You can determine whether a young mother has enough breast milk and whether her baby is getting enough of it if you know the main signs of malnutrition. They are formulated by WHO and tested by millions of girls. We are studying the issue.

Signs that you have enough milk

At least 10 used diapers while breastfeeding

One of the main indicators that the baby is eating enough is the so-called wet diaper test. The physiology of the baby is such that most of the fluid received by the baby comes out in the form of urine. Let's count.

WHO standards stipulate that on average a child should receive approximately 150 ml of milk per 1 kg of his weight. That is, a three-kilogram baby should eat about 450 g of milk per day. And he will “prescribe” from half to three quarters of this figure - that is, 240-400 g.

How can a mother understand whether the baby has “given” his norm? It is enough to know that the desire to pee in a baby occurs when the volume of the bladder is 20-40 ml. It turns out that the baby is breastfeeding must pee 10-20 times a day if he has enough mother's milk.

To count how many “pees” there were, you need to collect all the diapers per day, putting them in a separate, tightly tied bag. Weigh this “valuable cargo” at the end of the day, then weigh the same amount of dry diapers. Now you need to subtract the weight of dry “diapers” from the weight of wet ones and divide by 30. 30 ml is the approximate weight of one “pee”.

Also, to control the emptying of your baby’s bladder, you can use only diapers for one day.

The number of “pees” depends on the age of the baby. Up to two weeks, a child usually pees as many times a day as he is days old. After this age, the number of bladder emptyings is approximately constant: 12-14 times in girls and 14-16 times in boys.

Expert opinion:

Elena Sekacheva, “It often happens that a baby has, for example, twenty “pees,” but does not gain weight or gains very little - this means that the baby spends his weight on something else. Most often it is stress. Stress for a child is hardening, massages, too active diving and gymnastics, change of place of residence, strangers, regular tantrums (long crying for any reason), etc.”

Avoid dehydration in your child

If the child wets less than ten diapers per day, you will have to repeat the test again. One day is not an indicator.

At the same time, pay attention to the color of the urine. With sufficient nutrition, it is transparent, colorless and odorless.

If the baby peed less than six times in a day, we may be talking about dehydration. Mommy should be alert to the following signs:

• Dark colored urine.
• Its pungent smell.
• The break between urination is more than 5-6 hours.
• The baby cries without tears.
• Retraction of a large fontanel.

If the number of “pees” is less than 10, it is recommended to contact a lactation consultant who will help you understand the reason for the lack of milk and increase its volume. In most cases, the mother can feed the baby exclusively with her milk. There are times when there is not enough breast milk precisely because physiological characteristics mothers, but this is a very small percentage.

Stool in newborns during breastfeeding

Another indicator that a child is eating is how many times he poops. Wet diapers are an indicator that the baby has received a sufficient amount of “fore” milk, and regular bowel movements indicate that the baby has a high-calorie diet and is also receiving “hind”, fattier, milk.

Should be on average two to five times a day. Please note that these are averages. It happens that the child does “big things” after each feeding, it happens that once a day or even every other day. All this is within normal limits if the following conditions are met:

• The stool is soft and mushy.
• Yellowish-brownish color.
• Does not have a repulsive, putrid odor.

If you have bowel movements less frequently, your stool may be a little stiffer. Its color may also change depending on what mommy ate. If the baby’s behavior does not change, he does not start crying, does not show anxiety, and there is no reason to worry.

Baby weight gain

Most weight gain charts are based on monitoring children at artificial feeding and are not always completely suitable for breastfeeding babies.

The weight gain graph is a fairly average thing. Mom needs him to navigate, but there is no need to see him as the ultimate truth and strive to meet his performance at any cost. After all, all children are different: some gain more, some less. However, weight gain is an important indicator wellness baby. One rule is important: every month the child should grow and gain weight.

At the same time, do not forget that on the third or fourth day after birth, the baby inevitably loses body weight, up to approximately 10% of its weight at birth. But in the next 10-14 days he should gain them again.

