Understand that the baby has enough. Is the baby getting enough breast milk? How to understand that a baby does not have enough milk

10.05.2016 12:00:00

If you find that you have, read this article. Lactation consultant Emma Pickett gives breastfeeding mums advice on what to do if they don't have enough milk.

Forgive me for this question, but... Are you really low on milk?

I would like to start with this important question. Please be patient. My question is not related to doubts about your situation, and I would not want to appear in your eyes as a woman, a lactation consultant, annoying with my arrogance. However, I think it is critically important to note the fact that most women who have recently become mothers suspect they have a lack of milk. This is often not the case.

Most women who start because they have doubts about whether the baby is getting enough milk or not do not actually have this problem.

Every day, mothers succumb to unreasonable panic and stop breastfeeding or start supplementing with formula, although in fact everything is fine with their lactation. In most cases, unjustified introduction of supplementary feeding, without adequate support, leads to the fact that the volume of milk produced actually decreases.

Not enough milk: when you only think it is

1. If your baby cannot withstand X-hour intervals between feedings, this does not mean that you have little milk.

Even though the book on your coffee table says he “should” last, or your mother-in-law says, or your friend’s baby can handle X number of hours between feedings, this is not a sign of low milk supply.

A happy, healthy baby of a wonderful mother with full lactation may become hungry again 1 hour after the previous feeding or after 1.5 hours, or maybe after 45 minutes or after 2 hours. Babies can latch on to the breast very often (cluster feedings - approx.) and even not let the breast out of their mouth for a very long time. During growth spurts, babies can breastfeed every hour during the day.

2. Stopping milk leakage is not a sign of insufficient milk production.

Some mothers leak less than others. Most breastfeeding women notice that milk leakage decreases week after week. The tiny nipple sphincter muscles that open/close the duct openings become increasingly trained.

3. The feeling of soft breasts, empty, not filling as before, is not a sign of a lack of milk.

Excessive breast fullness, which a nursing mother feels at the initial stage of breastfeeding, is associated with vascular edema (blood and lymph) and the body’s unusual storage of excess milk between feedings.

Gradually, the mammary glands adapt to storage (do not forget that milk is produced constantly, including during feeding), over time, as the development of glandular tissue slows down, a smaller volume of blood and lymph is required to produce breast milk.

During the initial stages of breastfeeding, it is usually quite easy to determine which breast to offer at the next feeding. This feeling passes. And many mothers mistakenly associate this with a decrease in milk production. Not all women continue to feel heaviness and fullness throughout the entire period of breastfeeding. Waiting “until your chest is full” is fundamentally wrong. This means a lack of understanding of the physiology of lactation, which varies depending on the length of the breastfeeding period.

The more full the breast, the slower the milk is produced; in an empty breast, milk is produced faster. “Empty” soft breasts can produce a significantly larger daily volume of milk compared to overfilled heavy breasts.

4. Short feedings are not a sign that you don't have enough milk.

Many babies get everything they need in less than 10 minutes at the breast. Perhaps not in 5 minutes, although some feedings can be that short. Many babies use their tongue and maxillofacial muscles very effectively in the process of sucking the breast, they swallow, swallow, swallow, gradually the pace of sucking slows down, the milk becomes thicker and denser, and eventually they release the breast with satisfaction. Feeding can last 9 minutes or 19.

The baby can spend up to 30 minutes emptying the breast (the breast is never completely empty; by “emptying” we mean that the baby has sucked the amount of milk he needs for that particular feeding). As they grow older, the duration of feedings may be significantly reduced. And this does not mean at all that there is less milk.

Short flaccid ineffective sucking and rapid falling asleep at the breast of a newborn with jaundice is another problem.

Long feedings, however, are not always a sign of successful breastfeeding.

5. Small breasts are not a sign of lack of milk.

Large breasts, in addition to the glandular breast, are filled with adipose tissue. It is a mistake to judge milk production only by breast size.

We will consider the issue of “unusual” breast appearance, which worries a nursing woman, a little later.

6. Frequent waking of the baby is not a sign that you have little milk.

Many babies breastfeed quite often in the first months of life, at regular intervals day and night. Many older babies continue to wake up for feedings every 2-3 hours.

