How to understand that the baby is not eating enough. Insufficient amount of food. Expected gain method

03.07.2019

Every breastfeeding woman sooner or later begins to have questions about whether the little one is getting all the necessary amount of nutrition. Such thoughts can arise on many crumbs of behavioral problems, but in most cases they turn out to be groundless.

But still, if the problem is real, how do you determine it? And what if the baby does not eat breast milk?

Signs that your baby is not eating enough breast milk

The appearance of some symptoms will mislead mothers, and they will decide that the baby is simply not eating enough. By contacting a pediatrician or breastfeeding consultant, specialists can accurately differentiate the actual symptoms that the infant is not full.

The main complaints of moms:

whims and crying - every mother, by the cry of a baby, can determine the cause of discontent. But the situation when the baby is constantly crying can mislead any mother;
low activity of the baby;
sleep disorders;
thumb sucking and all the items at hand. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a symptom of hunger, it is just direct evidence that the sucking reflex is unsatisfied.

Specialists will be interested in real signs that the baby is not eating breast milk.

It is worth remembering that breast milk for a baby is not only food, but also liquid.

More than 80% of it consists of water, therefore, the following indicators will be diagnostically significant:

a sufficient number of wet diapers. Normally, there should be at least 10 - 12, while the urine is transparent and free of impurities. If the baby urinated 8 times a day, you need to be alert and increase the number of attachments;
low or no weight gain. Normally, the weight gain should be at least 500 g, and the figure must be taken as a basis during discharge from the maternity ward. You can assess the weight gain at the control weighing in the pediatrician's office. The only exception is the first days in the maternity ward, when a newborn's weight loss within 10% is considered a normal option.
residence time at the breast. Mothers, whose children are not full, say that the child literally "hangs" on the chest.

Why does my baby lack milk?

Determining that the baby is hungry is easier than understanding why the baby is not eating up on mother's breast milk.

There are three groups of main reasons:

general, which will be associated with environmental factors, for example, improper organization of feeding and rest of the mother;
behavioral, associated with the behavior of the mother - irrational and improper nutrition of the mother, her lack of sleep, the mother's unwillingness to breastfeed, cracked nipples;
physiological, depending on the condition of the baby - a runny nose, trauma to the oral cavity, uncomfortable and incorrect body position. Sometimes colic can be the cause of breastfeeding problems.

How to understand that a baby has eaten breast milk?

In order to understand that the baby is full, mom just needs to watch the little one. Mom's breasts can tell when it's time to feed the baby - the breasts are filling up. During feeding, the baby actively sucks, takes good sips, the attachment itself is correct. Gradually, the baby begins to fall asleep, and his sucking movements become less active. The child is full.

Another sign of the baby's satiety will be the devastation of the mother's breast, which means that the baby has reached the hind milk, which is the most fatty and, therefore, nutritious.

what to do to make the baby gorge on breast milk

So how do you increase the amount of human breast milk you make so your baby can eat up? To achieve this goal, it is necessary to follow certain rules that will apply not only to the mother, but also to the baby.

For mum:

rest mode above all;
before feeding, you need to massage the breast;
correct and rational nutrition with sufficient water;
walking more in the fresh air;
10 - 15 minutes before feeding, you need a hot drink - this will contribute to a better outflow of milk;
lactation tea - only after consultation with a specialist;
correct attachment to the chest;
feeding on demand;
the practice of sleeping together;
mandatory help of specialists - a pediatrician or a hepatitis B counselor.

For the kid:

weight and diaper control;
completely abandon the pacifier, which can interfere with the breastfeeding process, i.e. saturation;
the appointment of complementary foods for children can only be carried out by a specialist.

After the doctor confirms that the baby is not eating enough, any methods can be used. Some can become a serious threat to breastfeeding.

Checkweighing should be carried out multiple times, at the same time, with the same clothing and in a calm environment.

It's no secret that the best food for a newborn baby is mother's milk, which contains all the necessary elements for good development and growth. It often happens that you have to switch to artificial feeding of the baby, which is less useful. The problem awaiting parents who refuse to breastfeed is that the child does not gorge on the formula, which affects height and body weight.

There are several signs that adults should be aware of malnutrition in a newborn. It is necessary to correct the situation immediately, and medical recommendations and feeding rules will help here.

Behavior of an eaten baby

It is not difficult to determine that the baby is well-fed. The first sign of satiety is that the child is happy, constantly in a good mood. Deep, prolonged sleep is another symptom of satiety in a newborn. A well-fed child does not cry, constantly smiles, communicates with pleasure in his own language with relatives.

