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Determine if there is not enough breast milk. How to know if a newborn baby has enough breast milk or not: is the baby eating enough? The method gives unreliable indicators if

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 child's weight The World Organization Healthcare healthy babies gain from 500 g to 2 kg in 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 specialist in breastfeeding.

    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 a reason 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 these are our 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 weighings are 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 in 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 possible reasons real milk shortage.

Polina Novoselova,
breastfeeding consultant

Young mothers have many questions about feeding a child. Almost every breastfeeding mother is worried about the question almost from the moment of discharge from the hospital: is there enough milk for the baby? After all, it is impossible to determine exactly how much milk the baby has sucked from the breast - there are no divisions, like in a bottle, in the breast.

If a child often cries and needs breast, this does not always mean that he is not enough milk.

The mother's anxiety increases when she ceases to feel the rush of milk, when the baby does not let the nipple out of his mouth for a long time (“it means that there is not enough milk”), when the child often cries, often requires a breast (“it means that he is hungry”).

But these circumstances do not in any way indicate a lack of mother's milk:

  1. After a few days (sometimes weeks) after giving birth, most breastfeeding mothers no longer feel breast filling with milk. Most of the milk comes from the breastfeeding baby.
  2. A child can hold the nipple in his mouth for a long time, although he has already eaten, use it instead of a nipple. Although the concept of "long", as well as "often", for different mothers differ, but the baby may not let the breast out of the mouth until 2-3 hours. You need to pay attention to whether the child is swallowing milk or just sleeping at the breast.

On the other hand, if a baby sleeps all night and never requires feeding or stops sucking milk after 10 minutes, then this is not a criterion for satiety.

This may mean that the child is weak, enough Mother's milk is not able to suck. That is, even the baby who has to be woken up for feeding can receive little milk.

There is no clear indication of how often and for how long the baby should breastfeed. It depends on many individual characteristics baby and mom. One thing is known: the opinion, previously widespread even among doctors, that a baby sucks 90% of the required volume of milk in the first 10 minutes of feeding is incorrect.

Each child develops its own feeding regime. Recommendations to apply the baby in 15-20 minutes alternately to one and then to the other breast cannot be called correct.

Correctly attached to the chest active child can get enough milk from one mammary gland.

  1. At the same time, if the child does not swallow milk, but keeps the nipple in his mouth, then not only 20 or 30 minutes will not be enough for him, but a whole hour at the breast.

Limiting the duration of feeding or the frequency (provided that the baby swallows milk, and not just "hanging on the breast") should not be.

It is very easy to determine whether a baby is swallowing milk by the movement of his chin: down to open his mouth and suck out milk, pause for swallowing, up to close his mouth. The longer the pause lasts, the larger the sip of milk. For exercise, you can watch your chin while sucking juice through a straw.

  1. The baby can cry, of course, from hunger. But there are other reasons for crying too. One of common reasons crying baby are - abdominal pain with gas accumulation due to insufficiently mature digestive system.

And if the mother, without consulting the pediatrician, decides to associate crying with malnutrition and begins to feed the child, then the situation will worsen.

  1. There can be many nuances. For example, not indicative of a shortage breast milk the next "test": after breastfeeding, the baby willingly grabs the nipple on the bottle with the formula. This is just a manifestation of the baby's sucking reflex. Some babies, for example, start thumb sucking.
  1. Many mothers consider it a lack of milk that they are unable to express milk after breastfeeding. But the mammary glands a few weeks after the birth of the baby will be painless and soft out of feeding, as if "empty".

This is because milk is stored in special education- the alveoli, and only when the baby sucks the breast does it enter the mammary gland. It is the stimulation of the nipples when sucking by the baby that leads to the release of the hormone oxytocin, which causes hot flashes of milk.

And expressing with a breast pump or with your hands does not lead to the release of the hormone of pleasure (as oxytocin is called), so you cannot express milk, it remains in the alveoli.

  1. Mothers may decide that milk is not enough if, for example, a five-week-old baby begins to periodically throw, cry and bend over during feeding. However, this behavior does not mean that there is less milk, it "burned out" and the breast is empty. Namely, this is how the crying of the mother's baby is interpreted.

