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You can't see how much your baby drinks at the breast, so every fussy evening feels like proof you're not making enough. Around half of mothers who stop breastfeeding say worry about supply was the reason — yet the signs that really count are ones you can check at home. Tell us about your baby's last 24 hours and see what they say.
Step 1
How is your baby fed?
Step 2
Count every time baby fed, even short ones and night feeds.
Step 3
A heavy wet disposable feels like about 3 tablespoons of water poured in.
Step 4
What colour is it mostly?
Step 5
Step 6
Can you see or hear baby swallowing?
Step 7
Tick anything that has made you wonder about your supply.
Step 8
These change the answer, so please check each one.
Your baby's age
These are the minimums most guidance uses for a breastfed baby in the first weeks. More is fine.
| Baby's age | Wet diapers | Poops | Poop colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 1 or more | 1 or more | Black, sticky |
| Day 2 | 2 or more | 2 or more | Black to greenish |
| Days 3–4 | 3 or more | 3 or more | Greenish-brown, lightening |
| Day 5 to 6 weeks | 6 or more, heavy | 3 or more | Yellow and seedy |
| After 6 weeks | 6 or more, heavy | Can become less often | Yellow |
Most babies lose some weight in the first days and are back to birth weight by 10 to 14 days. After that, a typical gain in the first 4 months is about 155–240 g (5.5–8.5 oz) a week. Babies usually feed 8 to 12 or more times in 24 hours.
Based on: CDC — Newborn Breastfeeding Basics · La Leche League International — Is baby getting enough? · La Leche League Canada — Low milk production · Stanford Medicine — How you know you have enough milk · Huang et al. 2022, systematic review
Most supply worry comes from not being able to see what's happening. So here's what is happening — how milk is made, what the first week really looks like, what really lowers supply, and what doesn't despite how it feels.
Milk production runs on removal. When milk leaves the breast, your body is told to make more; when milk sits in the breast, it's told to make less. That's the whole system, and it's why the advice for almost every supply worry starts with feeding more often rather than less.
It also explains the thing that frightens people most. A baby who feeds constantly for a few days isn't a sign of failure — it's the mechanism working. They're placing an order.
Days 1 to 3. You make colostrum: thick, golden, and measured in teaspoons rather than ounces. It looks like almost nothing, and it's meant to. A newborn's stomach is tiny, and colostrum is concentrated. Feeding often in these days matters more than volume.
Days 2 to 5. Milk "comes in". Breasts feel full, heavy, sometimes uncomfortably so, and the milk turns whiter and more plentiful. If it feels like too much, that's engorgement, and frequent feeding is what settles it.
The first week. Nappies start telling you the truth. By day 5 the numbers to look for are six or more heavy wet nappies and three or more poops a day, with poop turned yellow and seedy. Most babies lose a little weight at first and are back to birth weight by 10 to 14 days.
Weeks 3 to 6. Supply settles to match your baby. This is when breasts stop feeling full and leaking slows, and it is also when a great many mothers conclude their milk is drying up. It isn't. It's your body getting efficient.
Feeds bunched together, especially in the evening, are called cluster feeding. Growth spurts tend to arrive around 2 to 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months, though not to a timetable, and usually last a few days.
During one, a baby may feed what feels like constantly for an evening or two. As USDA WIC puts it plainly: it does not mean your baby isn't getting enough milk. The extra feeding is how the order gets placed, and supply catches up within a couple of days.
Practical version: if this is your evening, stay fed and watered yourself, get a boxset, and let it happen. It passes.
The order that works: feed more often, get the latch checked by someone who can watch a feed, and add expressing after feeds if you need to increase removal. Skin-to-skin helps, and so does feeding at night, when prolactin levels are highest.
On supplements and lactation cookies: the evidence for them is weak, and they can't replace milk removal. If you want to try something, ask a pharmacist first, especially if you take other medication. Nothing in a biscuit works as well as an extra feed.
And if you're combination feeding or exclusively pumping, none of this makes you less of a mother. Fed babies grow, and the version of feeding that keeps you well is part of the calculation.
Speak to your baby's doctor, health visitor or a lactation consultant if there are fewer than six wet nappies a day after the first week, fewer than three poops a day in the first six weeks, if weight is still dropping after day 5, if your baby isn't back to birth weight by two weeks, or if feeding hurts you.
Get urgent help if your baby is floppy, very hard to wake, has dark or "brick dust" coloured urine after the first few days, or is under 3 months with a temperature of 38°C (100.4°F) or higher.
Asking early is not an overreaction. Most supply problems are easier to fix in week two than in week six, and most of them turn out to be latch or timing rather than your body failing.
Sources: CDC — Newborn breastfeeding basics · USDA WIC — Cluster feeding and growth spurts · La Leche League International · La Leche League Canada — Low milk production
The most reliable signs are weight and diapers. After the first week, look for 6 or more heavy wet diapers and 3 or more poops a day, and for your baby to be back to birth weight by 10 to 14 days and gaining after that. Hearing swallowing during feeds and a baby who seems content after most feeds are good signs too.
Not on its own. Newborns often feed every two hours or more, and many bunch feeds together in the evening. Frequent feeding is how babies build your supply. If weight and diapers are on track, frequent feeding is normal.
Usually not. The early fullness is partly extra fluid and settles as your supply adjusts to your baby, often around six to eight weeks. Soft breasts and less leaking are normal once that happens.
Not necessarily. A pump is often less effective than a baby at getting milk out, and how much you pump varies with the pump, the fit and how relaxed you are. Your baby's weight and diapers are a better guide than pumping output.
Contact your baby's doctor or a lactation consultant if your baby isn't back to birth weight by about two weeks, is still losing weight after day 5, has fewer wet or dirty diapers than expected, or seems too sleepy to feed. Help early makes the biggest difference.