7. A baby who does not fall asleep after feeding does not mean that he does not have enough milk.

So, the mother feeds the baby, he falls asleep on the chest, she transfers him to the crib, and he immediately wakes up, as if he had been placed on a prickly hedgehog. He wakes up and starts looking for the chest again. This happens because, being in the mother’s arms, feeling her warmth, smell, contacting her skin, the baby relaxes, warms up and feels very cozy. A cradle or crib does not have all these properties; they are not a mother.

The most likely reason for awakening when transferring is the activation of the Moro reflex (fright, jumping up). 15-30 minutes after feeding, the level of the hormone cholecystokinin in the blood decreases, so when transferred from hand, babies are more sensitive to external irritants. A small infant, like all primate mammals, needs the accessibility and proximity of the mother's breast; this is the best place for him. Sucking at the breast has a relaxing effect on babies. They love to suckle in their sleep. This does not mean that there is not enough milk.

8. Your baby's willingness to continue bottle feeding after nursing does not mean you have low milk supply.

The position of the nipple at a certain point on the baby's upper palate stimulates his sucking reflex. Babies continue to suckle from a bottle even when they are full for this reason. The consequence of such unreasonable supplementary feeding can be overweight and obesity.

9. The absence of hot flashes does not mean that your milk supply is low.

Some breastfeeding mothers feel a tingling sensation in their breasts when their milk comes in, others do not. Most people experience this sensation in the first few weeks, and gradually this effect disappears, which provokes anxiety in nursing women. In reality, this should not be taken as an indicator of lactation problems. Changes in sensations are normal.

10. Small volumes of milk obtained during pumping are not a sign of a lack of milk.

The processes of pumping and breastfeeding have significant differences. The baby extracts milk from the breast in a completely different way. Many women with normal full lactation are unable to express large amounts of milk, because in response to expressing the milk separation reflex (let-down) does not work fully. A breast pump is not suitable for everyone, and the parts wear out.

These are the only signs that indicate you have low milk supply.

1. Problems with weight gain. The baby is born and then loses weight. Within two weeks after birth, he regains the weight he was born with. Further increases average 150-200 g per week. After about 4 months, the intensity of weight gain usually decreases. If weight loss exceeds 10% of birth weight in the first days after birth, this is a cause for close attention, but other factors, such as how the birth was, should also be assessed.

• Were there intravenous infusions during labor that filled mom and baby with extra fluid?
• Does the newborn look edematous, similar to the Marshmallow Man in photographs of the first days of life?

This fluid increases birth weight and leaves the body in the first few days, so we may see a lot of weight loss. But this is not necessarily due to lack of nutrition or milk production. However, after the 5th day, weight loss should stop and not recur. Some babies take 3 weeks to regain their birth weight.

Look at the weight gain chart provided in your red book (UK Individual Child Health Record, this shows the WHO weight gain charts). Please note that the graph has a line corresponding to birth weight, then the curves are interrupted and resumed in the second week.

If your baby's birth weight is at the 75th percentile, you shouldn't expect him to stay exactly that way after two weeks. This is why the lines do not continue and there is missing space. Resumption occurs after two weeks, and the baby’s weight may be closer to the 50th percentile; then, ideally, weight gain should correspond to this benchmark. But in reality, weight gain fluctuates around a reference point or may decline and approach the 25th percentile before jumping back up.

Therefore, most children gain weight on their own schedule, not exactly following a certain percentile line. These graphs are a guide, average data, but not a mathematical pattern.

2. Diapers. In the first 4 weeks, we focus on the number of bowel movements and urinations. After the milk comes in, 2-5 days after birth, the norm should be at least 6 wet diapers and stool 3 times a day, each the size of half a tablespoon or more. After 4 weeks, some babies may experience a decrease in stool frequency; this is normal. Sometimes stool may be absent for several days without the need for supplemental feeding.

Weight gain and diapers. It is these and only these indicators that can be used to reliably assess milk production. You've probably heard the opinion that "baby should calm down after feeding," but some babies need to pass gas, poop or burp, others wake up and demand a second helping. Therefore, it is better not to be guided by this opinion, but to monitor weight gain and diapers.

So let's sum it up, are you really low on milk? I am sincerely sorry if this is indeed the case. If your baby gained only 60 g in the last week and 90 g or less or nothing at all in the week before, and the gain curve on the graph is trending downward. I'm sorry because I understand how scary this feeling is, there is nothing more important. Then here's what you can do.

