maternal perception of adequacy of mothers milk among mothers giving birth at a teaching hospital in sri lanka background sri lanka boasts high rates of early and exclusive breastfeeding perceived inadequacy of milk a global problem is the main cause for early cessation of breastfeedingresearch aims the aims of this study are to a determine the prevalence b identify the risk factors and c ascertain the association that maternal psychological distress has with perceived inadequacy of milk pim among mothers during the early postpartum period identifying and addressing modifiable risk factors for pim may improve mothers satisfaction with breastfeedingmethods a crosssectional descriptive study of mothers n 249 during the first week after birth was conducted at colombo north teaching hospital ragama sri lanka from may 1 2016 to june 10 2016 participants were recruited when the infant was more than 24 hours but less than 7 days old a selfadministered questionnaire including the sixitem kessler psychological distress scale was usedresults the majority of mothers 78 perceived their milk quantity to be adequate a family member telling mothers that their milk supply was low had the most significant associations with perceived inadequacy other associations were antenatal maternal complications and birth by cesarean section kessler scores indicating psychological distress occurred in 26 of all participating mothers with a higher mean score in those with pimconclusions sri lankan family members should be educated further about normal patterns of milk production during the postpartum period the authors recommend that pim be included in screening tools for postpartum depression in sri lanka