How can I tell if my breastfed baby is getting enough
milk?
By Susan Condon, IBCLC, CLE, CLC [See Biography]
Question: How can I tell if my breastfed baby is
getting enough milk?
Answer: "How can I tell if my healthy, full-term,
exclusively breastfed newborn is getting enough milk"
is the question my patients ask most often.
Ironically, a woman's own doubt about her milk supply
is why most mothers stop breastfeeding within the
first two weeks after birth.
No doubt you are giving your baby enough milk, but you
may feel unsure and you shouldn't hesitate, in the
early days of breastfeeding, to check in with a nurse
or lactation consultant. You'll probably feed your
baby while the consultant observes you and gives you
valuable breastfeeding tips. In most cases, improved
breastfeeding techniques will quickly resolve any
problems you may be having. You can also get help from
an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
(IBCLC).
Keep in touch with your baby's doctor if the baby
isn't gaining well or is losing weight; slow weight
gain may indicate a serious health problem.
Once the first sleepy day or two have passed, your
baby may seem to be hungry all the time for the first
couple of weeks. And he probably is, since babies
digest breast milk within a couple of hours of
consuming it. Most newborns want to nurse eight to 15
times a day after the first three or four days of
life. Feed your baby as often as he needs it.
Schedules have no place while you're getting
breastfeeding under way. Weighing your baby probably
won't reassure you, since newborns normally lose 5 to
7 percent of their birth weight and most take two to
three weeks to regain it.
Nonetheless, you can gauge whether your baby's getting
enough milk. Dehydration in newborns is rare, but
knowing the signs of a healthy eater is important so
you can alert your pediatrician if anything seems
amiss. These include:
• The baby eats at least every two to three hours, or
he's nursing at least eight times in 24 hours for the
first two to three weeks.
• Your breasts are being emptied and feel softer after
nursing.
• Your baby has good color and firm skin that bounces
right back if pinched. (If you pinch a small piece of
a dehydrated baby's skin, it will briefly stay
puckered.)
• Your baby is growing in both length and head
circumference.
• The number of wet diapers starts to increase by the
fifth day, or he's wet at least eight diapers in a
24-hour period. (In the first two days of life, baby
will have only one or two wet diapers.) It's easier to
tell if a cloth diaper is wet than a disposable. Try
putting a small piece of facial tissue or toilet paper
in a disposable diaper each time you change the baby;
you can pull it out and check for moisture.
• You can hear him swallowing while nursing (if the
room is quiet).
• He's passing yellowy-mustard stools or frequent dark
stools, or the stools are beginning to lighten in
color by the fifth day after birth.
http://www.babycenter.com/expert/baby/babybreastfeed/3451.html
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