How to tell if a baby is getting enough breast milk. Signs by which a mother can understand whether a baby is getting enough of breast milk or not. Baby weight gain

There is only one positive thing about using formula: you always know exactly how much your child has eaten at the moment. Breastfeeding is completely different from this. That is why it is important for any mother to understand whether the newborn is getting enough breast milk. Professional, experienced doctors say that there are a number of signs by which you can determine whether your baby is getting enough nutrition.

External signs

If an infant is not receiving enough nutrition, he will try to report this first. For example, a newborn, in case of constant hunger, often opens his mouth, smacks and turns his head to the sides. Thus, he tries to find your breasts and eat. In some cases, anxiety, groaning, and crying may occur. Most often, symptoms appear at the stage when he should be fed immediately.

You can determine whether a child is eating enough by external signs

Other manifestations

The mother must be extremely careful not to miss the signs that usually indicate that the baby is not eating enough.

Additionally, there are a number of external manifestations by which you can tell with absolute certainty whether your child is eating enough. First of all, attention should be paid to the condition of the mother's breasts. It is considered normal when after feeding it becomes empty.
We advise you to find out and constantly monitor your baby’s weight. It must always be within a certain norm. For this purpose, there is a specially designed series of evaluation tables. Parents should have them with them and constantly check the results.
Watch carefully and count the number of diapers that are wet during the day. It is considered normal to change diapers six times within 24 hours. The color and condition of the stool should be mustard yellow and not thick.
Examine the condition of your skin carefully. The baby eats well if his skin is elastic and has a soft pink color. Wrinkled cheeks most often indicate insufficient nutrition and the need for additional feeding using mixtures.

You can tell if your baby is getting enough to eat by observing his behavior during feeding. He should constantly suck and swallow breast milk. The feeding pattern consists of preliminary sucking movements, which are used by the baby to stimulate lactation. After this, slower movements are felt, which are accompanied by periodic swallowing. The child constantly moves his chin up and down.

If you wish, you can watch the pharynx and count exactly how many times he swallowed the milk. A different pattern is typical for a premature baby. He makes a large number of sucking and fewer swallowing movements.

For the child to eat enough, at least forty-five minutes must pass. At the age of a six-month-old baby, this period is reduced to ten minutes.

You should regularly check whether your baby is eating enough. Sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals are necessary for normal growth and development. Nutrition should be complete; breast milk is such an option. Every mother feels her child on a subconscious level, so she will instantly respond to his urges. If necessary, you can always increase breast milk. .

You can also determine whether a child has a complete diet by the regularity and structure of his stool. In the first days of life it should be dark green. Feces should be observed on the diaper at least three times a day. Over time, their color becomes lighter. If during the first day of life a child does not have stool, this is the first sign that he is not receiving enough nutrition.

If the baby does not get enough breast milk, the urine will be characterized by a lack of color and a slightly perceptible aroma of milk.

You can tell if your baby is eating enough by the number of wet diapers.

Breastfeeding experts identify the following signs that characterize a child in a hungry state:

The baby begins to show irritation and anxiety at the moment when the woman’s breasts become empty. If he has eaten well, then by the end of the process the baby should be sleeping soundly.
There should be a two-hour gap between feedings. If the child wakes up earlier, this is the first sign of malnutrition.
The baby does not suckle diligently at the breast, and periodically may release the nipple altogether.

These criteria are the first signal to a mother that her baby is not getting enough feeding. However, the reason may be hidden elsewhere. For example, newborns often suffer from intestinal colic. The disorder may arise due to the nervous emotional state of the mother.

You can determine whether your baby is getting enough nutrition by taking control of the baby's weight. To do this, you should regularly put it on the scales and record the result. It is recommended to weigh the baby before and after feeding. This way you can find out the approximate volume of milk that the baby has sucked. It is recommended to perform the procedure more than once a day.

This is due to the fact that the feeding volume may vary. To obtain an accurate result, weighing is performed every time. Pediatricians note that in normal condition, a child should eat a volume per day that is equal to one fifth of his weight. Deviation from this volume is not always a pathology. The main criteria are still weight gain and good health.

Constantly monitor your child's weight

Daily norm

You can determine whether your baby is getting enough nutrition by checking the established standards. The volume of milk per day depends on the child’s weight and age. Doctors say that up to 4 days of age, milk should enter the child’s body in quantities of up to 200 ml. The volume increases to 600 ml during the first year of the baby's life. It is recommended to regularly put the baby to the breast, in this case you will be insured against the disappearance of lactation. The little person feels his needs, so you will have to adapt to them yourself.

Increased lactation

It is easy to understand that a child is not getting enough feeding. However, later you will have to think about ways to stimulate it. For this, traditional medicine offers infusions and decoctions, and traditional medicine offers medications. They should not be taken without first consulting a doctor. Otherwise, you risk excessive milk production, which will negatively affect the mother's health. The use of any product is permitted only after the approval of the attending physician.