Not enough milk: what to do

1. Find helpers

Find people who have experience with breastfeeding. The help of a person who advises you to use the mixture in the current situation is unlikely to be useful to you. If his help is limited to only this proposal, most likely he does not understand much about breastfeeding; it is necessary to find a knowledgeable assistant who understands the laws of lactation. Experienced people can also recommend using formula (or donor milk), but only in small quantities and in special cases, but at the same time they will give effective recommendations that will help maintain and increase milk production.

You need help from your loved ones. If you plan to follow the recommendations below, you will need the support of loving people who will take care of you - cook a meal, run an occasional bath for you... and send a message before your next baby weigh-in at the clinic next week about what they think about you.

2. Effective organization of breastfeeding

A lactation consultant or IBCLC (lactation consultant) should evaluate attachment and latch. Something in the sucking process may not be ideal, even despite the absence of injury or deformation of the nipples after feeding. Application check:

• Is your baby's chin tucked far enough into your chest?
• Is the baby's tummy pressed tightly enough against your body?
• Are the ear, shoulder and hip on the same line (axis)?

In addition to latching, the consultant will also evaluate the organization of the breastfeeding process. How often do you feed? Perhaps your baby is not showing signs of readiness to suck very clearly, or someone told you that you need to wait until he shows them, and therefore there are sometimes 4-hour breaks between feedings? Maybe you should breastfeed more often?

The specialist may also need to examine your baby more closely. Is there a reason that prevents him from efficiently producing milk? The consultant will evaluate the frenulum of the tongue (whether it is short or of the posterior (submucosal, ingrown) type), the anatomy of the jaw, and palate. If certain structural features are discovered, the consultant will offer to master and practice deeper attachment and different feeding positions, or recommend contacting a specialist who deals with these problems (for example, trimming the frenulum).

How do you alternate breasts? Too often? (And the baby doesn’t get enough fat). OR did someone advise you to “glue” the baby to one breast forever so that he gets to the “hind” milk, and the baby doesn’t really eat anything in 45 minutes? Perhaps, on the contrary, you need to alternate breasts every 20-30 minutes and then the baby will receive a larger volume of milk in general from both breasts, including milk rich in fats. Either alternating your breasts too often or too infrequently can cause problems with weight gain. Find a specialist who will teach you to identify the moments when the baby swallows, navigate in what situation it is necessary to offer the breast and understand when full feeding can be considered complete.

How do you know if your baby is not getting enough breast milk? There are different ways, but they are all very imperfect. Yes, you can express completely and measure the resulting volume, 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 children's behavior. Be observant and soon you will be able to accurately determine whether your baby is full or not. It is useful to know the principles of proper feeding, as well as the signs and causes of too little milk in the breast.

Feeding expressed milk from a measuring bottle is not the best way to determine the amount of food you eat

How can you tell if you have enough milk?

How can you tell if your baby is full of breast milk? Some signs will help here. There are 5 of them in total:

1. The number of feedings per day is 8-12. There may be more of them, this will also be the norm. Frequent latching is explained by three factors:
   • the baby needs close contact with the mother;
   • his small stomach is simply not able to accommodate a lot of food;
   • rapid digestion of breast milk.
2. The duration of one feeding is at least 20 minutes. You should not determine the duration of food intake - the baby should suckle until he is full. If he stops eating and behaves calmly, babbles cheerfully or sleeps peacefully, it means he has had enough milk. Make sure that the feeding position (both yours and the baby’s) does not cause discomfort.
3. A clearly visible swallowing reflex. Make sure your baby doesn't just smack, but swallows. At first he will do this often because he is hungry, and the so-called near milk is thin and not very nutritious. After a few minutes, swallowing will become less frequent, as hunger will dull, and distant milk is thicker, you need to make an effort to swallow it.
4. The child is gaining weight according to the norms (we recommend reading:). In the first days, the baby's weight will become less than what it was at birth. This is normal, since the body gets rid of meconium (original feces formed in the womb) and tissue swelling. Weight gain begins to be monitored 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 he is active and curious; animated, but not overexcited. When he wants to eat, his chest demands loudly; when he is full, he sleeps peacefully or is awake. The pink color of the 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 you have doubts, you can use measuring the amount of urine and feces.

Insufficient nutrition

Dear reader!

This article talks about typical ways to solve your issues, but each case is unique! If you want to know how to solve your particular problem, ask your question. It's fast and free!