When starting to calculate weight gain, the minimum weight should be taken as the starting point. On average, a baby up to six months should gain 500 g per month or 125-150 g per week.

Expert opinion:

Elena Sekacheva, lactation consultant:“An increase of 500 g per month is the lower limit at which it is worth seeking help from a lactation consultant to together find the reason for the low gain. Normally, the increase should be 700-800 g per month or more. There is no maximum limit. Breastfed children do not become obese; you should not increase the intervals and give your baby water if he is gaining “a lot.” In the future, he will begin to move more actively and will stop “gaining” weight so quickly. There’s no need to worry about this.”

If you have problems with weight

Every month, mother and baby should visit a pediatrician, who will measure all indicators of the baby’s development - both his weight and height. Such manipulations once a month are enough to control normal development child. Therefore, there is not much point in using home scales. In addition, when measuring the baby’s weight, mothers usually begin to get nervous if he has not reached the norm by at least 10 g. They begin to weigh him more often, and try to supplement him with water or formula. As a result of these worries, milk production may actually decrease.

• Always weigh your baby at the same time.
• Weigh your baby in the same clothes, or better yet, without them at all.
• If you weigh a baby in a diaper, it must be absolutely clean and dry.
• You should not weigh your child more than once a week. This makes both mother and baby nervous.

Check weighing

The so-called “control weighing,” when the baby is weighed before feeding and immediately after, is actually not very informative. After all, a child can drink a different amount of milk at each meal, especially if he is fed “on demand” and not according to a schedule. It would be more correct to devote a day to control weighing: when before each feeding and immediately after, the mother weighs the baby to find out the weight gain, and then writes it down. At the end of the day, all the indicators are added up, and the approximate amount of milk drunk per day is obtained.

Breast milk - enough or not?

Often, a mother’s concern about this is caused by doubt as to whether she has enough breast milk. The exact volume in the bottle is known, but whether there is enough milk in the breast and how much the baby drank, one can only guess.

Here are the most common causes for concern:

The goal of any mother is the best development of the baby, which is why worries about ensuring that the baby has enough nutrition from the mother’s breast so often appear in mothers who are breastfeeding a newborn. Let's figure out what signs you can use to understand that the baby is not eating enough, why this can happen, and what the mother should do.

How to understand this?

Signs that a baby is not eating enough are:

1. Insufficient weight gain in the baby. Normally, a baby should gain weight from 500 grams per month.
2. Small amount of urination. The lack of milk can be judged by the number of diapers wetted by the baby - if there are less than 6-8.
3. Discrepancy between the number of sucking and swallowing movements. If the nipple is grasped correctly and the baby is comfortable sucking, then for approximately every four sucking movements the baby will take one sip of milk.
4. Hungry cry. The baby asks for the breast more often and may even react too sharply to the approach of his mother, sensing her smell.
5. Inactivity, weakness and lethargy of the baby, as well as restless sleep.
6. Rare chair.

Too dry skin babies also indicate a lack of nutrition. Since breast milk is the baby's main drink and consists mostly of water, a baby who is not fed enough will suffer from dehydration. Read more about how to tell if your baby is getting enough breast milk in another article.

Causes

The mother's milk may not be enough for the baby due to:

• Stress for a young mother and difficult emotional situation in the family after childbirth.
• Inappropriate place for feeding.
• Poorly balanced and insufficient nutrition of the mother.
• Psychological unpreparedness of the mother for breastfeeding, as well as postpartum depression.
• Shortages fresh air and motor activity of the mother, as well as her fatigue and lack of sleep.
• Incorrect feeding technique, in particular, latching on to the breast.
• Cracked and sore nipples.
• A baby has a runny nose, as well as colic and injuries to the baby’s mouth area.
• Flat nipples.
• Excessive lactation caused by pumping, as a result of which the baby receives a lot of “foremilk”.

What to do?

