It’s not unusual for moms to wonder if their infants are getting enough milk. There are, however, ways to put yourself at ease, especially if your baby is breastfed.
Generally, as a nursing mom, you’ll be able to provide enough milk for your baby’s nourishment. Still, there may be incidents when a baby doesn’t get enough. If such a situation isn’t addressed, a baby can suffer from dehydration and failure to thrive.
If you have reason to worry, try to observe the following to gauge if your baby is getting enough milk.
- Do your breasts feel softer after nursing? If so, it means that your baby has emptied some or most of the milk that was making them firm.
- After feeding, the baby should be relaxed and satisfied.
- During the first few days, your nursing baby, who is feeding on colostrums, might go through only one or two wet diapers. a day. As soon as your milk comes in, your baby will begin to wet six to eight cloth diapers a day, or up to six disposables.
- Most babies lose between 5 and 9 percent of their birth weight and then regain it by the time they’re about two weeks old. Following that, your baby should continue to gain weight. As a rough guideline, for the first month, your baby should gain 5 to 10 ounces a week; in months 2 and 3, the weight gain should be about 5 to 8 ounces a week; in months 3 to 6 it should be between 2.5 and 4.5 ounces a week; and from 6 to 12 months, your baby should be putting on 1 to 3 ounces a week.
- During the first month of life, your baby will pass a motion at least three times a day. The stools will lighten to a yellowy mustard color by the fifth day after birth. The baby may have less frequent bowel movements after his or her one month mark. It’s not uncommon for breastfed babies to skip a day of bowel movements now and then. When a baby begins to eat solid foods, motion passing will become quite regular and babies usually will have at least one bowel movement a day.
How much-pumped breast milk is enough?
If you feed your baby pumped breast milk, you can follow these guidelines to know how much your baby will need:
Up until a month of age, most babies will take 2.5 to 3 ounces of breast milk in a bottle, feeding about eight times a day, for a total of 20 to 24 ounces in 24 hours. After that, the average amount of breast milk until 6 months of age is around 26 to 28 ounces per day, divided into six to eight feedings.
If solids are started earlier than 6 months, the amount of breast milk your baby takes may decrease.
Note: Generally, an exclusively breastfed baby should be taking in at least 25 ounces a day. As these are just rough guidelines, please do not attempt to force-feed your little one the total accumulated amount each day as a rule.
Play by ear
Don’t hold back if your baby still seems hungry, and nurse as often as baby ‘asks’. In the meantime, don’t try to stuff your baby because you think there’s a certain amount the little one should be getting.
Overfeeding a bottle-fed baby
If a baby is bottle-fed, either breast milk or formula, it is all too easy to overfeed the little one. While a breastfed baby can comfort at the breast while getting just a minimal amount of milk, or drink just enough to quench a thirst even, it’s a bit tricky for a bottle-fed baby! If your bottle-fed baby wants just a little milk, he or she usually winds up getting much more than needed because of how fast the bottle flows and the fact that it’s not easy for a baby to control the flow of milk from a bottle’s nipple.
Helping baby along
There are some things you can do to ensure your baby gets just the right amount of milk and also, to prevent overfeeding. Firstly, feed baby slowly and take little breaks to give the little one a chance to let you know when he or she has had enough. Tip: If your baby seems to be gulping breast milk or formula quickly, help him or her to catch their breath by taking a break every ten sucks or so. This is especially important during the first couple of months until babies learn to pace themselves.
Babies who are between 7- to 11-month-old will need a variety of solid food daily along with some snacks and four to five servings of breast or formula milk to thrive. It’s common for babies to decrease the amount of milk they take in as they increase their solid food intake.
When a baby is a year old, you may transition to whole cow’s milk using a bottle or sippy cup. Keep in mind that it’s easy to overdo it with cow’s milk too. Growing-up milk powders, for instance, have very palatable tastes and flavours and some children take to them a little too well for their good. Once solid food is in the scene, the inclusion of milk in a child’s diet is to help close nutritional gaps such as calcium and protein needs.
Too much cow’s milk may reduce a child’s appetite for other healthy foods. Too much cow’s milk may also lead to iron-deficiency anemia. Sticking to sixteen to 24 ounces a day should be safe.