Sometimes anxiety may be due to the fact that the mother (under the influence of the advice of neighbors or grandmothers) from a bottle with a nipple. The child compares the nipple with his mother's breast and he does not like that it is more difficult to suck milk, so he is indignant.

In this case, the flow of milk can be increased if the mother squeezes the breast with her hand; the baby calms down.

So called check weighing, which is often used in children's clinics, is not reliable method determining the sufficiency or lack of breast milk. In this case, the child is weighed before and after feeding, and the amount of sucked milk is estimated by the difference in indicators.

If the mother feeds the baby on demand, then he is already convinced that he will receive the breast as soon as he asks. Therefore, he asks not only when he wants to eat or drink, but also in order to satisfy other needs. While sucking on the mother's breast, it is easier for the baby to urinate, empty the intestines, calm down under stress, etc.

Therefore, with different feedings, the amount of sucked milk will be different, it changes even throughout the day, which means that control weighing cannot be a reliable way to determine it.

Methods for determining milk shortage

Currently, experts believe that there are only two reliable ways to determine the sufficiency or lack of breast milk for a child who does not receive supplements and water.

These methods are:

  1. Determination of the amount of urination per day. Normally, within 24 hours, a child older than 5 days from birth, receiving only breast milk, should urinate at least 10-12 times.

Lack of milk is indicated by less than 8 urinations per day, Strong smell excreted urine, a rarely occurring act of defecation.

To count, it is required to use not diapers, but diapers, gauze reusable diapers for one day, and count the number of used ones.

A pungent smell of urine appears due to the presence in it, which indicates dehydration child's body due to a lack of breast milk for several days.

  1. Gaining body weight also indirectly confirms a sufficient amount of milk for the baby. According to WHO protocols, healthy baby weekly weight gain is 125 g. During the first six months of life, a child can gain monthly from 0.5 kg to 2 kg (according to WHO tables).

If the baby is not gaining weight or is not gaining enough weight, you should analyze and find shortcomings in the organization of breastfeeding with a pediatrician or breastfeeding specialist and eliminate them.

In terms of the frequency and nature of the stool, an unambiguous conclusion about the sufficiency of breast milk cannot be made. Some babies have stool 2-3 times a day with a sufficient amount of bowel movements, while others - after each feeding. And for them this is the norm.

But it also happens that the baby does not have a chair for several days, but the chair normal consistency, the child is calm, develops correctly and puts on weight. And this is also normal - it's just that his mother's milk is almost completely absorbed by him.

It's another matter when rarely occurring bowel movements, scanty stools, insufficient increase weight, the amount of urination is below normal - then the stool confirms the lack of nutrition for the child.

What if there is not enough milk?


Frequent tactile contact baby with mother, joint sleep, nocturnal attachments to the breast - all this stimulates lactation, helps to increase the amount of milk in the woman's breast.

If one or both criteria indicate insufficient quantity milk, you need to figure out what the reason is, and quickly eliminate it. A pediatrician or breastfeeding specialist can help with this.

The reasons can be different:

  • improper attachment of the baby to the breast and, as a result, superficial, rather than deep seizure of the nipple;
  • short, time-limited or rare feeding of the child: pauses between feedings for more than two hours, especially in the first half of life, contribute to the extinction of lactation;
  • feeding on demand, not on demand;
  • no night feedings: at night, when feeding a baby, prolactin is released - a hormone that promotes the production of breast milk;
  • addition of water from a bottle or use;
  • improper nutrition or the daily routine of a nursing mother.

First you need to make sure that the baby is correctly attached to the breast, that the baby is sucking milk and swallowing it. For any problems in this regard, you should seek the help of a pediatrician.

If the baby quickly gets tired and falls asleep during feeding, you can irritate the nipple of his sponge or rub his cheeks lightly - the baby will start sucking again. Some weakened babies, especially premature babies, have to be woken up even at night for feeding every hour.

Such a system can be made independently by looking at information about it on the Internet. And the simple use of a bottle with a supplement will quickly lead to a complete transition to artificial feeding.

If a mother overdoes it with complementary foods for some reason (sometimes in order to amaze neighbors or girlfriends with constrictions on the full arms and legs of her beloved child), then soon the child will simply give up the breast altogether.

