How Will I Know if I Have Enough Milk for My Baby?

By Jody Smith HERWriter

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Dr. Alan Greene speaks to the worried mom who is afraid her milk supply is not enough for her baby. Contrary to the logic of the ill-informed, saving up your milk will backfire. The less often you feed your baby, the less milk you'll have. Think of it as supply and demand.

The more often you breastfeed, the more milk will be produced. And frequent short nursing periods will build up your milk supply in a hurry. As long as you drink plenty of liquids (and none of that needs to be milk, by the way) you will have milk aplenty.

How can you tell if your baby is getting enough milk? A baby who has had a satisfying time of nursing will look satisfied. And of course, the abundance of wet and dirty diapers will tell you quite a bit.

"Alan Greene, MD, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, Attending Pediatrician at Packard Children's Hospital, and Senior Fellow at the University California San Francisco Center for the Health Professions. He is also founder of DrGreene.com, and author of Raising Baby Green and Feeding Baby Green."

http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/breast_milk_supply

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.