In the first days and even a couple of weeks after birth, lactation is just establishing, your body adapts to the needs of the baby.

There may be a sudden rush of milk or, conversely, the baby will “hang” on the chest for a long time and at the same time look hungry. This is normal for this period.

But then many mothers need confidence that there is enough milk. And when you don’t know how to understand that the baby is full of breast milk, panic and nerves begin. And this is definitely bad for lactation.

Fears and how to dispel them

There can be many reasons for a young mother to worry, but they are especially often worried about whether the baby has enough breast milk. How to understand that a 1-month-old baby is full? Here's what moms usually worry about:

The child eats for a very long time without letting go of the breast;

In fact, this is normal for a baby, because before birth he was always with you and he wants to feel you now, in the first weeks of life.

Give him this closeness - you don’t have to walk or sit for this - you can lie down and relax together. If you put your baby to the breast correctly, he will get enough to eat, but each baby needs a different amount of time to feel full.

The baby quickly lets go of the breast;

Once he let go himself, it means he’s definitely eaten his fill. Or calmed down - after all, babies ask for the breast not only for the sake of saturation, there are many other reasons: thirst, pain, discomfort, loneliness.

And to satisfy these needs, the breast is needed for a short time, only as a form of calm and peace of mind.

You have to feed too often;

In the first months of life, indeed, feedings can be frequent. After all, lactation is just getting better, and besides, the baby grows most actively in the first 3 months after birth.

The body is very smart. It will adapt to the growing needs for milk and will produce more of it if the baby needs it to get enough. And, by the way, in the first month a newborn needs to eat more often than in subsequent months.

The child is restless and capricious;

If this is related to food, then a couple of days at most. Everything else - look for the reason elsewhere.

The baby comes off the breast, but still remains restless;

This is often related to the pressure of the milk rather than the quantity. Either you apply it incorrectly or your tummy hurts. Or perhaps it has to do with your emotional state or the child’s immature nervous system.

Ways to check: is there enough milk?

To reassure yourself and make sure that there is a lot of milk, you need to know ways to understand that a newborn baby is full:

Number of urinations;

Minimum number of times: 8-10, indicates that you need to work on mistakes, since the baby does not suck the required amount of milk.

Think about what you are doing wrong - check the correctness of latching, breastfeed not according to the clock, but according to any requirement, do not supplement with water, remove the pacifier.

If there are 10-12 “wet cases”, this is a normal indicator, if more than 12, you can generally calm down.

Consistency and smell of urine;

It should be transparent and without a pungent odor - then everything is fine.

Feces;

Weight gain;

Here opinions on the amount of increase differ, but the general thing is that until 2-3 months the baby should gain at least 140 grams per week. This is the lower limit of normal. Keep in mind that more is better, less - you need to look for the reason.

Restful sleep;

If a baby sleeps half the night without waking up, it means he definitely ate enough before going to bed. And during the day, such a baby most likely will not be capricious and cry. Don't confuse it with lethargy!

A healthy baby is active, mobile, but does not cry bitterly. A lethargic person will simply lie there and react poorly to everything - this is already a reason for a completely different concern.

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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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:

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.
Feedings are too short. The baby should eat until he is full. One feeding should last at least 20 minutes.
The baby does not latch onto the breast correctly.
When feeding, you take an uncomfortable position (we recommend reading:).
Reduce night feedings or completely eliminate them. Feeding at night and in the morning maximizes lactation.
Abuse of pacifiers.
Bottle feeding.
. 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 that a baby does 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:

Feed your baby when he demands. The more he nurses, the more milk production is stimulated.
Don't rush your child. When he is satisfied, he will simply release the breast.
Make sure that . 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.
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.
It is advisable to place the baby on only one breast at one feeding. This way he will suck everything out completely.
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.
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.
Get plenty of rest and sleep. Sacrifice household chores for good rest. The more tired you are, the less milk you will produce.
Do not refuse help, even if it is offered by a friend who came to visit you.
Eat every time after feeding, that is, at least 5 times a day. Provide yourself with a nutritious diet and plenty of warm fluids.
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:

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.
. 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.
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.
Complementary feeding before six months. Adult foods, even in small quantities, can also lead to digestive problems.
or other liquid before introducing complementary foods. This is not at all necessary, since breast milk consists of 86% water and is quite sufficient.
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.

Many young mothers who decide to breastfeed are concerned about the question: does the baby have enough milk? This issue is especially acute from birth to six months of the baby, when breast milk becomes the only and best source of nutrition for the baby. Very often, a mother, having decided that the child is not getting enough breast milk, under pressure from relatives or the local pediatrician, transfers him to formula, depriving the baby not only of all the beneficial properties of a natural product, but also of full emotional contact, which also forms the basis of natural feeding.