Resume for parents

The parents' concern about whether the baby is getting enough is quite understandable: after all, one of the factors that ensure the child's health is nutrition. But neither examination, nor palpation of the breast before and after feeding, nor expressing milk will give information about the amount of milk received by the baby during feeding.

If the baby is calm, gaining weight well, then there is no need to worry. But even the cry of a baby does not always indicate his hunger. Often the baby can demand breast not only when he wants to eat, but also when teeth are being cut, or simply in order to realize his sucking reflex and suck on the breast instead of a pacifier.

Therefore, it is impossible to rush with the introduction of supplementary feeding when it seemed that there was not enough milk. Here, and the number of urination will not be superfluous to count, and follow the weight gain, and consult with experts. Indeed, sometimes the problem is solved very simply - to learn how to properly attach the baby to the breast during feeding.

Breastfeeding Consultant N. Zaichenko explains how to determine if a baby has enough breast milk:

Pediatrician E.O. Komarovsky tells how to determine whether a child has enough food in the first months of life:


How do you know if your baby is not eating enough breast milk? Exists different ways but they are all very imperfect. Yes, you can fully express and measure the volume received, you can even weigh the newborn before and after feeding, then calculate the difference in weight. The only objective and most reliable indicator will be childish behavior... Show observation and soon you will be able to accurately determine whether your baby is full or not. Good to know and principles correct feeding as well as signs and causes of too little milk in the breast.

Feeding expressed milk from a measuring bottle is not the best The best way determining the amount of food eaten

How to tell if there is enough milk?

How to understand that a baby has eaten breast milk? Some signs will help here. There are 5 of them:

  1. The number of feedings per day is 8-12. There may be more of them, this will also be the norm. Frequent latching to the chest is due to three factors:
    • the baby needs close contact with the mother;
    • his small stomach simply cannot contain much food;
    • fast digestion of breast milk.
  2. The duration of one feeding is at least 20 minutes. It is not necessary to determine the duration of the meal - the baby should suckle until he is full. If he has stopped eating and is behaving calmly, babbling cheerfully or sleeping peacefully, it means that he had enough milk. Make sure that the feeding position (both yours and the baby's) is not uncomfortable.
  3. A clearly traced swallowing reflex. Check that the baby does not just smack, but swallows. At first, he will do this often, because he is hungry, and the so-called near milk is liquid and not very nutritious. After a few minutes, swallowing will become less frequent, since hunger will dull, and the distant milk is thicker, to swallow it, you need to make an effort.
  4. The child is gaining weight according to the norms (we recommend reading :). In the first days, the baby's weight will be less compared to what it was at birth. This is normal, as the body gets rid of meconium (the original feces formed in the womb) and tissue swelling. They begin to track weight gain from the fourth day of life - the increase should be 125-215 g per week.
  5. The child looks healthy. He is calm, but at the same time shows activity and curiosity; lively, but not overexcited. When he wants to eat, he loudly demands the chest; when he is full, he sleeps peacefully or is awake. Pink color skin and its elasticity will also indicate that the baby is receiving adequate nutrition in sufficient quantities.

It will take very little time to track the listed signs. If in doubt, you can use the measurement of the amount of urine and feces.

Lack of nutrition

This article tells about typical ways of solving your questions, but each case is unique! If you want to know from me how to solve your particular problem - ask your question. It's fast and free!

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To understand that your baby is short of breast milk, there are 3 simple tests:

  • wet diapers;
  • the amount of stool;
  • weight gain.

To determine how many times a child pees per day, you need to keep him not in a one-time, but in reusable diaper or just in a diaper ( disposable diapers generally undesirable and can only be used as a last resort) (we recommend reading :). When the baby has enough breast milk, he wets the diapers 10-12 times a day. If this happens less than 10 times, the crumb does not gorge itself.

In the first 3 days of life, as such, they do not yet have a chair. The dark mass that can be seen in a diaper is meconium (primary feces). He will appear in small quantities 1-2 times a day. Then, when the baby is already breastfeeding and his digestion begins to function, excretion feces will happen 5 times a day.

