Is your baby drinking enough milk?

Before you go back home, make sure you can tell if your baby is feeding well and getting all the milk he needs. Talk to your midwife or a nurse at the hospital if in doubt.

When your baby is feeding enough, the appearance and quantity of his stools and urine will change. Here are a few signs to help you determine if your newborn is getting enough milk.

Urine

Urine is darker and more concentrated over the first 2 or 3 days. Your baby may also have orange stains (urate crystals) in her diaper: this is normal for the first 2 days. In the first week, the number of times your baby pees will increase by one every day:

• Day 1 = 1 time
• Day 2 = 2 times
• Day 3 = 3 times, etc.

After the first week, your baby will pee at least 6 times in 24 hours if she drinks enough milk. Each pee generally contains 30 to 45 ml of urine. The urine is clear and odourless.

Stools

Over the first 2 or 3 days of your baby’s life, stools will be dark and sticky; this is called meconium. Digesting milk will bring about a change in stool appearance. Gradually, they will become less sticky and a dark green colour. If your baby is drinking enough, there will be no meconium at all left in his digestive system by the fifth day. Stools will be yellow or green if he is drinking breast milk, or greenish beige if he is being fed commercial infant formulas.

If your baby is drinking enough, his stools will be liquid or very soft. He may have 3 to 10 bowel movements per day over the course of the first 4 to 6 weeks. If your baby doesn’t have at least one bowel movement per day, he might not be drinking enough. After 4 to 6 weeks, some babies fed with breast milk will have fewer but very substantial bowel movements even if they are drinking enough (e.g., one bowel movement every 3 to 7 days).

Weight gain

Even if your newborn is drinking enough, he will nonetheless lose a little weight (about 5 to 10% of his birth weight) over the first few days. He will start putting it back on again around the fourth day and will regain his birth weight by around the second week (between 10 and 14 days).

Once your baby regains his birth weight, he should continue to gain weight steadily. That’s a good sign that he’s drinking enough. If you think your baby isn’t drinking enough or you’re worried about his growth, contact a CLSC nurse, your midwife, or your family doctor (see Tracking baby’s growth).

If you are worried that your baby is not drinking enough, contact a CLSC nurse, your midwife or your family doctor.

For more information on urine, stools and the size of your infant, read The newborn.