We are going to give you some tips to know if the baby drinks enough breast milk, looking at his weight, as we did in a previous topic on urination, feces and general condition.
There are babies who are going to need supplements
However, before moving on to this, I would like to point out that, although, without a doubt, breast milk is the best that babies can take, if the doctor indicated it it might be necessary to supplement direct breastfeeding with extracted milk and, in some cases, with artificial milk.
Precisely for that reason it is important to know if the baby drinks enough breast milk Safely.
I want to highlight this in the exhibition. Breast milk is the best but, when the baby is not really getting enough milk, it is convenient to keep in mind that in some cases it will be necessary use artificial milk.
As much as we want exclusive breastfeeding, the first thing is that the baby is well nourished. That is the highest priority. If there is a problem with breastfeeding, this may almost certainly be overcome, but while the first thing is that the baby continues to receive enough food.
Before using a supplement considering that the baby does not drink enough breast milk the particular case must be studied and proper advice sought, whether from a pediatrician truly knowledgeable about breastfeeding, or from a Certified Breastfeeding Consultant (IBCLC).
It is not that we are going to give a bottle to any doubt, but we must know that artificial milk can be essential in cases where there is really inadequate nutrition, at least temporarily while measures are taken to improve breastfeeding.
The important thing is to find a good professional, who does not send bottles "cheerfully", but who knows when they are necessary while helping the mother to solve the problem. With newborns it is very important, vital, to maintain proper nutrition and hydration when it is detected that not getting enough milk.
How to know if the baby drinks enough breast milk: weight
Not to be alarmed if the baby loses weight the first days of life, is absolutely normal. Babies usually lose between 4 and 6% of their weight and up to 10%. It is physiological and they begin to recover from the third day, being normal to recover it a week.
When the weight loss is greater than 10% it can take up to three weeks to recover it and in this case you have to be very attentive to its evolution.
Yes weight loss exceeding 5% may be indicated a supplementation with extracted milk given with teaspoon and, of course, breastfeeding should be checked for bad posture and offered on demand, increasing the frequency of shots and removing pacifiers if they were being used.
All babies should be seen by the pediatrician two or three days after leaving the hospital, and especially those who have not regained their birth weight so that possible dehydration or lack of proper nutrition can be detected. If the baby is very sleepy and does not ask to eat, pediatrician control is also especially important.
If the baby does not gain weight it may happen that breastfeeding has been poorly established from the beginning, because of not having started in the first hour, having separated from the mother, allowing breastfeeding only every three hours or using pacifiers or bottles. That is why a correct start to breastfeeding is essential and that the mother receives help and advice.
When babies have regained their birth weight, their evolution must be followed but we must understand that the weight charts that are sometimes used are made with children who are artificially breastfed and do not need to increase 200 grams per week. WHO publishes indicators of expected weight gain, but as we said, they must be interpreted correctly.
From two months on weight gain Weekly will decrease in breastfed babies and we must understand that the percentile tables do not indicate health, but a growth in normalcy. A baby in the 5th percentile can be perfectly healthy, as well as one in the 95th.
If the child's weight or size is very low, below what the statistic indicates as normal, it may simply happen that he is a thin or short, but healthy child. However, it may be considered necessary to rule out problems.
In the next topic we will see in more detail other interesting aspects to consider for detect if the baby does not receive enough breast milk: the medical causes of hypolactia (poor production of breast milk) and methods that are useless to control the baby weight gain.