First of all, a nursing mother who discovers signs of malnutrition in her baby should not panic, but take the following measures, which are often enough to solve the problem:

• Regulate your own nutrition. Mom should eat quite often (at least three times a day, and preferably 3-5 times) and it is important to eat a balanced diet, getting enough nutrients.
• Adjust the amount of liquid consumed by the mother. A nursing mother is advised to drink approximately 2.5 liters of fluid per day. Special teas are often recommended to stimulate milk production.
• Do not consume foods that can worsen the taste of milk.
• Take more walks with your baby in the green area.
• Try to rest more and get enough sleep. To do this, the mother should entrust some of the care of the baby to her loved ones.
• Make sure that the technique for applying the baby to the breast is correct.
• Be sure to feed at night (this is important for the release of hormones that affect lactation).
• Feed the baby on demand.
• Do not give your baby extra water, and also avoid using pacifiers and using a bottle.
• Treat breast cracks in a timely manner.
• Pay attention to the convenience of the position in which the mother feeds, as well as the comfortable position of the baby. You can try feeding using a special pillow.
• To stimulate lactation, do breast massage, as well as warm baths for the mammary glands.
• Do not limit the baby's breastfeeding time.
• If less than 1.5 hours have passed after the attachment, and the baby wants the breast again, give him the same mammary gland for more complete emptying and the baby receives “hind” milk.

If such measures do not work and the baby continues to gain weight poorly, produces little urine and is very restless, the mother should consult a pediatrician.

Hello, dear readers!

This article is devoted to a very important aspect of the life of a newborn baby - its nutrition. Specifically, whether the child is getting enough to eat breast milk or not. Agree, the topic is relevant for many, because the fear of “underfeeding” is comparable only to the fear of “what if I drop it.”

Many mothers are overly afraid that their child may remain hungry after suckling and begin to introduce complementary feeding from the first days of the baby’s life, citing the fact that very little milk is coming in and, in their opinion, it may not be enough.

How can you tell if this is really true? What do experts say about this? Let's talk about everything in order.

Signs that your baby is getting enough breast milk

If a newborn sucks and swallows breast milk correctly during feeding, then this is the first reason to stop panicking. Throats should be deep, every three to four suctions. In addition, the mother's breasts should noticeably shrink and become soft.

You can also tell if your baby is developing normally by looking at his appearance– smooth elastic skin, normal set weight, feces dark yellow color, frequent urination, cheerful mood.
If all these signs, as they say, are present, you can easily exhale and take a breath, and also calm down your grandmother, who is constantly walking around you talking about malnutrition.

Tell her that even if your baby eats for only ten minutes, and your breasts are empty after feeding, this can only mean one thing - you have a healthy, strong baby who has enough strength to suckle quickly and a lot. Therefore, he will not disappear in this world, at least now, as long as his mother and her nurse are nearby.

Signs that your baby is not getting enough breast milk

Anxiety before and during feeding is also a sign of hunger, especially if the intervals between feedings are very small - this means that your baby cannot tolerate even such a short period of time.

The baby is apathetic, sucks poorly and suffers from dehydration and dry skin.
Now, if there are such signs, it means that your child really isn’t getting enough to eat and you should contact a breastfeeding specialist so that he can teach you how to put your baby to the breast correctly, because in 70% of cases, this is exactly the problem.

Try feeding him with expressed milk and see what happens. Now you know how to determine if your baby is full and it will be easy for you to draw conclusions.

How should a child develop?

During the first month, the child’s weight should increase by 100-200 grams per week. Even up to six months, weight gain should be from 500 grams to a kilogram per month.

Then the weight gain begins to decline, and the little one steadily gains 400-500 grams per month at 10 months. And these indicators are highly averaged, because no two children are the same. After a year, this coefficient will decrease slightly.

But, if suddenly you do not fall under general norms weight gain and your baby, at the same time, eats well, is active, can tolerate between feedings, is not capricious and looks like a happy and contented, well-fed toddler, which means your milk has a normal fat content and this is just your individual characteristic.