False signs

As a rule, the most common signs that your baby is hungry include:

the anxiety that the baby shows while at the mother’s breast;
the break between feedings is less than 3 hours;
the newborn does not let go of the breast, “hangs” on it.

Despite their well-known nature, you should not focus only on these signs. In most cases, they do report the baby’s discomfort, but not about a feeling of fullness, but about problems with the intestines. If the newborn's behavior demonstrates the presence of all three signs, it is most likely colic. They often intensify in the evening, and are also accompanied by tucking the legs to the tummy and shrill crying after each breastfeeding.

By the way, switching to mixed or artificial feeding in this case will only aggravate the problem, so it is important to let the baby stay at the breast for as long as he wishes, try different ways to relieve pain (warm diaper, massage, etc.), but the most important thing is to be patient and wait until the digestive system matures.

In addition, you should not make one of the most common mistakes of young parents: weighing the child too often, especially after each feeding. In this case, the picture will be distorted, mom and dad will begin to get nervous that the newborn is not gaining weight, and will begin to feed him with formula.

Meanwhile, if you weigh a child no more than once a month, in most cases it will turn out that the baby gains the allotted 600 grams, or even more. To find out the weight gain in the first month, the starting point must be taken not at birth, but at discharge from the hospital. As a rule, during 3-4 days in the maternity hospital, together with the original feces, the newborn loses from 5 to 10% of its own weight, and this is considered the norm.

Restless sleep, which is also considered a sign of malnutrition, is often not indicative: there are many reasons why a baby sleeps less than normal or wakes up frequently. For example, the child feels the mother's nervousness, has an excitable temperament, or experiences physical discomfort that is not associated with a feeling of satiety. In this case, it is best to find information about sleep norms that are relevant for each specific age and start putting the baby to bed at the intervals given in the tables.

Wet diaper test

How can you understand that a child is not getting enough breast milk and is not, for example, suffering from colic? One of the surest signs is an insufficient daily number of wet diapers. So, at the first suspicion that the baby is starving, you need to remove his diaper and count how many diapers he will soil in a day. Starting from a week of age, this number ranges from 12 to 20 pieces. If there are fewer soiled diapers, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the baby does not have enough breast milk.

Indirect signs of insufficient milk supply also include: frequent manifestations of the sucking reflex (smacking lips, tongue, sucking a finger, fist or edge of a diaper, searching movements of the head), dry skin, which is a consequence of dehydration, and a feeling of empty breasts after each feeding. True, the last sign should be treated with caution: it is quite possible that mature lactation has already been established, but the baby is not yet able to suck out such an amount of milk. In this case, you need to pump the breasts for some time after each feeding, achieving not complete emptying, but only a feeling of relief. This will give the baby the opportunity to gradually increase the amount of milk consumed, and the mother to avoid lactostasis and other troubles associated with congestion in the mammary glands.

What interferes with lactation

In the case where it has been established for sure that the child is not getting enough breast milk, it is necessary to find the reason that is interfering with normal lactation. Since breastfeeding involves two participants - mother and baby - it can be associated with either or both of them at once.

So, on the mother’s side, lack of milk may be due to the following reasons:

psycho-emotional stress associated with postpartum depression, fatigue, lack of sleep, lack of support and understanding from loved ones, difficult atmosphere in the family;
improper nutrition of a nursing mother (insufficient or unbalanced);

neglect of the drinking regime (if there is a lack of milk, a nursing mother should drink up to 2 liters of warm liquid per day);
difficulties caused by the breastfeeding process itself (flat nipples, cracks, soreness, lack of mood);
feeding the child by the hour, refusing night feedings or trying to reduce them to a minimum;
giving a child extra water without appropriate reasons (fever, dehydration associated with intestinal disorders and other medical indications);

the use of pacifiers, nipples and bottles, the sucking of which leads to the baby becoming lazy at the breast.

In turn, the baby may be malnourished if proper sucking is interfered with:

runny nose or oral injury;
colic that worsens during feeding;
Incorrect placement at the breast or improper latching of the nipple.

A simple test can help you notice some irregularities in your baby’s behavior: while feeding, you should listen to how your baby swallows. Normally, 2-3 sucking movements alternate with one swallowing movement, however, before this he needs to stimulate milk production by making many sucking movements. If sips are almost inaudible, it is quite possible that the child remains hungry. It is also important to pay attention to feeding time: lactation consultants advise not to limit the newborn in this matter, allowing him to spend as much time at the breast as he wants. Experts note that a newborn needs at least 45 minutes to get enough, while a six-month-old child needs 10.

