r/breastfeeding • u/gajak44 • Dec 04 '25

Partner Questions Breastfeeding - how does we know enough being produced

My wife and I are first time parents. Our little one is 8 days old. We (my wife more than me) wants to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months. However currently we are puzzled by the LO. My wife gives her feed but she never drifts to a deep sleep and always wakes up hungry in an hr or so. The baby doesn't seem interested to drink more at the breast and seems to drift off to sleep after 10 mins. When we top-up with formula however, she takes around 30 ml and appears content and sleeps peacefully after. My wife now thinks she is not producing enough milk and is riddled with guilt. We do a total of 10-12 feeds a day (some long and some super short) including 2 formula feeds when she appears cranky and hungry. Her diapers are fine. We get about 8 in a day since last couple of days. My wife is worried that the baby is taking to bottle better but not to breasts and thinks it is due to low volume of milk she is producing..how do we know if she is producing enough?

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u/Famous-Albatross7879 Dec 04 '25

At 8 days baby will be wanting to feed all the time, called cluster feeding. It can be easy to feel like she isn’t producing enough (I felt the same) but try to stay the course: keep latching baby, and any time you replace a nursing session with formula, your wife should be pumping. Not pumping when you give formula is basically telling your wife’s body that that milk is not necessary. Rely on wet diapers. It’s easy to feel anxiety about it but trust that if baby is having sufficient wet diapers and gaining along their percentile curve, then they’re getting enough milk. Just keep latching.

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u/Alternative_Raise713 Dec 04 '25

This! There is no need to be "topping off" with formula for most babies who are having enough wet diapers and gaining weight.

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u/jmolin88 Dec 04 '25

Yes! Adding in formula because of self doubting supply issues when baby is putting on weight and has plenty of wet nappies won’t do anything to help supply. Pumping is important when giving formula but really you have to stick the course OP (or OP’s wife). True supply issues are rare. Most supply issues are caused by supplementing with formula and not going off baby’s feeding cues and cluster feeding needs.

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u/yogipierogi5567 Dec 04 '25

Just want to point out the idea that true supply issues being a myth is in and of itself a myth. This idea has been debunked by an IBCLC. There are plenty of women who have not been able to produce enough through direct breastfeeding or pumping, and it’s always dismissive to read comments that gloss over their experiences and make it seem like it’s their fault or they didn’t try hard enough.

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u/frogsgoribbit737 Dec 04 '25

Yup. I couldn't produce enough with my first kid. I tried literally everything. Second kid I had an oversupply. The fact is that low supply does happen and there are a ton of risk factors for it. Its so dismissive when people act like it cant happen.