How to Know When Your Baby Has Had Enough

by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., author of Feeding: The Brazelton Way

1. If you are bottle-feeding your baby, you'll be able to measure the amount he takes in at each feeding. Your baby should be waking up often enough for at least six feedings a day. If not, you'll need to rouse him.
2. If you are breastfeeding, you may need to go by other signs. To start with, your baby should soon be able to empty the first breast you offer, and often even the second.
3. A baby who settles contentedly after nursing has likely had enough.
4. A baby who frequently wets and soils diapers (at least six wet diapers each day, and for bottle-fed babies, at least a few soft, mushy, yellowish stools) is also probably a well-fed baby. Breastfed babies often go for a day or two between stools, and sometimes more, especially after the first few weeks.
5. Your baby's pediatrician will monitor your baby's growth by checking his weight, height, and head circumference. Although your baby may lose a little weight in the first week, he should catch up and make good progress thereafter.

Excerpted from:

Excerpted from Feeding: The Brazelton Way © 2004 by T. Berry Brazelton, M.D., and Joshua D. Sparrow, M.D. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Perseus.

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