To understand that your baby does not have enough breast milk, there are 3 simple tests:

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

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

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

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

Tracking weight gain is a safe and easy way to know if your baby is getting enough breastmilk

Day and night, you need to carefully monitor the condition of your baby. There are signs that indicate not just a lack of nutrition, but already 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 viscous;
• the baby is crying, but you don’t see any tears (we recommend reading:);
• the skin has become loose (if you lightly pinch it, it will not immediately smooth out);
• there is an unpleasant odor from the mouth;
• dark, rich urine with a pungent odor that appears 6 or fewer times a day.

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

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

Why is there not enough milk?

The main reason why a child does not have enough breast milk is very simple and banal - an improperly organized process of natural feeding. Let's see what factors lead to this:

1. Adherence to a strict regime. Lactation specialists have come to the conclusion that the process should be natural. You need to feed your baby when he asks. The only thing that is advisable to observe is the time interval between feedings, which should be at least 2 hours.
2. Feedings are too short. The baby should eat until he is full. One feeding should last at least 20 minutes.
3. The baby does not latch onto the breast correctly.
4. When feeding, you take an uncomfortable position (we recommend reading:).
5. Reduce night feedings or completely eliminate them. Feeding at night and in the morning maximizes lactation.
6. Abuse of pacifiers.
7. Bottle feeding.
8. . They prevent proper nipple latching. They can only be used temporarily when the nipple is injured.

Silicone shields can only be used for medical reasons, as they cause improper nipple latching compared to natural feeding conditions.

The breasts begin to fill only 2-3 days after a natural birth and 5-6 after a cesarean section, but you need to continue to put the baby to the breast (we recommend reading:). Firstly, as long as he has enough colostrum, secondly, breastfeeding is the best stimulator of lactation.

There are other reasons why a baby may not get enough breast milk. Among them:

• poor nutrition of the 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 functioning of the baby’s digestive system;
• runny nose and swelling of the nasal mucosa, which is why the baby simply cannot breathe normally and suckle;
• the toddler is too large and lacks nutrition;
• The baby is too weak and simply does not have the strength to eat for a long time.

Stress in a nursing mother can also cause the baby to not eat enough and not have enough milk.

Correct feeding process

If you realize that your baby does not have enough breast milk due to non-compliance with feeding rules, then solving the problem is not very difficult. You need to eliminate mistakes and provide yourself and your child with everything so that no more difficulties arise in the future. Follow the recommendations:

1. Feed your baby when he demands. The more he suckles, the more milk production is stimulated.
2. Don't rush your child. When he is satisfied, he will simply release the breast.
3. Make sure . The baby's mouth should be wide open and cover not only the nipple, but the entire areola. If it only grips the nipple, the nutritional fluid will not be sucked out and you will experience severe pain. You should also be able to hear the baby swallowing.
4. Make sure that when feeding, sitting or lying down is comfortable for both of you. The child's head and back should be on the same straight line, the head slightly higher than the legs. Study for GW.
5. It is advisable to place the baby on only one breast at one feeding. This way he will suck everything out completely.
6. Weak babies sleep a lot, so they often have to be woken up to feed them. During the day, do this at least every 3 hours, and at night - after 5. Before feeding, you can wash the 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, so babies often refuse the 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 tolerate feeding.
8. Get plenty of rest and sleep. Sacrifice household chores for good rest. The more tired you are, 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 plenty of warm fluids.
11. If you find your baby has health problems, be sure to show him to the doctor.

7 myths about lactation

When young mothers are seriously concerned about whether their baby is getting enough breast milk, they may listen to dubious and completely meaningless advice, and wrong actions can have disastrous results. Let's dispel some of the myths regarding feeding and warn ourselves against mistakes:

1. Weighing the baby before and after feeding to determine if he or she is getting enough to eat. The readings will be so inaccurate that the procedure loses all meaning. Weighings no more than once a week are considered more or less objective.
2. . To produce more milk, the baby must suckle well at the breast. If you apply too little to your breast and give additional formula, be prepared for lactation to become even worse.
3. Supplementation with cow's or goat's milk. The newborn's gastrointestinal tract cannot yet digest such food. Drinking cow's or goat's milk can cause tummy problems.
4. Complementary feeding before six months. Adult foods, even in small quantities, can also lead to digestive problems.
5. or other liquid before introducing complementary foods. This is not at all necessary, since breast milk consists of 86% water and is quite sufficient.
6. Mother's consumption of milk in order to increase her own production. Milk in the mammary glands is formed from blood, so it makes no sense to further overload your diet. In order for it to form and be saturated, you need vitamins and other beneficial substances, which the mother receives with proper nutrition.

