Dear Friends: There is no evidence anywhere that suppports any particular number or size of poops in the newborn as a marker of breastfeeding adequacy. As it has been stated before, stooling is more important than peeing. What is most important is the baby's behaviors: is the baby smiling after feeds (which starts in the first week of life, and has been documented), is the baby waking to feed 8-14 times in 24 hours, is the baby waking to just look around and see what is in this wonderful world, is the baby passing flatus (which is a predictor that stooling will come)? Has the baby cleared the meconium by day 4-5 of life? And is the baby back at birth weight within the first 2 weeks? I believe that there is too much individual variation to quantify anything beyond a range. Some babies don't stool for nearly two weeks after clearing their meconium; other babies smear a little after every feed. All thrive. The babies that get into trouble are not acting right. They sleep a lot or fuss all the time. The whole picture is what is important: to teach infant states of awareness and feeding cues. When mothers know how healthy newborns act, everything else falls into place. Mothers need someone to talk to in the first few weeks; there is no substitute for that support. That is how she can learn what to expect. It is unrealistic to make a recipe for output in isolation. "4 poops by day 4 of life" has never been shown to have any evidence behind it; it is the result of someone's experience. It is catchy and easy to remember....and can still lead mothers astray. There is no substitute for the whole picture with a newborn. Warmly, Nikki Lee RN, MSN, Mother of 2, IBCLC, ICCE, CSTP, CIMI Elkins Park (a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, northeastern USA) *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html