Things that AREN'T signs of low milk supply (despite what you might have heard)
Often you might be worried that you're not producing enough milk, when in fact you are. If your little one has good throughput when exclusively and directly breastfeeding, and his weight gain is tracking well on the World Health Organisation's growth charts, then you can relax about your supply. You have enough! You can find out more about how to tell if you're producing enough milk here.
| Not signs of low supply | Why not |
|---|---|
| Breasts soft a lot of the time | Your breasts might be soft a lot of the time because you are offering your baby frequent and flexible breastfeeds. After the first few weeks, women's breasts typically don't have the same feelings of tightness or fullness. This is not a useful way to assess whether you have enough milk or not. |
| Baby fusses during feeds | This is most commonly a sign of positional instability (or that baby has had enough!) |
| Baby dials up after feeds | This may be a sign that your baby needs a change sensory environment – wants to see the world; it could be a sign to offer the other breast; avoid burping + holding upright practices after breastfeeds, which often rouse babies and cause them to dial up |
| Can’t feel letdowns | It's normal not to be able to feel letdowns - most women can't, or might feel the first one then none after that. |
| A week when baby doesn’t gain much weight | Early on it's important to watch baby's weight gains closely. But after the first few weeks, weighing too often can cause unnecessary anxiety, which can result in unnecessary interventions (such as formula), which can undermine breastfeeding. |
| Can’t express milk at end of breastfeed | Expressing milk after baby has been at the breast doesn't tell you anything helpful about your supply or how much milk baby has taken. Some women can't ever express much milk but exclusively and successfully breastfeed. |
| Unable to pump much milk | Some women are never able to pump much milk from their breasts, but comfortably meet their baby's milk needs with direct breastfeeding. The amount of milk you can remove from your breasts with a pump does not tell us whether or not your milk supply will meet your baby's needs. |
| Baby is feeding more frequently or for longer | Sometimes your baby increases frequency of feeds because she needs more milk. However, there are also other reasons why a baby might want to come to the breast more often. Examples include baby is unwell, has had a vaccination, needs rich sensory motor experience outside the house. |
| Baby settles better on infant formula | It's hard when parents find their baby settles better after a bottle of formula. This is not a reliable sign though that you don't have enough milk in your breasts. There are other reasons why it might seem that formula helps baby settle. Examples include baby has positional instability at the breast, baby has a conditioned dialling up with the breast. Although parents might initially feel that babies sleep better after a bottle of formula, the research shows that babies who are fed formula don't sleep more or wake less than breastfed babies. |
| Mother not eating well | Even malnourished mothers breastfeed exclusively and successfully. Breast milk quality and quantity is only affected in extreme and life-threatening circumstances. Increased maternal calorie consumption has not been shown to increase her milk supply. |
| Baby feeds frequently | Cluster feeding, frequent flexible feeds |
| Tongue tie | On rare occasions, a baby can’t transfer milk due to a true tongue-tie. However, tongue-tie is typically overdiagnosed, and other underlying problems are not effectively addressed. |
| Baby cries a lot | This can occur if baby is not receiving enough calories. However, often babies cry a lot for other reasons, such as needing more sensory motor nourishment. |
| Not much milk leakage between breastfeeds | The amount of milk you leak doesn't tell us how much milk you are producing. Some women leak a lot of milk, but might not be meeting baby's caloric needs overall. Other women never or rarely leak milk, but are meeting their baby's caloric needs comfortably. |