Natural feeding is providing the child not only with food, but also with good immunity, as well as spiritual closeness with the mother. If you want your little one to grow and develop fully, make every effort to maintain and normalize this process. Very soon you will see that it cannot be replaced by anything else.

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

A lack of milk for a breastfed baby is unpleasant because the baby will begin to lose weight as a result of a lack of nutrients. Lack of breast milk can be determined by the following signs:

• no weight gain during monthly weighing;
• the child shows anxiety, constantly pulls away from the breast, after which he again greedily grabs the nipple;
• The baby makes a lot of sucking movements with a minimum of swallowing. The normal ratio is one swallowing movement to four sucking movements;
• the baby cannot withstand the required time intervals between feedings, which range from two to three hours.
• The child’s total amount of urine excreted sharply decreases and in general he begins to urinate rarely. During the first month of his life, a child, as a rule, urinates every hour; by the time he is one year old, he urinates once every two hours.

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

How to understand that there is not enough breast milk

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

• You can count the number of diapers that the child managed to wet. For a baby who gets enough nutrients, it is normal to urinate six or eight times during the day. To get the real picture, it makes sense to abandon disposable diapers in favor of gauze or cloth diapers for one or two days.
• It is worth carefully examining the child’s stool. If it is yellow in color and has a granular structure, possibly with some undigested lumps, then this indicates that the stool is normal. A baby who receives a sufficient amount of milk, which is high in calories, has stool once or twice a day, since mother's milk has a significant laxative effect.
• Green stool in a child may indicate lactase deficiency. This means that as a result of feeding, he sucks out the foremilk, so called because it contains a lot of sugar, but does not reach the so-called hind milk, which has the greatest nutritional value. Maybe the whole question is precisely that for his full development it is precisely this diet that he lacks.
• The breasts should be carefully assessed before and immediately after feeding. If after feeding the breast softens and falls, despite the fact that before feeding it was full and tight, it means that the child is full. If your breasts leak between feedings, this is evidence that there is good milk production.
• It makes sense to monitor how the baby behaves during feeding. If he releases the breast on his own, after which he falls asleep, or does not sleep, but looks cheerful and his cheeks are rounded, it means he is full. If, after the child has eaten, he regurgitates a curd mass or whey, this is evidence that there is no problem of lack of milk at all - on the contrary, the child is overfed. However, if regurgitation of milk occurs, you should contact your pediatrician, as there may be other problems.
• You should pay attention to how the child gains weight. With a normal diet, in the first two months of life, children gain from one hundred to two hundred grams of weight per week, up to six months, 500-1100 grams per month, from six months to a year, 550-650 grams per month. These are average parameters, since weight gain depends on a number of different factors, such as the child’s weight at birth, his height, and physique.
• The following test can help determine whether the baby is getting enough breast milk or not: you need to squeeze the area of ​​the baby’s skin above the bones and muscles with two fingers. If he gets enough milk, his skin is firm to the touch with a good layer of fat. Skin that separates loosely from bones and muscles and is wrinkled to the touch indicates a lack of milk for the baby. It is necessary to contact your pediatrician and establish breastfeeding. Perhaps the pediatrician will prescribe a supplementary formula if necessary. In any case, you should consult a pediatrician, since the issue of feeding is very important and it is advisable to avoid mistakes in it.

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

Various literary sources interpret the concept of lactation crisis differently. This is the name for a temporary decrease in the amount of milk produced by the body of a nursing mother or a sudden lack of milk caused by the baby’s increased appetite.

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

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

All this time, the mother thinks that her child is hungry. At the same time, he drinks milk from both breasts, he becomes capricious, puts more and more pressure on the breast, and gets nervous.

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

There is not enough breast milk, what should I do?

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

Today, more and more experts are inclined to believe that a newborn baby should be fed according to his demand, and not according to the clock. The child knows better when he should eat. However, if your baby is not feeding well and is gaining weight, you should feed him every two hours. At night, in order to feed, the baby should be woken up every three or four hours.

