How is your breast fed baby coping in this heat?

[Itsaplayonwords]

We're very close to establishing breastfeeding (only 1 bottle a day now) and now we've got a heatwave! How do you make sure your baby is getting enough fluid? I'm finding the heat is making her sleepy and occasionally she'll wake up hungry, feed for a few minutes but then she seems to get too warm and cosy while I'm holding her and then she'll fall asleep. I'm worried she's not getting enough but she's having wet nappies. Any tips?

[DorotheaHomeAlone]

If she's having wet nappies then she's fine. There's a big element of faith in breastfeeding that I know a lot of people struggle with but honestly your body knows what it's doing. I expressed this week and noticed that my milk is a lot less fatty and more watery to keep ds hydrated. It's amazing really. Just keep offering often and she should be fine.

[DorotheaHomeAlone]

Sorry, you asked for tips. The only things I'm doing differently with my 11 week old are keeping him quite stripped down and putting a muslin in the crook of my arm so we don't get crazily sweaty during feeds.

[SpeakNoWords]

I second the stripping down and using a muslin to stop contact sweatiness. My 1 month old has been feeding a bit more than usual but been a bit sleepier between feeds I think.

[pestov]

Keep yourself well hydrated and offer feeds more frequently. The composition of your milk will change so don't offer water, it will just fill them up.

Remember women successfully breastfeed in much hotter climates than our little heatwave. Trust your body.

[Itsaplayonwords]

Thanks everyone. A big problem is that I don't have faith in my body! It's been a struggle for us to get breastfeeding and I'm still surprised when she has wet nappies throughout the day when she only has a bottle at night!

She has been feeding loads today but hasn't been doing big gulps and my breasts haven't felt full at all. My paranoia is telling me that I've stopped producing decent quantities of milk and she's starving and dehydrated!

[pestov]

How old is she? There comes a point where you are in equilibrium with supply and demand, I only feel full now when she sleeps through or I leave her for several hours in the day.

[Itsaplayonwords]

She's 4 weeks but she was 7 weeks prem so I had to express to establish my supply and she was too weak to breastfeed fully until recently. It's only been the last few days that I haven't expressed. I'm so stuck in that mindset of amounts because every ml counts in SCBU and I'm used to expressing every 3 hours rather than breastfeeding on demand. It's my mindset that's the problem and I'm well aware of that - I'm so used to seeing what milk I have so when I can't see it I panic. But every nappy has been wet today despite the heat so she's obviously fine. It's me who needs to chill out!