You should carefully examine the external signs of the baby's saturation. The skin is light pink, elastic, depressions are not noticeable near the fontanel. Stool problems are not observed - the baby defecates within normal limits, 1-3 times a day.

Why does the child not gorge themselves

Artificial feeding often ends in unpleasant complications - the baby does not eat enough. There are several reasons that can cause a child's hunger:

improperly selected formula for feeding;
the composition used for artificial feeding is scarce, there are no nutrients in it;
the mother has incorrectly determined the nutritional norm - the newborn requires large portions of food;
diseases that prevent adequate nutrition.

If the baby does not receive enough nutrients, this will quickly affect development, growth. The kid quickly loses weight, becomes irritable, moody.

What to do

What should parents do if they find signs of malnutrition, and how to understand how dangerous the cause of this unpleasant complication is? The first thing to do is go to the doctor. Only a thorough examination will determine what the cause of the problem is.

If the reason is an incorrectly selected mixture, there will be no particular difficulties in correcting the error either. Often it is enough to switch to more nutritious formulations, rich in vitamins, useful elements, so that the baby's well-being is back to normal.

Optimal amount of feeding

It is recommended, when determining the amount of formula for a child, to be guided not by the instructions on the package, but by a simple formula that will not allow you to make a mistake. Use calculations only after the baby is half a month old. To simplify the calculations, it is recommended to purchase scales - it depends on the weight of the baby's body how much of the mixture he needs to consume per day.

Up to two months of age, the infant's body weight should be divided by five. This is the volume of the mixture that the baby should take per day. Up to four months, it is recommended to divide by six. Usually the number is within 1000. This indicates that the child should consume up to a liter of the mixture per day.

Up to six months, you need to divide by 7 (it turns out within 1100 milliliters), up to a year - by 8 (the recommended amount of the mixture ranges from 1000 to 1200 milliliters). If it is noticed that the norm for the baby is too large, there is no need to stuff the child with force - overeating can cause no less dangerous problems than hunger.

Correct feeding process

In feeding, a lot depends on the bottle and the nipple. When buying, be sure to make sure that the hole in the nipple is small - the baby should suck out the mixture with little effort. Give the mixture only warm, so it is better digested by a small stomach. It is recommended to monitor the baby's condition throughout the entire feeding. If the baby does not want to let go of the pacifier even after a meal, this indicates that he has not yet been satiated.

You do not need to leave the baby hungry - it is better to prepare another small portion of the mixture and feed the baby.

Monitoring the baby's condition after feeding also plays an important role. If right after a meal the baby is restless, cries for no reason, is capricious and refuses to sleep, you will have to consult a doctor and change the formula used for artificial feeding. At 5 months, you can already add complementary foods.

If the parents notice that the baby is not eating enough, you should not be careless about it. Changing the mixture, supplementary feeding - this is often not enough to cope with the problem. Do not experiment with a small organism - immediate medical attention will help prevent complications.

Are you one of many women who have made the decision to breastfeed? This is a very correct choice. Pediatricians have proven that no formula, whatever it is, can fully replace breastfeeding.

A little time will pass, and you and your little ones will begin to understand each other perfectly, but for now, of course, you are interested in how to understand that the child has eaten breast milk? At first glance, the question is complex. But if you understand it, then it will be quite simple to determine.

The truths of a well-fed baby

There are some simple rules on how to understand whether a baby is eating breast milk or not:

The crumb falls off the chest like a "fed leech."
After breastfeeding, the baby must give up on his own. As a rule, children are very calm and smile or fall asleep.
Mom's breast should be "empty".
The baby should eat not only front milk, but also back milk. It is more difficult to obtain, but it is more fatty and nutritious.
The baby does not ask for a breast and can calmly withstand 3 hours after feeding.
This is a very important point in how to determine whether a baby is eating breast milk or not. Ideally, feed your baby after 3.5 hours. However, this rule does not apply to the neonatal period, when babies often "hang" on their chest simply because they do not want to be separated from their mother. In this case, the baby will not want to be calm at all, but not because he is hungry, but because he is uncomfortable without a mother, because they are still one whole.

The above factors will help to understand whether the baby is eating breast milk. If they are sustained, then we can safely say that the child is full.

Separately, I would like to highlight babies up to two months old, who may still have gastrointestinal colic. They can demand mom's breasts without any time limit. The presence of mom in her arms and at the same time, eating breast milk, not only calms them, but also helps the tummy not to hurt.

