How to Know It's Going Well
• You are nursing your baby on demand, that may be anywhere from 8-12 times in 24 hours.
• You are free of pain.
• Baby nurses until full and then falls asleep, or is relaxed after feeding.
• Once your milk comes in, your baby has 6 or more wet diapers a day, and 3-4 stools a day.
• Until your milk comes in your baby will pee and poop less. Please refer to the table below for expected amount of wet and poopy diapers.
For example:
Day of Life Wet Diaper Poopy Diaper Goal
under 1 day old W P (black tarry) 1/1
1 day old WW PP (brown tarry) 2/2
2 days old WWW PP (green) 3/2
3 days old WWWW PPP (yellow) 4/3
4 days old WWWWW PPP (yellow) 5/3
Your baby may nurse more than 12 times and may have more wet or poopy diapers than the chart above states.
You cannot nurse too often, but you CAN nurse too little.
Call your pediatrician for help if the baby has fewer wet and poopy diapers than the numbers on the log, or if your baby continues to have black, brown, greenish, or tarry stools after four days.
If nursing is painful, find informed help quickly. Pain usually means the baby is not latched on correctly and will need to be taken off the breast and repositioned.
Get help early, especially if there is no improvement within 24 hours!