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

If it is determined that the baby does not have enough breast milk, the woman should adhere to the proper diet and regimen. You should eat hot food three times a day. The diet of a nursing mother should include all kinds of cereals, pasta made from durum wheat, meat, fish, eggs, poultry, baked, boiled and stewed vegetables. When a month has passed after childbirth, it is necessary to add raw fruits and vegetables and fermented milk products to the diet.

The mother is advised to drink a lot during breastfeeding. Tea, preferably with milk, a variety of compotes, jelly, and rosehip infusions are good options. A woman should always keep a cup of drink next to her.

There is not enough breast milk, how to supplement?

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

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

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

Supplemental feeding of a child with milk-based formulas should be done if the measurement results indicate that the child does not receive the required amount of mother's milk when feeding naturally. For information on the average amount of milk consumed during feeding of a baby of a certain age, you can contact your pediatrician or the appropriate tables.

The baby should be fed only after breastfeeding and only with a spoon. Otherwise, if the baby is not particularly hungry, having received formula for feeding, the baby may not want to take mother’s milk again, and if bottle-fed, he will prefer to suck on her nipple, which is easier to do than sucking milk from the mother’s breast.

Milk-based formula should be introduced into the child’s diet gradually, with a dosage starting from 10 ml per breastfeeding, while doubling the amount of complementary feeding every day until it is brought to the volume calculated in advance. If supplementary feeding needs to be carried out several times during the day, no more than one additional supplementary feeding is allowed each day.

The supplementary feeding mixture should be prepared using the appropriate recommendations given for its preparation. These recommendations are indicated by the manufacturer on the can of formula or on the box.

The composition of breast milk is most suitable for the proper growth of a newborn. The beneficial properties of this product strengthen and support the immune system, and also have a beneficial effect on the physical and psychological development of the child. The ensemble of fats, proteins and carbohydrates adapts to the changing and increasing needs of the baby, focusing on various factors, such as the stage of breastfeeding or time of day. Lack of milk affects the baby's behavior. The consequences of low milk supply include restlessness and poor sleep, which can lead to serious neurological problems. Is your baby getting enough milk? How much milk should a newborn or infant drink at a time or per day? How can you tell if your baby has enough milk? And what to do if the baby still doesn’t have enough breast milk?

How much milk should a newborn drink?

There is an opinion that a child should absorb an amount of breast milk equal to a fifth of its own weight per day. However, the figures are theoretical and do not represent an established norm or law. A breastfed baby eats as much as he needs. It is almost impossible to undereat or overeat, since the baby himself controls the process and will be able to stop when hunger is satisfied. The situation is different with a bottle-fed child. In this case, you should strictly follow the feeding schedule and volumes.

You should not rely on weight measurements before and after feeding, as the results of such diagnostics are often incorrect. When assessing the height and weight of a child based on the results of the chart, it should be remembered that artificially fed children participated in the compilation of this chart. If a child consistently gains more than 500 g every month, then there is nothing to worry about. Otherwise, you should seek advice from a specialist.

How to tell if a newborn has enough milk

When watching their baby, mothers are often concerned about whether he is hungry. The baby's anxious state and short snacks suggest difficulties with breastfeeding. Usually the cause of a baby's restless behavior is individual reasons that are completely unrelated to the lactation process. Concern for the healthy development of a child makes you wonder what are the signs of malnutrition?

The baby does not have enough milk in the following cases:

1. Within half a month from the moment of birth, the baby has not regained its original weight, and subsequently the weight gain per month is less than 500g.
2. At the end of feeding, the baby does not calm down and may not let go of the breast for a long time.
3. The baby has a constantly worried state, which does not change to satisfaction after eating.
4. Rare urination.
5. Frequent urination, but rare stools with a thick, dense consistency. Such signs may indicate a lack of hindmilk.

It is believed that the lactation process is proceeding normally, and there is no reason to worry if:

1. After feeding, the child behaves calmly and contentedly, and can go without milk for quite a long time, about two hours.
2. The number of urinations per day should be about a dozen times. Urine has a slight, elusive odor and a faint, almost imperceptible color. If the baby is constantly in a diaper, and it is changed about 5 times a day, then this state of affairs can be considered a sign of satiety.
3. Monthly weight gain is at least 500 g.
4. Regular soft stools.
5. The baby falls asleep after eating or during it.

Does the baby have enough milk: methods for determining

There are several methods to determine whether it is worth supplementing your baby.