Why is the baby hungry?

How to understand that a baby is not eating enough is also not a difficult question. A hungry baby will ask you to eat very often - every 30 minutes. There can be several explanations for this: he is too lazy to suck out the breast well or you do not have enough fat milk. The first reason is quite difficult to figure out. You need to get your child to eat. If your baby fell asleep or simply does not want to work, getting food - wake him up, bother him so that he can eat well. This is very important, because it will depend on how he will gain weight and develop in the future. The second reason is typical for mothers who do not eat very high in calories or are simply dieting.

If you can't breastfeed your baby, try pumping and bottle feeding. Perhaps the fact that there will be a large hole in the nipple and you will not need to make as much effort as with breastfeeding, you will be able to feed the baby. In any case, this is better than giving your baby food.

So, it is possible to understand whether an infant is full, both by his behavior and by whether he can withstand the rate of weight gain characteristic of his age. And if the baby does not eat enough, then you need to make every effort to ensure that breastfeeding continues for at least six months.

Breastfeeding poses serious questions for new mothers, one of which is how to determine that the baby is not eating breast milk.

This problem is especially troubling in the first month of a baby's life and does not lose its relevance until the end of the first half of the year, when liquid and healthy food often remains the only source of energy for the baby.

A lot depends on the correctness of the mother's actions, because sometimes a woman, having incorrectly discerned the signs of malnutrition, transfers the baby to an artificial mixture, taking away from him the ideal product and the necessary tactile communication.

According to some mothers, the most "talking" signs of infant malnutrition are as follows:

constant crying that is not associated with other possible causes;
weakness of the child, low activity;
restless behavior that occurs as soon as the baby approaches the mother's breast.

Despite the general publicity of these facts, a nursing mother should not take them too seriously. Of course, they really talk about childhood trouble, but not that the baby is hungry, but that he has problems with the intestines.

If all of these symptoms are observed, then the child is likely to have colic. In this case, he additionally presses his legs to his stomach and cries after attachment to the chest.

Another common parental mistake is weighing your baby too often, for example, after each meal. Seeing that the weight gain is small, the parents start to get nervous and eventually decide to supplement with the formula.

Symptoms of malnutrition in a newborn often include difficulty falling asleep and restless sleep behavior.

For example, a toddler may feel maternal nervousness, just born overly anxious, or a little sick. It is important for a woman to find out accurate information about the "sleepy" standards that are relevant for each month of life and try to put the child to bed at the given time intervals.

Checking wet diapers

BB experts argue that there are only two definitive methods to determine that a baby is not eating breast milk: checking wet diapers and estimating monthly weight gain.

Another sign of a hungry baby is smacking with lips, tongue, thumb, fist or diaper edge.

In addition, since breast milk is considered both food and drink for the baby, too dry skin can also be a sign of malnutrition.

So, you have determined that the baby remains hungry during the day, now you need to identify the reasons that interfere with optimal lactation and lead to malnutrition. Since both mother and baby are involved in feeding, the feeding process needs to be considered from all sides.

The reasons for the lack of milk are often due to the incorrect behavior of the mother (or her environment) during the lactation period:

Another likely reason is too frequent, leading to an oversupply of this product. In general, milk secretion is anterior and posterior. Front milk is more liquid and contains less fat ("empty"), and it is this milk that is produced with frequent expression.

Hind milk is fatty, which means it is more nutritious and satiety. The baby can only gorge himself on hind milk, because fatty foods are not digested so quickly and leaves a feeling of fullness for a longer period.

Infant may remain hungry if the feeding process is interfered with by:

colic, which intensifies with food intake;
nasal congestion or damage to the oral cavity;
improper grip of the chest.

The following experiment will help to reveal the deficiencies of feeding: when giving a breast to a baby, listen to how he swallows. The normal ratio is two or three suckers interspersed with one sip (in the first minutes of feeding, the baby should do a lot of sucking to increase the outflow of milk from the breast). If there are few swallowing movements, the baby will remain hungry.

If the child does not gorge himself on breast milk, then he begins to be capricious, irritated, and also grows poorly and lags behind in development. If you find that the baby is short of food in the first month, do not be nervous, as nervousness will only aggravate the situation.