Assessing urination

How to tell if your baby is getting enough breast milk by assessing urination. If a newborn really eats in 10 minutes, then he will urinate frequently, about 6 times a day after the first week of life. If urination is small and infrequent, there is reason to think about it.

The same cannot be said about the amount of feces, because mother’s milk can be completely digested in some children and, therefore, breakdown products will simply be absent, while the liquid part of the food will be released in the urine. These indicators are absolutely normal at both 3 months and 7 months.

We wish you good luck in your difficult task. In our other articles you will learn how to check the health of a toddler and how to find out how neglected his upbringing is.

How to understand that a child is full? Maybe he goes to sleep hungry? Why does he ask for food so often? Many mothers are very concerned about these questions.

How can you tell if your baby is getting enough breast milk? 9 signs that your baby is full

The question of how to understand that a child is full of breast milk is not difficult and every loving mother will be able to determine this. Next, we will talk about how you can determine whether your baby is full.

A loving mother does everything to breastfeed her baby at least for a moment, because her milk contains everything necessary for the full growth and development of the baby. Breastfeeding mothers wonder if her baby is getting enough to eat, and how to tell if not.

Often mothers are faced with a situation where postpartum period, their breasts do not produce enough milk for feeding. If you establish this process, then in a couple of days lactation will return to normal. And it needs to be established immediately after the baby is born, because then it may simply be too late.

Women who are breastfeeding are familiar with having to wake up several times during the night to feed their baby. Some people think that their baby is always hungry, however, this is not the case. After all, the milk that the baby sucks takes several hours to process.

9 signs by which you can judge that your child is full:

1. Soft breasts;
2. The baby's skin is elastic and has a normal color;
3. Emptying the breast;
4. The baby looks happy;
5. If you pinch the skin, it will pull back;
6. The baby urinates at least six times;
7. Baby's stool is dark or yellow;
8. During the feeding period, you can hear the baby eating;
9. Baby, the pediatrician should tell you about this.

It must be remembered that each child develops individually and grows differently; it makes no sense to compare them. For your information, small children up to twelve times a day. But the norm is for the baby to poop once a day.

Periodically you need to monitor the baby’s weight curve and behavior. If your baby is alert when he is not sleeping, he wets his diapers, he has loose stool, you have no reason to worry.

How to tell if your baby is not getting enough to eat

It’s not difficult to detect that a baby is hungry, here obvious signs:

• Restless sleep;
• Low activity;
• Thumb sucking, chewing your things;
• A cry that speaks of hunger;
• Smacking;
• Slight weight gain;
• Braking;
• Dry skin;
• Strong reaction to mom's approach;

So that the child does not remain hungry follow the recommendations:

• Mom needs proper sleep and rest;
• You need to adjust your diet;
• Walk in clean air, avoiding roads;
• Knead your chest;
• Use a feeding pillow;
• Drink plenty of fluids;
• Feed the baby at night unless he asks;
• Use a nursing bra;
• Avoid foods that change the taste of milk;
• Ask loved ones for help;
• Do not refuse the baby;
• Learn how to attach your baby correctly;
• Wash your breasts;
• Drink teas that increase lactation;
• Supplement the baby with expressed milk;
• Develop a feeding regimen;
• Do not use pacifiers; it is better to replace them with a spoon or pipette;
• Lubricate cracks on the chest with creams.

Causes of milk shortage

There may be several reasons why a child remains hungry:

• A poorly chosen place for feeding, for example, if the baby has to be distracted while eating;
• Excess milk;
• Family situation, frequent scandals and screams;
• Oral diseases;
• Unbalanced diet of the mother;
• , distracting the child;
• Taste of milk;
• Cracked nipples;
• Insufficient nutrition of the mother;
• Medical conditions, such as a flat nipple that is difficult for the baby to latch on to;
• Uncomfortable position;
• Mother's unpreparedness.

Breast milk is divided into two types: fore and hind. If we talk about the second type, then it is more satisfying and fattier. Foremilk acts as water. The breast provides as much fluid as the baby needs, according to age. If your baby eats foremilk, he may remain hungry.

