6 Ways to Tell if Your Breastfeeding Baby is Full!

New babies are notoriously confusing. They fall asleep after 5 minutes, and then wake up 2 minutes later starving. It’s hard for a new mother to figure out what the baby wants let alone whether they did a good job filling them up! To that end here is a short list to review!
1.) Your baby was really hungry, and had tightly balled fists. As you nurse for a while the little hands open like flowers and become relaxed. Might be full.

2.) Look for Zombie Arm. This is what I call the super floppy arm that happens when a baby is totally milk wasted. You should be able to lift the arm and it drops like a log. Might be full.

3.) Always double check the upper lip. You say you have the Flower Hand, and the Zombie Arm? Check the upper lip by tickling. If you baby hunts for the air nipple, probably not full.

4.) Your baby might look like this:
  

or this:

5.) Look at your baby as a whole being. Do they seem relaxed? Are the hands relaxed and open? No tension in the arms or back? Is your baby resting in your hands as you look them over? It their mouth relaxed and not pursed. Might be full.

6.) If you cannot wake your baby up, and you have tried the follow things: A warm washcloth bath, tickled ribs and shoulders, massaged the palms of the hands, and you’ve even tried the dreaded “fake out the baby by pulling the velcro tab on the diaper” trick? Might be full.

(c) Serena Meyer, RN, IBCLC 2016

You can find Serena at https://www.bayareabreastfeedingsupport.com/