What is the normal weight gain? In the first 3 months - at least 500 g per month or 125 g per week. Then this figure drops slightly - 300 g per month. It should be noted that weight gain may occur unevenly, but this is normal and should not be alarming. Track the rate of weight gain after 1 or 4 weeks. There is no need to do this more often.


Weight gain tracking is a safe and easy way to know if your baby is getting enough breast milk

Day and night, you need to carefully monitor the condition of your baby. There are signs that speak not just of a lack of nutrition, but already of dehydration:

  • the child is too lethargic and sleepy;
  • the eyes are sunken and the eyeballs become dull;
  • the mucous membrane in the mouth is dry, the saliva has become stringy;
  • the baby cries, but you don't see tears (we recommend reading :);
  • the skin has become flabby (if you pinch it lightly, it will not immediately smooth out);
  • an unpleasant odor comes from the mouth;
  • dark, saturated urine with a pungent odor that appears 6 and less times per day.

The last point, as well as the simultaneous presence of 2 or 3 others, is a signal that you need to urgently call " ambulance". Do not tighten so as not to bring to a deplorable situation.


If the mother noted that the baby has become lethargic and drowsy, it may be about dehydration.

Why is there not enough milk?

The main reason why a baby does not have enough breast milk is very simple and commonplace - wrong. organized process breastfeeding... Let's see what factors lead to this:

  1. Compliance strict regime... Lactation experts have come to the conclusion that the process must be natural. You need to feed the child when he asks. The only thing that is desirable to observe is the time interval between feedings, which should be at least 2 hours.
  2. Feeding too short. The kid should eat until he is full. One feeding should last at least 20 minutes.
  3. The baby is not properly latching on to the breast.
  4. When feeding you take uncomfortable posture(we recommend reading :).
  5. Reducing or eliminating night feeds. Feeding at night and in the morning stimulates lactation as much as possible.
  6. Dummy abuse.
  7. Bottle feeding.
  8. ... They prevent proper grip on the nipple. They can only be used temporarily when the nipple is injured.

Silicone pads can only be used medical indications as they provoke improper grip of the nipple compared to natural conditions feeding

The chest begins to fill only 2-3 days after natural childbirth and 5-6 after caesarean section, however, you need to continue to attach the baby to the breast (we recommend reading :). Firstly, as long as he has enough colostrum, and secondly, breastfeeding is the best stimulant of lactation.

There are other reasons why a baby does not eat breast milk. Among them:

  • inadequate nutrition of a nursing mother and low fluid intake;
  • tense or stressful state of the mother;
  • hormonal disorders in the mother's body;
  • insufficient rest;
  • physiological features of the breast ( flat nipples, narrow milk ducts) or temporary problems (lactostasis, cracked nipples);
  • improper work of the baby's digestive system;
  • runny nose and swelling of the nasal mucosa, due to which the baby simply cannot breathe and suckle normally;
  • too large toddler who lacks nutrition;
  • too weak a kid who simply does not have the strength to eat for a long time.

Stress in a nursing mother can also be the reason that the baby does not eat enough and does not have enough milk.

Correct feeding process

If you realized that your baby does not have enough breast milk due to non-compliance with the feeding rules, then it is not very difficult to solve the problem. It is necessary to eliminate mistakes and provide everything for yourself and the child so that in the future there will be no more difficulties. Follow the guidelines:

  1. Feed your baby when he demands. The more he sucks at the breast, the more milk production is stimulated.
  2. Don't rush the child. When he is satisfied, he will simply release his chest.
  3. Make sure to. The baby's mouth should be wide open and cover not only the nipple, but the entire areola. If it only captures the nipple, the nutrient fluid will not be sucked out, and you will feel severe pain... You should also hear the baby swallowing.
  4. Make sure you both sit or lie comfortably when feeding. The child's head and back should be on the same straight line, the head just above the legs. Study for GW.
  5. It is advisable to apply the baby to only one breast at a time. So it will suck everything out completely.
  6. Weak babies sleep a lot, so they often have to be woken up to feed. During the day, do this at least after 3 hours, and at night - after 5. Before feeding, you can wash your baby - this will slightly invigorate him.
  7. Do not use nipple bottles or pacifiers. It is easier to suck from a bottle than from a breast, which is why babies often give up breast in favor of a bottle. Give a bottle only as a last resort - for example, when the nipple is injured and you are simply physically unable to endure feeding.
  8. Get plenty of rest and sleep. Donate household chores for the sake of good rest... The more the degree of fatigue, the less milk you will produce.
  9. Do not refuse help, even if it is offered by a friend who came to visit you.
  10. Eat every time after feeding, that is, at least 5 times a day. Provide yourself with a nutritious diet and a large number of warm liquid.
  11. If you find that your baby has health problems, be sure to show him to the doctor.

