How do I know he's getting enough?

jfaith21

I am 3 days pp and my little guy seems to have gotten the hang of latching on and staying on the breast for at least 10 minutes each.  I just worry that hes not getting enough- my milk has not come in yet and Im not even sure how much colostrum I have and whether he is getting the right amount.  We have been supplementing a few times a day with an ounce of formula.  Should I be feeding him more?  He fed this morning and has been sleeping ever since and seems content..I just worry because he's little, he was only 5 pounds 6 ounces when we left the hospital.

 

Any advice would be helpful!

Starfish113

I'm sure he's fine! When we left the hospital, my milk hadn't come in and we were also supplementing with 1oz formula (she was jaundice). Your milk will come in soon, and in the meantime he's fine with the colostrum you're producing

lil_rhody

As long as LO is making diapers, he/she should be getting enough.

Check out kellymom.com

DaisyFull

lil_rhody:

As long as LO is making diapers, he/she should be getting enough.

Check out kellymom.com

This! LO will let you know when he/she is hungry. Keeping a log really helped us get some peace of mind. You'll start to see patterns and habits. GL!  

~CoCo~

Why supplement? Did your pedi tell you to? Unless your LO is not having enough wet/dirty diapers, then he's getting enough nutrition from the colostrum.

I know it can be scary or nerve-wracking being unable to know how much your child is eating, but you need to trust your body and count the diapers. If you supplement w/formula, your body will not know to produce more milk, and it becomes a cycle- the more you FF, the less milk you produce, so the more you HAVE to FF.

My milk didn't come in w/DD1 until day 3-4, AND she had mild jaundice, and with pedi's blessing, I EBF'd her, with NO formula. She gained amazingly well, and her jaundice cleared up within days.

Ditto PP's suggestion to explore kellymom. GL.

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carrotcake06

~CoCo~:

Why supplement? Did your pedi tell you to? Unless your LO is not having enough wet/dirty diapers, then he's getting enough nutrition from the colostrum.

I know it can be scary or nerve-wracking being unable to know how much your child is eating, but you need to trust your body and count the diapers. If you supplement w/formula, your body will not know to produce more milk, and it becomes a cycle- the more you FF, the less milk you produce, so the more you HAVE to FF.

My milk didn't come in w/DD1 until day 3-4, AND she had mild jaundice, and with pedi's blessing, I EBF'd her, with NO formula. She gained amazingly well, and her jaundice cleared up within days.

Ditto PP's suggestion to explore kellymom. GL.

<edit> to remove duplicate text

This.  Except I have a DS & he had fairly severe jaundice (had a bili blanket for 6 days) & my milk didn't come in until day 4-5.  My DS was small too (5lbs 8oz at discharge) & gained 3 lbs the first month (up to 9lbs 2.5oz) w/o supplementing.  

My pedi gave DS 2 weeks to get back up to his birth weight.  He got there by day 11.

cbandjp

Like most people have said, the amount of diapers is what will really tell you if LO is getting enough.  I was told LO's belly is the size of a marble, so it doesn't take much to fill them up.  

jfaith21

We did meet with a lactation consultant, who was great, and we are supplementing 2-3 times a day but with a feeder she made for us that attaches to my nipple to LO can still latch on and suck but hes getting formula at the same time- so no nipple confusion and he's still latching.  Hes been doing pretty well today with just me but seems hungry even after being latched on each breast for 10-15 minutes, thats why I continued with the formula.  Hopefully my milk will come in soon!!

One more question:  she told me I should start pumping right away to get the milk to come, but LO has been latching on all day- hes been there at least 4 times today- isnt that doing the same thing??