So, to normalize lactation, it is important to accurately determine whether the baby has enough mother’s milk. The easiest way to do this is to count the number of wet diapers per day. In the case when it is definitely established that the baby is not eating enough, the feeding and resting regime of the nursing mother should be changed. Most often, it is this factor that becomes an obstacle to proper and complete lactation, while others are much less common.

How to tell if your baby is not getting enough breast milk

How can you tell if your baby is getting enough breast milk? This is one of the most common questions asked to pediatricians by young mothers who believe that the baby is malnourished due to a lack of milk in the breast. Their fears are quite understandable, because the development of the baby largely depends on the quality and quantity of nutrition in the first year of life. So, how do you know if your baby has enough milk and what to do if natural nutrition is not enough?

How to determine?

If a young mother is trying to find out how to understand whether the baby is getting enough breast milk, she should remember that her subjective feelings regarding the fullness of the mammary glands in this case play absolutely no role. The lactation process is different for all women. And if at first after giving birth the mother constantly feels a feeling of heaviness in her chest, then after a few weeks this may go away, the mammary glands will become soft to the touch, and milk will stop oozing through clothes. Very often, it is at the moment of complete establishment of lactation that a woman begins to feel as if there is no milk in her breasts, even if she is feeding the baby as usual. Expressing will also not help to check whether the mother really has a lack of milk, since the nutrient fluid is produced continuously and it is simply impossible to express it completely to calculate the volume.

If a woman feeds her baby on demand, she should not have any question at all about how to understand that the baby does not have enough breast milk: the baby asks for the breast very often, and milk is produced in response to the baby’s need. Thus, the nutrient fluid in the breast is always in exactly the quantity that the baby needs, and he can always eat enough.

And yet, sometimes, under the influence of certain factors, milk deficiency can actually occur. The only way to understand whether a newborn is getting enough breast milk is to observe the baby himself. The following features of his behavior and well-being will indicate that a child is not getting enough breast milk:

The baby behaves restlessly at the breast: it grabs the nipple, tries to suck and then tries to grab the breast again.
The baby begins to ask for the breast more often than usual, ceases to maintain the previous intervals between feedings, and in between breastfeeding, he sucks fingers, diapers, toys, sticks out his tongue and smacks his lips.
If a baby doesn't get enough breast milk, he won't gain weight well. This is one of the most reliable signs of nutritional deficiency. Normally, children up to 4 months add about 500 g per month, after this age - about 300 g per month.
When a baby does not get enough breast milk, he begins to urinate less often, so a mother who doubts whether her baby is getting enough nutrition should conduct a “wet diaper test.” To do this, you need to stop using diapers for a day and count how many diapers (or onesies) the baby has “soaked.” Normally, the number of urinations should be at least 10 times per day.
If a newborn does not receive a sufficient amount of nutritional fluid, he or she develops symptoms of dehydration: the skin and mucous membranes become dry, bad breath appears, and the baby becomes lethargic and sleepy.

If a mother knows how to understand that the baby has not had enough breast milk, she will notice signs of milk deficiency in time and will be able to do everything possible to normalize the situation. However, you need to keep in mind that you should not make hasty conclusions based on 1 or 2 symptoms. A possible lack of milk should be assessed taking into account all of the above factors.

How to increase breast milk supply?

What to do if the baby does not get enough breast milk, and the nursing mother even thinks that there is no more nutritious fluid in her mammary glands? First of all, a woman must understand that milk never disappears abruptly and without reason, and in the vast majority of cases it is quite possible if you approach this with full responsibility.

If a young mother has already realized that the baby does not have enough nutrition, she must figure out why the child has stopped eating enough milk. Often it is enough to simply eliminate the cause affecting milk production for the situation to return to normal. However, it must be recognized that milk deficiency can develop under the influence of a number of factors. This could be the mother’s poor nutrition, her severe psycho-emotional state, improper breastfeeding, and even too frequent use of bottles and pacifiers.

When the main cause of the lack of milk has been eliminated, the woman should return to her previous lactation mode naturally, that is, put the baby to the breast as often as possible, especially at night. After feeding your baby with one breast, you should definitely offer him the second one in order to stimulate the process of producing nutrient fluid as much as possible. Pediatricians and lactation consultants say: frequent breastfeeding is the only sure way. All other methods (taking lactogenic drugs or special nutrition) can only be considered auxiliary measures.

Even if the baby does not have enough milk, and the mother herself thinks that there is nothing in the breast, there is no need to rush to feed the baby with formula: this can lead to even less fluid being produced in the mammary glands, since the baby’s need for breast milk will decrease. Eventually, lactation may stop completely. You should also stop using bottles: children who are accustomed to receiving nutrition without much effort do not breastfeed well.

It is hardly worth explaining to a nursing mother how to determine that the amount of nutrient fluid has returned to normal. The pleasant feeling of heaviness and warmth in her chest and the contented appearance of her well-fed baby will definitely tell her about this.