Is My Baby Getting Enough? How to tell if your baby is drinking or nibbling (with tips to help them get more gulps).
Watching what a baby is doing at the breast, is the best way to know if they are getting milk. This is one of the best tools to optimize your feeds.
Watch your baby's chin and jaw movements:
Slow drops in the chin, with a micro pause at the bottom, mean the baby is gulping and getting lots of milk.
Fast paced movements mean baby is nibbling and not getting much milk.
You may also hear drinking noises.
It is common for newborns to become sleepy at the breast when the flow slows down. Using a compression - squeeze and hold the breast (non-aggressively!) when the baby's mouth moves and release when the baby pauses.
Some newborns, and definitely older babies, will become fussy, if the flow is not working for them. They may hold the nipple in their mouth and arch their head back, squirm and fuss, and use their hands to swat or push on the breast.
When compressions are no longer helpful, switch sides.
YOU CAN SWITCH SIDES MULTIPLE TIMES!
Babies will always nibble - the drips of milk before a letdown, will trigger nibbling. Nibbling is not "bad", we just want to see much more drinking than nibbling.
You can have multiple letdowns during a feeding.
Take Home Message
Babies respond to FLOW.
COMPRESSIONS and SWITCHING SIDES can help flow.
Watch this video to better understand the difference between drinking and nibbling:
If you’re still not sure if your baby is getting milk or if they are full, you are going to want to check to see what signs they’re showing you. Babies are great communicators and we just need to learn their language. They have instinctual cues, that they’ve been practicing in utero, to show their caregivers that they are hungry.
Check out this post, which goes into more depth on hunger and satiety signs.
Need more help? Get in touch to book a Lactation and Infant Feeding Consult.
Kate is a Childbirth Educator, Birth & Postpartum Doula, Lactation Consultant, Infant Sleep Educator and Movement Expert, living in Toronto, with her 3 children.
She provides care privately, in homes, and through a pediatric clinic.
She loves babies, movement, smoothies, green tea and sunshine.
Book your Lactation Visit here!