Method 1. Wet diapers

The essence of the method is to calculate how many times during the day the baby urinates. To conduct such an experiment, you need to stock up on diapers and choose a suitable day when you can put things aside and devote your free time to washing. After removing your child from a diaper for a day, you need to count the number of urinations in 24 hours. If the number of wet diapers is more than a dozen, then there is no reason to worry, the baby is fed and happy!

Method 2. Weight norm

The World Health Organization has tried and produced a chart that shows the normal height and weight of a baby at different age periods. Based on the information received, we can conclude that a healthy child should gain from 500 g to 2 kg per month. Regular weight gain is a sure indicator that the lactation process is proceeding successfully.

Method 3. Bowel regularity

A baby who eats enough should have bowel movements up to 5 times a day in the first month of life. For several days after birth, the baby's stool has a thick consistency and dark color. Then the stool becomes light brown and slightly increases in size. At the initial stage of life, with good nutrition, the number of bowel movements should almost coincide with the number of meals. Irregular stool or its complete absence is a signal of a lack of milk.

Method 4. Observation

The baby may feel hungry if it has not been properly attached to the breast. You can understand that everything is done accurately by watching how the baby swallows. When taking a sip, the baby's chin makes a pushing movement towards the chest. The duration of the reception shows the amount of milk received. If the throat is not heard, you should change the position of the baby, achieving the correct position at the chest.

What to do if your baby doesn't have enough milk

• The baby should be put to the breast more often to increase milk supply. It is better to avoid using nipples and pacifiers, as the sucking process will be easier than with mother's breasts. The baby may be lazy or even refuse the more difficult task of sucking the breast.
• At the initial stage of breastfeeding, the remaining milk after feeding should be expressed. This action will activate the process of milk production and prevent possible stagnation, which is fraught with adverse consequences.
• Put your baby to your breast not only during the day, but also at night with equal frequency.
• Perhaps the reason for the lack of milk is a lack of fluid in the mother's body. The daily intake is 2 liters.
• Long-term feedings have a positive effect on milk production.

If you have questions regarding lactation, you should contact a breastfeeding specialist who will competently and clearly explain how to solve the problem.

Does the baby have enough milk - video

Learn more about breastfeeding and how much milk a baby should drink, whether he has enough milk and what to do if not - in an instructive video for young parents.

How do you know if your baby is getting enough milk? This question is asked by all mothers of infants, without exception. Mothers of artificial babies have an advantage over us, nursing mothers - they always know exactly how much their treasure has eaten. But, nevertheless, centuries of experience of nursing mothers makes it easy to determine whether everything is in order with breastfeeding and whether the baby is getting enough food. This question is answered, among others, by Dr. Mira Leibovitch and Dr. Dina Zimmerman in their monthly leaflet for Israeli health workers, “Information about breastfeeding.” I decided to translate and post this information here.

So, what questions should a nursing mother ask herself to find out if her baby has enough milk?

1. How is the baby behaving? A healthy child wakes up to eat every 2-3, maximum 4 hours. There are also babies who wake up every hour and a half (although they will usually take a longer interval between feedings at night or in the morning). If a small baby does not wake up to eat, after 4 hours he should be fed anyway - catch the moment when he is fussing in his sleep and offer him the breast. Many babies suck well in their sleep!

If it is difficult to wake up the child, he falls asleep on the chest after several sluggish sucks, and this behavior continues around the clock - you should show the child to the pediatrician and contact a lactation consultant.
You should also seek professional help if your baby is extremely fussy, never sleeps for more than 20-30 minutes, cries a lot and breastfeeds too much, and this condition continues for more than a day - and especially if other “indicators” of malnutrition are added to this behavior .

2. How many wet and dirty diapers do you change per day? From about 4-5 days of age, the baby's stool will be yellow, almost liquid, sometimes with lumps. Urine should be clear. During the day you should count at least 6 wet and 4 dirty diapers. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish a wet diaper from a dry one. In this case, you can put a paper napkin in it. All this is true up to the age of 4-8 weeks - after all, at the age of a month or two, babies may not poop for several days and this is completely normal. If your baby is over a month old and has switched to more adult poop mode, limit yourself to counting wet diapers.

If your baby doesn't have enough bowel movements, or the stool is dark green and dry, or if he doesn't urinate a lot or the urine is dark in color, this may indicate a feeding problem. Contact your pediatrician and lactation consultant.

