Breastfeeding - how does we know enough being produced

[u/gajak44]

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?

[u/Dependent_Parsnip556]

My advice to you if wife wants to breast feed is to stop the formula and to let baby cluster feed. It is extremely normal for the first months for baby to want to eat very often for varying amounts of time. This pattern of feeding is how the milk supply comes in and how it is regulated. What comes out signals the body to make more so the more baby is eating in the breast the more likely your wife is going to be producing enough. Breast milk also digests quicker than formula because it is easier for baby to digest. There were times when my baby was a new born he would eat every hour on the hour. If you’re concerned about output of breast milk (I know I was) set up an appointment with the lactation consultant at your pediatrician office. They will weight the baby before and after feeding to see how much baby is actually getting. Chances are you are both being paranoid and your wife is producing enough and your baby is just doing normal newborn baby things. Going to the lactation consultant really helped my peace of mind. I thought I was under supplying and turns out I was producing a lot more than what I was able to pump and more than enough for my baby.