How much to feed the baby

But every child is unique and there is no standard children's axiom indicating.

Very often, when breastfeeding, children regain their weight, which, as a rule, they lost in the first days after birth (and this is normal), during the first two weeks after the hospital.

For other children, which is less common, it may take three to four weeks. If this happens to your child, ask your doctor to check that there is no abnormality, just a slow recovery.

But don’t rush to switch to bottle feeding, it’s better to be patient a little, because no bottles can replace mother’s milk for a baby.

How can you understand that a child is full? If your milk flows well, the baby sucks intensely at the beginning of feeding and becomes a little lethargic towards the end, and then falls asleep altogether, you have no reason to worry.

Video about baby nutrition

Mothers who breastfeed are sometimes worried Is there enough milk for the baby?. With a bottle everything is simpler: there are standards for each age, measuring divisions. But you can’t look into the chest... How same understand mommy is he full? infant milk? Here it is worth focusing on the behavior of the baby. So,

An infant is full if:

1. Gains weight well. Newborns are usually weighed every month. If there is cause for concern, you can monitor the increase by weighing the baby, for example, once a week - this is enough. A weekly increase of 150-200 grams or more indicates that the infant is full and has enough milk.
2. Pees 12 or more times a day. In order to conduct the so-called “Wet Diaper Test”, the mother needs to refuse disposable diapers. Urine from a strong man, healthy baby light, transparent, odorless.
3. The intestines are emptied regularly. Immediately after birth, the baby's stool (meconium) is a dark, black-green color. If the baby eats enough, already on the 3rd day dark color stool changes to green. The stool then turns yellow and the baby begins to poop 3-4 times daily (until 3-6 weeks of age). Further, bowel movements occur less frequently - once a day.

The first two criteria are usually called by pediatricians when doubts arise whether an infant is getting enough milk or not. The third sign is not so objective, because some infants poop less than once a day and this is not considered a deviation from the norm.

False signs:

• Frequent crying and restless sleep. There may be other reasons for this behavior: colic, weather, wet diaper.
• The child is throwing up the breast and is nervous. It is likely that air gets into the baby’s mouth along with the milk and it is unpleasant for him. Colic can also be a cause of concern, and if you stand the baby upright for 1 minute, he will burp and continue to eat. Or maybe he’s just not hungry, or he doesn’t like the feeding position :) In a word, there can also be many reasons for this behavior.
• Milk does not leak from the breast, there is no feeling of breast fullness. When lactation has already become stable, milk stops leaking, which means that the body has adapted to the baby’s needs. And many mothers do not feel a feeling of fullness in the chest and engorgement of the nipples at all, but they feed their babies well.
• The baby sucks at the breast for a long time. Most likely, he sleeps better this way or the baby misses his mother. Don't worry about it, just enjoy being with your baby. Soon he will grow up, and you will already become nostalgic for these wonderful moments.

What to do if the baby does not have enough breast milk?

• Offer your baby the breast as often as possible, especially in the first months after birth. Frequent latching is the best way to stimulate milk production.
• Mom needs more rest and sleep. Only a healthy, strong body is capable of smoothly and clearly performing physiological functions.
• Overcome a lactation crisis (sudden decrease in the amount of breast milk): stop feeding the baby with formula, continue to calmly feed the baby milk, offering first one breast, then the other. Remember: the more often you feed, the more milk.
• Drink maximum fluids. It is useful to drink a glass of warm tea, milk, compote or water 15 minutes before feeding.
• Take a warm shower before feeding.
• Feed at night. It is believed that a hormone that regulates lactation is produced at night.
• Avoid pacifiers and bottles. It is easier for the baby to suck on them, and he can easily exchange the breast for a simpler method of feeding.
• Skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby: nurse the baby in your arms as often as possible, sleep with him.
• Mentally maintain the attitude in yourself - breastfeed at all costs so that the baby is full and has enough milk. If you really want this, you will definitely be able to maintain lactation.