3. How much weight has the child gained? Breasts should gain at least 125-150 grams per week in the first weeks. You shouldn’t weigh your baby too often (there’s no point in keeping a scale at home! It only makes mom nervous and makes her feel anxious and unsure), but if you have any doubts, ask the Tipat Halav nurse to weigh your baby out of turn, at, say, a week old or two. Remember that the countdown should not begin with the baby's weight at birth, but with the lowest point of weight - many babies lose up to 7-10% of their birth weight within a few days after birth. At about 10 days of age they should gain that 7-10% back. There is no point in doing “control weighings” before and after feeding. Regular baby scales are not accurate enough for this. There is also no point in weighing a child on different scales - there can be a difference of up to 200 grams between them! Remember also that weight gain is a very individual matter. If your baby has gained only 650 grams per month, while the neighbor’s has gained a whole one and a half kilograms (yes, there are such heroes!) - this does not mean that you have little milk!

If your baby has not gained any weight at all, or has gained very little (less than 120 grams per week), or worse, has lost weight, you should contact a lactation consultant and your pediatrician.

4. For newborns - what is the level of bilirubin in the child's blood (newborn jaundice)? If bilirubin increases in the first days after birth, this is often due to insufficient nutrition. A baby with high bilirubin levels will be sleepy and have weak breastfeeding, which can make the baby's condition worse. In this case, you should consult a doctor. There is no need to stop feeding and switch your baby to formula, but it may be worth expressing milk and giving it after feeding from a spoon or from a syringe without a needle.

If it turns out that the baby is not getting enough milk, what is the reason? Could it be that the mother simply does not have milk?
In very rare cases, the mother is actually unable to produce the required amount of milk for medical reasons. For example, some women with an underactive thyroid gland, women suffering from severe clinical depression, or women who have had breast surgery.
However, in these cases it is usually possible to increase the amount of milk. It is worth talking to a lactation consultant before switching your baby to formula. But in most cases, the baby's malnutrition is due to the fact that he sucks little or ineffectively. Ineffective sucking is most often the result of a poor latch, when the baby holds only the nipple in his mouth and his tongue is too close to the nipple. In this case, he fails to reach the main amount of milk, and as a result he remains hungry, and in turn, less and less milk is produced in the breast (since the body receives a “signal” that milk is not needed). Often, a poor latch on the breast causes pain to the mother, cracks appear on the nipples, the breasts initially become full, then lactostasis can form and, as a result, mastitis. Therefore, if a mother has cracked nipples and the baby seems “undernourished”, for example, he has too few dirty diapers, you should immediately contact a lactation consultant who will help you correct your latch.

But there are also babies who seem to breastfeed perfectly, according to all the rules, and yet do not get enough food. This can happen if the baby is weakened after a difficult birth with a lot of medication, if he has neurological problems, hypotonia, a too short frenulum under the tongue, or if he has already been given a bottle and is now trying to bottle feed from the breast. All these problems can be solved with the help of a professional lactation consultant, but in the meantime you should express milk (to maintain lactation) and supplement your baby with a spoon, from a syringe without a needle, or from a cup. If the mother already has significantly less milk than she had at first (due to insufficient breast stimulation) and what the baby needs, it is important to express more often to stimulate the breast and increase the milk supply, and give him complementary foods (formula) only if so recommended by a lactation consultant. Complementary feeding should be discontinued as soon as lactation stabilizes.

It is important to always follow the following rules:

• Feed on demand, and not according to the regime. Routine feeding usually reduces milk supply and can lead to malnutrition in the baby.
• At every feeding let your baby nurse from one breast as much as he wants. Don't look at the clock or transfer him to the other breast before he has emptied the first. Artificially limiting sucking from the breast can lead to a lack of fat in the baby’s diet (and, as a result, to underweight), because the fattest milk begins to flow at the end of feeding.
• After your baby has emptied the first breast, be sure to offer him the second one.. Sometimes he will take it, and sometimes he won't. It should be his decision, since only he knows whether he is already full or not. There are children who always eat from only one breast - but even they can be offered the second breast if they seem unhappy after feeding.
• There are babies who eat a little from the breast and then give it up because they need to have a bowel movement. In this case, of course, return the baby to the same breast.
• Sometimes your baby will ask for the breast more often than usual - this is completely normal.. Don't offer him the bottle and don't worry. Milk can't just go to waste. Just feed, changing breasts often. This behavior rarely lasts more than two days. It usually means that the baby has grown and needs more milk.