I know so many moms have problems and questions about breastfeeding. When I had my son I had a lot problems with him latching on.

I was able to ask Katerina Silverblatt, MD a few questions about breastfeeding.

How often should baby be nursing?

That usually depends on how old is the baby. In the very first week or 2 mothers need to work hard on establishing lactation fully and there is a lot of learning on both sides. Generally at this period most babies feed every 2 to 3 hours.

Later, if everything is going well the intervals increase and should be determined by the baby's hunger. That may be the tricky part- in the first few months of life a lot of parents can't recognize why is it that their baby is crying. What I have seen a lot of parents do is to enter the "snacking cycle" baby is fed, then she is up for some time and then becomes fussy- many parents would think that this may be a demand for another feeding, even though she was fed about and hour or hour and half ago- but that is most likely not the case. Most babies in this situation will be tired and will just need some help with going to sleep.

In this situation some scheduling will help to determine their baby's demands- every 2 to 3 hours is the usual spacing.

How would a mom know if the baby is getting enough milk?

This is probably the single most frequent worry of any new mom. Remember, with breastfeeding, you are not supposed to know how much milk is your baby getting.
In the beginning, the most important indicator of proper nutrition is the amount of stools- you should see multiple, most of the time explosive, liquid bowel movements. Babies in early infancy get constipated very rarely-so if you don't see many bowel movements; you should consider talking to your pediatrician.

The other indicator of sufficient breastfeeding is your baby's weight gain -in our office we get moms in for frequent weight checks if there is any breastfeeding problem.

What could moms do if the baby is having problems latching on?

There are few basic things you can do at home before seeking help- first of all find a comfortable space for yourself and the baby to sit and get enough support for your arms.

Secondly, you can experiment with different positions- football hold work very well for many babies with latch issues. A lot of moms have unequally shaped breasts so they may need to use different position for each breast.

Also, in the very beginning make sure your breasts are not engorged

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