7 myths about lactation

When young mothers are seriously concerned about the question of whether the baby has enough breast milk, they may heed dubious and completely meaningless advice, and wrong actions can have disastrous results. Let's dispel some of the myths about feeding and be warned against mistakes:

  1. Weigh the infant before and after feeding to determine if he is full. In this case, the indications will be so inaccurate that the procedure loses all meaning. Weighing is considered more or less objective not more than once a week.
  2. ... To produce more milk, the baby must breastfeed well. If you apply too little of it to the breast and give extra formula, be prepared for the fact that lactation will get worse.
  3. Supplementation with cow or goat milk. The gastrointestinal tract of a newborn cannot yet digest such food. From cow or goat milk tummy problems may begin.
  4. Complementary feeding earlier than six months. Eating adults, even in small amounts, can also lead to digestive problems.
  5. or other liquid prior to the introduction of complementary foods. This is not necessary, since breast milk is 86% water and there is plenty of it.
  6. Mom's use of milk in order to increase her production. Milk in the mammary glands is formed from the blood, so it makes no sense to additionally overload your diet. In order for it to form and be saturated, vitamins and others are needed useful material, which the mother receives with good nutrition.

Natural feeding - providing the baby not only with food, but also good immunity as well as spiritual closeness with the mother. If you want your toddler to grow and develop fully, make every effort to maintain and normalize this process. You will soon see that it is impossible to replace it with anything else.

Lyudmila Sergeevna Sokolova

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Last update articles: 23.01.2017

How to know if breast milk is enough for a newborn

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

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

One should not rush to accept such a conclusion; first, it is necessary to observe the baby and carry out a number of simple manipulations.

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

In their desire to supplement the baby, many forget that the child eats exactly as much as he needs. Breastfeeding on demand will provide it the required amount food. For full feeding the second breast should not be given until the first is emptied. This will ensure that you get the fatty hind milk you need to satisfy your hunger.

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

Signs indicating a lack of milk

Crying, refusal to sleep and whims are often not associated with hunger, but have completely different reasons. He may be disturbed loud sounds, harsh light, colic, teething. You can understand that the baby does not have enough breast milk by the following signs:

  1. Within two weeks of birth, the baby's weight has increased by less than 500 grams.
  2. The milk in the breast runs out before the baby has time to release it. He begins to show excitement, not letting the nipple out of his mouth.
  3. The amount of urination is less than 10 times in one day.
  4. The feces become dense and thick.
  5. At the end of the feeding, the baby does not calm down, but continues to search for the breast.

To know for sure if your baby has enough breast milk, you can use several tricks.

  1. Count wet diapers. The method is not effective if the baby is in a diaper all day, so one day should be allocated and saved from being in it. During the control time, more than 10 urinations should occur. If there are fewer of them, it is worth thinking about the insufficient nutritional value of breast milk.
  2. Weigh the child. Experts have calculated that with a normal feeding regimen, weight gain should occur in the range from 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.
  3. 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 breast milk is absorbed completely with well-functioning feeding. If the child is cheerful, active and calm, the absence of feces for up to 5 days is considered the norm.

Carefully observe and listen to the baby during the feeding process. With proper latching of the breast and active feeding, the child makes characteristic swallowing movements with a certain frequency. If the pharynx is not audible or is extremely short, you should change the grip of the chest, achieving the correct position.
If, after analyzing the information received, it turns out that the child is not getting enough food, several simple steps should be taken to increase it.

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

How to increase your breast milk production?

