How do I know if I am producing enough breastmilk?

Pediatrician Jay Gordon, MD, shares advice for breastfeeding mothers on how to best recognize the signs of whether your are producing enough breastmilk for your baby
How to Know if You're Producing Enough Breastmilk
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How do I know if I am producing enough breastmilk?

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Some moms week two, week three, week four do not think that they have enough breastmilk. And in actuality, sometimes the milk flow is a little bit low. It can be quite low in the first few weeks, and the best advice that I can give to a mother who thinks that her milk flow is a little bit too low is to relax, go home, climb into bed with your baby, and stay there for a day or two. Let your baby nurse with no schedule at all, as frequently as possible, stay relaxed, keep visitors away and your milk flow will build up. I also will get phonecalls from time to time from moms who say I do not have enough milk. And I ask them what makes them think they do not have enough milk and they say my baby wants to breastfeed all the time. And I might have to have a look at this baby who has gained two pounds and is urinating eight times an hour. And what I tell is that a baby who wants to breastfeed frequently is doing so because you have a lot of milk. If you go to the refrigerator, open the door and the refrigerator is empty, you tend not to open the door again. A baby who is not getting enough milk does not really want to breastfeed and that is a baby who needs a lot of extra attention. And that is where I need to help you get your milk supply up and the best way: climb into bed and just relax with your baby for a day or two.

Pediatrician Jay Gordon, MD, shares advice for breastfeeding mothers on how to best recognize the signs of whether your are producing enough breastmilk for your baby

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Jay Gordon, MD

Pediatrician

Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP, IBCLC - In the middle of his residency training, pediatrician Jay Gordon took an unusual step. Deciding that he needed greater knowledge about nutrition, vitamins, and alternative medicine in order to practice medicine the way he wanted to, Dr. Gordon took a Senior Fellowship in Pediatric Nutrition at Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York City. After his residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Dr. Gordon joined the teaching attending faculty at UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Intensely interested in infant nutrition and breastfeeding, Dr. Gordon is the first male physician to sit for and pass the International Board of Lactation Certification Exam and has served on the Professional Advisory Board of La Leche League for 24 years.

In addition to treating patients, he participates in the training of medical students and residents, lectures all over the world, writes books, and writes a monthly column for “Fit Pregnancy” magazine. He has contributed to “New York Parent,” “Parenting” magazine and has been quoted in the L.A. Times, New York Times, and The London Times.

Dr. Gordon’s first book, the well-received Good Food Today, Great Kids Tomorrow, offers a life-changing plan for families who want to make dramatic changes in health and fitness through nutrition. Brighter Baby examines the positive effect that attachment parenting, combined with infant massage, has on children’s health and intelligence. Other releases include: Good Night! The Parents’ Guide to the Family Bed and Hug Your Baby, a Gentle Guide through the First Year, which was released summer, 2002. He also authored Listening To Your Baby: A New Approach to Parenting Your Newborn, which still gets great reviews from parents. His most recent book is The ADD and ADHD Cure, the Natural Way to Treat Hyperactivity and Refocus Your Child.

When the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Television and the Media named Dr. Gordon “the most influential doctor in America,” they were referring, tongue-in-cheek, to Dr. Gordon’s role, as the medical script consultant, in eliminating lollipops from the office of “Doctor Weston,” lead character on the sitcom “Empty Nest.”

After two years of consulting on television scripts, sets, and ideas, Dr. Gordon was named CBS TV’s Medical Consultant for Children’s programming. He also worked for five years on ABC Television as the on-air medical correspondent for the “Home Show,” and continues to consult regularly for television and movies. He’s appeared on Fox 11 News, ABC’s 20/20 and most recently on Larry King Live. 

Dr. Gordon contributed and wrote the forward to Smart Medicine for a Healthy Child and The Encyclopedia of Vitamins and Supplements (both published in 1999), is pediatric consultant for “Fit Pregnancy” magazine and a frequent contributor to “Parents,” “Parenting,” and other media outlets.
 Busy as he is, Dr. Gordon finds that his most challenging job is “being a good husband and the best possible parent to my 22 year-old daughter.”

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