"Is my baby getting enough milk?"

Every mother wonders at some time, "Is my baby getting enough milk?" We often advise mother to "just watch the baby," but what are these mothers supposed to be watching for?

Two important things to watch include baby's output and weight gain. I find it helpful to use the following visual when discussing the output. A baby would be expected to have one stool on Day One, two on Day Two, three on Day Three, four on Day Four, five on Day Five, and six on Day Six. Six stools a day would continue until about four to six weeks when the breast milk composition changes to more casein and less whey protein. After that, stools decrease, to once a day, every few days, or even less often.

Second, a mother will be instructed to watch for weight gain. We expect a gain of one ounce a day once baby regains birth weight by ten to fourteen days.

Dr. Jack Newman offers use a helpful way to see if a baby is nibbling (taking in little milk) or drinking (getting needed calories.) Watch these videos and notice how the movement of the chin, and the pauses between "drinks," is the key to this observation.
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