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

  1. Increasing the frequency of applications. Everyone knows the axiom: the more milk a baby eats, the more its production will increase. Lactation directly depends on the number of attachments, so excluding nipples and pacifiers would be a reasonable solution.
  2. 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 be capricious, and calms down if you offer him another breast. This is due to the fact that the "back" milk is more fatty, and more effort is required to suck it out. Babies, being lazy, prefer to get lighter, but energetically less valuable "front" milk, which negatively affects their saturation.
  3. Increased nighttime feedings. It is night attachments that play the main role to ensure an adequate supply of breast milk. There is no need to worry that this can be harmful, food does not linger for a long time in the baby's stomach, moving to 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.
  4. Increasing fluid intake by the mother herself. To female body is functioning properly and producing the required volume of breast milk, it should be provided with sufficient fluid. A nursing mother should drink at least two liters of water daily.
  5. Expressing milk after feeding. The same principle applies as for increasing the frequency of applications.
  6. Calm and relaxed. Lactation disorders are 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 you to relax only if the baby is not allergic to these components. Drinking warm liquids also stimulates milk flow.

If you have problems with attachment or doubt creeps in about insufficient saturation, you should contact a breastfeeding specialist. At the maternity hospital, the answer to this question can be obtained from a neonatologist, who will help determine the degree of saturation and resolve any concerns.

Conclusion

To find out if the newborn has enough breast milk, you should observe it for a while and make sure that the moods and irritations have other reasons. After 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 optimal solution there will be an appeal to a breastfeeding specialist who will help resolve these issues. If, in the process of observation, there is an opinion that the baby does not have enough breast milk, you should postpone the feeding. artificial mixture, and try to establish good breast nutrition.

For every mother, one of the pressing problems and main questions is how to understand if the baby has enough breast milk? Perhaps the baby is not eating enough and should be supplemented with formula? He behaves restlessly, is capricious, maybe this is exactly the case when he is hungry? It should be noted that the child's anxiety cannot always be justified by hunger. If the feeding was very recent, then you can offer him a pacifier, pick him up. In the event that the child is really hungry, such manipulations will not help, and he will still be capricious, demanding breast.

Of course, in order for the baby to receive a sufficient amount nutrients and vitamins, mom must provide herself with a complete diet. Her menu must include: fish, meat, cereals, vitamins and minerals from natural products... Thanks to good nutrition mothers, the baby will receive important micronutrients for him, respectively, eat well, grow and develop. Every mom wants to know how to understand that there is not enough milk for a newborn. There are certain manifestations that demonstratively show that the baby does not have enough milk.

The main manifestations of baby malnutrition

It should be noted right away that if you realize that your baby lacks the volume of milk that enters the breast, this does not mean that you need to immediately run for the mixture and inject artificial feeding... It may be worth changing the feeding schedule, if you have already established one, and feeding the baby as he wishes. Night feeding should not be replaced with water and, in general, review the organized breastfeeding.

So how do you know if there is not enough milk? Necessary Special attention draw on the following manifestations on the part of the child:

  • when mom has a small volume of milk supply, the baby will suckle for a long time. He may fall asleep in the process, you should not immediately put him to bed, because in an hour he will wake up hungry again. Wake him up by stroking his cheek or running a nipple over his lips, he will start eating again. It is better to let the child eat for forty minutes, but still be full, rather than constantly waking up from hunger during the night. Do not forget that the baby quite often asks for a breast during an illness, when his teeth are climbing, but this calms him more, and does not indicate a systematic feeling of hunger;
  • considering the question of how to understand that the child is not enough milk, it is necessary to take into account the monthly weight gain. There are standard parameters that the baby must fit into. The first few months, weight gain should be at least 500 g per month. If less, the doctor talks about deviations from the specified norm, then you should pay special attention to breastfeeding;
  • To make sure that the baby really has enough breast milk, counting the number of his urinations per day will help. You will only need to give up diapers for a day and use only diapers in order to accurately see the amount of baby's urination. Normally, the baby should urinate at least 10 times a day, but this is provided that he receives exclusively breast milk, without supplementation in the form of a mixture and water.

How to find out if a newborn has enough breast milk, you can pay attention to his behavior, sleep. If the child does not gorge himself, then he will often ask for breast, sleep poorly and constantly wake up, and behave restlessly. but anxious behavior can be associated with other problems - teething, overwork, painful condition.