The first few days after birth, your breasts produce an ideal “first milk.” It’s called colostrum. Colostrum is thick, yellowish, and scant — but there’s plenty to meet your baby’s nutritional needs. Colostrum helps a newborn’s digestive tract develop and prepare itself to digest breast milk.
Most babies lose a small amount of weight in the first three to five days after birth. This is unrelated to breastfeeding. A natural feedback loop exists between your baby’s feeding needs and your milk production. As your baby needs more milk and nurses more, your breasts respond by producing more milk. Experts recommend breastfeeding exclusively (no formula, juice, or water) for six months. If you supplement with formula, your milk production may go down.
Even if you breastfeed less than the recommended six months, it’s better to breastfeed for a short time than no time at all. You can add solid food at six months but also continue to breastfeed if you want to keep producing milk.