing the amount. As we wrote above, milk is released directly during the sucking of the baby, stimulation of the nipple, but pumping causes most women, rather, pain. Thus, the hormone of pleasure - oxytocin is not released, and milk from the alveoli does not enter the glands. They remain "empty".

Another similar test used by pediatricians is called control feeding. Mother and child come to the clinic before feeding, the child is weighed. Further, the mother feeds the child, after which he is weighed again. See the difference. This difference is the amount of milk that the baby sucked. This test is often uninformative because on-demand feeding babies may suck different amounts of milk. It seems that the child hangs on the chest for 40 minutes, but he practically does not suck it. Dozing.

When Your Baby Can't Get Enough Breast Milk

1. If a woman does not feed her baby at night. During night feedings, the hormone prolactin is released, due to which the production of breast milk is possible. If the child wakes up at least once at night, do not give him a dummy to calm him down and do not pump up, it is better to breastfeed.

2. With large intervals between feedings. If they make up more than 2 hours in the first months of a child's life, milk will begin to decrease over time.

3. With abundantly introduced complementary foods. If the baby begins to eat about 800-1 kg of complementary foods per day, and in fact these are full-fledged 4-5 feedings of a 9-12-month-old baby, then he no longer needs milk as food. At least he doesn't feel hungry. However, WHO says that every child should receive breast milk or formula until at least 1 year old. If you do not want to lose milk, feed your baby at night, early in the morning, try to breastfeed your baby after feedings, especially if the baby ate a little less than usual.

4. During lactation crises. What to do if the baby does not have enough milk at 1, 3, 6, 9 months? Only breastfeed more, do not give pacifiers, mixture. The amount of milk produced depends on the stimulation of the nipples, the number and frequency of feedings. Babies will have enough milk until they are one year old. This is very convenient, but it requires some effort and correct actions from the mother during critical periods.

Not enough breast milk. What to do? Almost every mother at least once had to worry about the fact that there seems to be less milk ... What to do if the words "lactation problems" have become relevant for you too? The vast majority of women can provide their children with adequate breastfeeding. There are less than 5% of women in the world who really do not have enough milk. This phenomenon is called hypolactia and is usually caused by

If your baby latch on correctly, breastfeeds 12 or more times a day, doesn't get extra water or formula, but urinates less than 8-10 times a day, and gains less than 80 grams for several weeks in a row, then most likely your milk not enough.

If you suspect that you have hypolactia, seek confirmation of the diagnosis and recommendations from an endocrinologist or mammologist.

Often, young mothers find signs of a lack of milk in themselves, which are not always indicative. Let's try to figure out when there is cause for concern, and when women's health and the baby is safe.

When there is no reason to worry

If you do not feel that your chest is filling up, as it was before, you should not worry. The fact that there is no feeling of fulfillment means only that lactation is established, and milk comes exactly as much as the baby needs.

You tried to express milk, and now you are worried - you could not express more than 30 grams. What does the baby eat? There is no reason to worry - after all, sucking movements are much more effective than any pumping. The baby receives much more milk than you managed to express.

If the baby asks for breasts often, this does not mean that he is hungry. Breastfeeding is not only nutrition, but also a time of communication between mother and baby. The baby may simply not have enough bodily contact..

Why does milk seem to be disappearing?

Usually a temporary shortage of milk is a reversible phenomenon. The feeling that there is not enough milk may be due to the following factors:

Bad mood

If mom is angry feels uncomfortable , angry - the production of oxytocin, a hormone that is responsible for the release of milk from the breast, decreases. Related to this factor is also the myth that milk can be wasted due to stress.

It is worth calming down and holding your baby in your arms more often - and the hormonal background will return to normal. Recovery will take no more than a few days.

Feeding by the hour

The body is arranged wisely - the more often the baby is applied to the breast, the more milk is produced. Moreover, it is the frequency of attachments that matters more, and not the time that the baby spends at the breast. And therefore, it is more useful for lactation if the baby suckles the breast for five minutes, but every half hour, than half-hour applications with a three-hour interval.

Supplementation / supplementation

A baby up to six months does not need any food and liquid, except for mother's milk.. Even if the child just wants to drink, it is better to give him a breast, milk perfectly quenches thirst. Supplementation or supplementation increases the interval between feedings, and lactation declines.

Suppose your baby is often attached to the breast, you are completely calm, breast milk is the only food for the baby, but it still feels like there is not enough milk ... What is it? This can be explained by several reasons.

lactation crisis

Most mothers of babies 1-2 months old face lactation crises. This is a temporary condition associated with the mother's hormonal background. What to do? The main thing is not to be nervous, and after 1-2 weeks your body will adjust and everything will return to normal.

Measures to help manage temporary milk shortages:

- Breastfeed more often. The more stimulation the breast receives, the more milk is produced.

Complete rest will help keep you calm and positive.

Drink warm liquid. Just be sure to find the one that tastes good to you. This helps to expand the ducts of the mammary gland and it becomes much easier for the baby to suck, which means that he will be satiated faster.

- Night feeding(from 3 am to 7 am) lactating. Simply put, it helps produce milk. The most convenient if the baby is sleeping in your bed , but you can just take it in your arms and press it to yourself. Body contact stimulates milk production.

How can carry your baby more . The closeness of the child stimulates the production of milk in the mother. The smell of a baby, the feeling of him so warm in his arms, his cooing and even crying - all this causes a hormonal reaction of oxytocin in the mother's body.

And most importantly - remember that everything can be fixed if the necessary measures are taken in time to preserve breastfeeding!