By listening to the following advice from breastfeeding experts, you can improve lactation and feed your baby properly:

Try it. With breastfeeding, the breast glands produce an optimal amount of milk in response to the baby's nipple stimulation. That is, the child should eat whenever he wants.
How to understand that the child is full? A well-fed newborn releases the nipple on its own, which is why it is not recommended to interrupt meals at will.
Make sure you apply the crumb correctly. Correct posture: mouth open, the child should grasp both the papilla and the areola, only swallowing is heard, there are no other sounds.
Set up a couple of comfortable feeding positions so you can alternate between them. The correct position is the child's back, neck and back are located on a straight line. To prevent the baby from turning the head and stretching to the breast, the nipple should be near his mouth.
Try to breastfeed one at a time.so that the baby can suck both the fore milk and the back product.
Don't be afraid to wake up your baby to feed. During the day, he should not sleep more than three hours in a row, at night - more than 5-6. Before eating, the baby can be washed with cool water or undressed to activate all processes.
Give up bottles at least in the first month of a child's life. Expressed milk is best given with a spoon or pipette. This is necessary so that the baby is not used to pacifiers.
Take a rest, while there is such an opportunity - the child is sleeping, or relatives are babysitting him.
Review your dietby including more carbohydrate and protein foods. Do not eat foods that can affect the taste of milk. You also need to drink the right amount of warm liquid.
If there are any signs of trouble, be sure to show the baby to a specialist.

A special pillow can be purchased to make feeding easier. Such a device helps to properly attach the baby to the breast, reduce the load on the mother's back.

A cozy feeding procedure, a comfortable pillow, and pleasant music will create a comfortable atmosphere for eating and enjoy the procedure itself.

Inexperienced mothers often listen to the advice of girlfriends or just common myths regarding breastfeeding, and decide for themselves that the child is not eating enough. And this is already fraught with the wrong choice, which can harm the baby.

If it seems to you that the child does not eat well and does not eat enough during the day, be sure to consult a doctor. He will as accurately as possible determine the likely factors provoking malnutrition, recommend ways to improve breastfeeding, or suggest choosing the optimal formula for supplementary feeding.

Young mothers have many doubts about the health and development of their first child, and this is natural. Lack of experience should not make mom an alarmist. It is necessary to assess the situation sensibly. One of the frequent thoughts that visit the head of a newly-made mother is that the baby does not gorge itself on breast milk. Before rushing in search of a pediatrician, you need to make sure that the theory put forward is true.

How to understand that the baby is not full

When the thought of possible malnutrition appears, the next “how to understand if this is true?” Comes in its wake. To identify malnutrition and prove to yourself and the doctor the relevance of the issue, a newborn should have certain signs:

Scream. The first months of life, the baby communicates exclusively through screaming. By screaming, you can determine whether the child is full or not. If a newborn is constantly screaming in a "hungry" manner, it can be argued that he is malnourished.
Sleep. If a person is full, he quickly falls asleep, sleeps long, deeply and calmly. So are newborns. A hungry child sleeps in short intervals, the sleep itself is light.
The weight. The main factor that directly makes it clear about malnutrition: no food - no nutrients - nothing to digest - nothing to grow from. Simple and straightforward diagram. Low weight gain or dead weight is common when malnutrition occurs. The minimum weight gain for the first 4-6 months is 500 grams, the normal one is 1 kg for the first 2 months.
Sucking reflex. The first 4 months, the whole life process is controlled by reflexes. If the child is not full, he will reflexively try to "get" food - to suck whatever comes in hand (finger, diaper, clothes, smack his lips) -.
Weakness. Hunger and malnutrition can weaken the body. With insufficient energy, activity is significantly reduced. This is due to a general loss of strength and physical inadequacy of the muscles.
Often asks for food. A well-fed baby will ask for breast again at least 1.5 hours later. If a newborn asks for breast within 20-30 minutes after eating and does so constantly, he does not gorge himself.
Restroom. A well-fed newborn, receiving the proper amount of nutrients - regularly stains diapers and wets diapers. The absence of stool and urination indicates that the child has nothing to go to the toilet. A delay in stool may prompt the idea of, but if stagnation of urine is observed in tandem, the problem does not apply to constipation.

About urine. There is a chance of seeing a reddish discharge at the end of rare urination. Salts are excreted from the body with urine, and if there is not enough fluid, microcrystals scratch the walls of the urinary canal, staining with blood. It is not dangerous or painful.

Some signs may not be taken seriously and considered insignificant, or ARVI or cold syndrome. You can't always be completely sure. In order to understand the essence of what is happening and find out which disease the observed symptoms relate to, you need to consult a pediatrician.

Causes of breast milk malnutrition

The reasons explaining why the child does not gorge themselves are varied. They are associated with problems with the mother, the child and external factors.

