Breast milk production can be insufficient due to physiological reasons

Signs of a Baby Not Gaining Adequate Weight

• The baby grows less than 18 grams per day.
• The baby hasn’t started to recover his birth weight by the third week
• The baby’s growth curve doesn’t show a rising line.
• The baby sleeps for long hours in order to conserve energy.
• The baby is crying with a high pitch cry and he seems lethargic.
• The urine output of the baby is not a reliable indicator of growth. Urine output can be normal or low for different reasons
• The baby has fewer stools or sometimes none.
• The baby consistently stays at the breast.
• The baby might have a worried look and has hanging folds of skin.

(Source: UNICEF WHO, "UNICEF/WHO Breastfeeding Management and Promotion in a Baby-Friendly Hospital, an 18-hour course for maternity staff", 1993, p. 69).

(Caution) Poor weight gain can be caused by much more than just breast milk so consult a doctor instead of judging it by yourself.

Hyposecretion of breast milk and Less breast milk intake

There are mainly two types of breast milk insufficiency

In case of lack of breast milk intake and hyposecretion of breast milk, refer to the following strategies for coping with the issue. Moreover, consult your doctor or an expert such as a midwife or a lactation consultant.

1. Lack of breast milk intake

Insufficient breast milk intake because of the incorrect style of breastfeeding and the baby’s poor sucking.

Counter Strategy

• Find out how you position the baby while breastfeeding and modify it accordingly. Also, check how to assist your baby to latch on.
• Do not try and limit the duration and frequency of feeding, make sure the baby is nursing as much as he wants and as many times as he wants.

2. Breast Milk Hyposecretion

It is the insufficiency of the production of breast milk.

Insufficient breast milk intake can be a cause of hyposecretion It is divided into two types:

Primary breast milk hyposecretion can be caused because of medical reasons including mammary gland hypoplasia. Secondary breast milk hyposecretion, however, happens when the breast milk production ability is there but is not supported in an appropriate manner, and in this situation, the amount of breast milk secreted may decrease or increase.

Counter Strategy

If there are medical reasons behind breast milk hyposecretion, breast milk production will decrease and you need to take some supplements to tackle that.

Sometimes, it so happens that one breast is producing insufficient milk. In this scenario, enough breast milk can still be taken from the other breast. breast milk secretion can also be affected by milk expression.

Supplementing breastfeeding when the amount lactated is insufficient, in order of priority

• Mother’s milk that is freshly expressed.
• Chilled breast milk.
• Thawed and frozen breast milk.
• Infant formula.