After caring for over a thousand breastfeeding mothers and newborns over the past few years, I have noticed that these questions and concerns are by far the most common, and concern over these issues is a common reason for stopping breastfeeding or doing things that interfere with breastfeeding and cause problems over the first few weeks.

YES! You only make 1-3 teaspoons of colostrum every few hours! And that is ENOUGH and NORMAL! That is ALL YOUR BABY NEEDS! Your milk will not fully come in until day 3-4. Unless you have a medical problem, you should make all your baby needs the first few days! You’ve got this!

NORMAL! Babies are sleepy the first day or two and may only nurse every 5-6 hours. They may be hard to wake up, or wake up and not interested, or suck 3 times and fall back asleep. ALL NORMAL! Read on to learn how to help your baby the first few days.

NORMAL! This is called cluster feeding and is a normal pattern in newborns. They may eat every 30 minutes to an hour, then not again for 5-6 hours. It does not mean that you do not have enough milk. It is just a normal feeding pattern.

May be normal. If the baby is not interested in latching, that is probably just due to being sleepy. If your baby is trying to latch but is having difficulty starting or staying on, then this is a latch problem that you want to get fixed right away, either with help in the hospital or seeing a lactation consultant if you have already gone home. The latch is the key to breastfeeding success: read on for more on the proper latch.

This may or may not be normal. It normally hurts or is uncomfortable the first 10-15 seconds but it should not hurt after that. If it hurts longer or is very painful, you definitely want to get that fixed in the hospital or see a lactation consultant if you have already gone home.

NORMAL! GOOD! HEALTHY! This is supposed to happen; it would be unhealthy for your baby not to lose weight. They are born with extra water in their bodies and lose weight the first few days. They should start gaining weight around day 3-5 and be back to birth weight around 10-14 days old. Read on for more on your baby’s weight.