Not every breastfeed will be a ‘perfect’ feed.

This is a video I filmed a while ago of a baby drinking beautifully at the breast. Some breastfeeds will be like this: your baby will latch on, drink deeply and in a very focused way. After a while, their swallows will slow down and eventually your baby will pull off with an extremely satisfied, replete expression on their face, and possibly with milk dribbling from their mouth. They might take the second breast and have a very focused feed on that side too. You will be certain they've drunk lots of milk and you will feel happy and reassured.

But at other times, you won't be sure what's going on.

Your baby will be fussy, so you'll offer the breast, and they'll take it, suck for a bit, pull off, go on again, drink a bit more and then stop. You'll think they've finished, and take them off, but they'll continue to fuss, so you'll offer some more. They might take a bit more, or they might not.

It's confusing and worrying. You really don't know if they've had enough, or if they're still hungry. This tends to happen several times a day.

When I was first breastfeeding my eldest son, this kind of feed was a constant source of anxiety to me. Then eventually one day I had a light bulb realisation: as adults, we only ever sit down to a 'proper' meal a maximum of three times a day. The rest of the time, most of us will be having frequent drinks and snacks.

I dawned on me that my baby didn't need to have a perfect feed every time he went on the breast, and that as long a few feeds a day were of the more focused kind, there was no need for me to worry, especially as he was gaining an appropriate amount of weight, and meeting his milestones.

If your baby is gaining weight as expected and generally doing well, try not to worry if all their feeds aren't like the one in this video.