Child:

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract that impede the absorption of nutrients;
Low activity and, as a result, lack of appetite;
Maxillofacial diseases that prevent milk from being sucked;
Diseases. If a child is sick, he has a decrease in activity in general, and appetite in particular.

Mother:

Food. The primary causes are lactation and feeding disorders. The mother's diet should include relatively dietary foods fortified with vitamins, minerals and calcium. Eating the right diet not only affects the flow of milk, but also the taste. If a mom has eaten a serving of roasted meat with spices, the baby is likely to give up the breast because of the unpleasant taste of the spices.
Stress. Lactation depends on the work of hormones. Experiencing nervous overload, the level of hormones in the female body is disrupted, which leads to the disappearance of milk. All nursing mothers are categorically contraindicated in strong experiences and stress. It is because of them that, in most cases, milk stops being excreted completely -.
Psychophysical state. Huge resources are spent on restoring the body after gestation and childbirth, while maintaining lactation. The body simply wears out. To restore balance, moms need healthy sleep and rest. Unable to recuperate, the body is unable to produce enough milk and maintain its consistency.
Psychophysiological factors. Postpartum depression, unwillingness to breastfeed, makes breastfeeding impossible for some mothers.
Flat nipple. This is a physiological feature of some women, in which the baby cannot take the breast so that it can be sucked.

Disruption of the feeding process

The child may have a heroic appetite, the mother may have breast pain from excess milk, and the baby will still remain hungry if it is incorrectly applied to the breast. A newborn cannot say that "it is uncomfortable for him to suck in this position."

Mom takes off her breasts too early. The child should eat as much as he wants. The milk in the breast is conventionally broken into water and food. The first few sips of milk are dietary and serve as a drink. Hearty, rich in nutrients and fats, milk is further away and you need to get to it. This is the main food of the newborn.

Breast change. For an even flow of milk, you need to change your breasts. When one is completely sucked out, the other should be given. Some people find it uncomfortable to hold the baby on one of the hands, in other cases, the nipple of the breast may be cracked and cause pain when sucking. If you do not follow the rules for changing breasts, the body fails: milk burns out in the unused breast, the body remembers that so much milk is a lot and the next time it produces much less milk. The child naturally lacks it and malnutrition occurs.

External factors

General home environment and family relationships. All family members should be aware of the need for change and support the mother in every possible way. If this does not happen, the woman experiences psychological pressure and negative emotions that negatively affect her attitude towards the child, her responsibilities to him and the lactation process.

What to do if the baby does not eat milk

If suspicions are supported by facts, the first step is to see a pediatrician, he will confirm the diagnosis, and the exact causes of malnutrition will probably also be known. Depending on the source, there are various measures to solve the problem:

The worst case scenario is milk loss. The process can be started, and it is not possible to return lactation. In this case, it is necessary to switch to milk formulas.
The process of cessation of lactation is at an early stage. In this case, the cause of the violation of lactation is determined, which must be immediately eliminated, and as a second stage, to increase lactation - for this, products are prescribed that increase milk production in the female body. In addition, the feeding process itself stimulates lactation. It is necessary to strictly comply with all the rules for feeding newborns.
Food. should be balanced, and meals by the hour. This is necessary to correct the absorption of nutrients in the maternal body.
Drink. The more a woman drinks fluids, the more raw materials will be in her body for milk production.
Walking. Walk a lot and for a long time, with the child. Both mom and baby will work up an appetite, breathe in fresh air and get a portion of emotional calmness. The route should not go along the road in the very center of the city, but along green areas (squares, alleys and recreation parks).
Mom needs to adjust her daily routine, giving enough time for her personal rest and sleep. A nursing mother should be slept and rested.
Night feedings. They are required. They support milk flow and replenish the baby's energy consumption.
Do not give a bottle to the baby. It is easier to drink from a bottle than to suckle at the breast and the baby will quickly understand this.
Observe breast hygiene.
promotes lactation and prevents milk stagnation () with subsequent inflammation.

The need to introduce complementary foods

Complementary foods are introduced exclusively as directed by the pediatrician. This is a crucial step that radically changes the life of the child and the mother. It is important to understand that the transition to artificial feeding destroys the process laid down by nature in the child's body. Without a doubt, it is necessary, at all costs, to strive to maintain breastfeeding. Complementary foods are less beneficial and may cause allergies. The selection of complementary foods will take time, and the newborn's body will experience stress when changing food. The introduction of complementary foods is a last resort if breast milk cannot be stored, or the baby is rapidly losing weight.