How do you know when to swap boob?

[lurcherlover]

DS is 5 days old and feeding well. He will feed for anything up to an hour on one side before dropping off to sleep. Sometimes that's it for a couple of hours, sometimes he wants to latch on again a couple of minutes later. How do I know when to swap sides? I know it's meant to be when there's no milk left on that side but usually I can still squeeze more out. So do I keep giving that side until there's none left? Mw said to offer the same side within the hour but if it's longer than that to offer the other one. What's best?

lurcherlover - breasts are never empty and switching when 'there's no milk left' is impossible :) No need to squeeze (who told you to do that?!). You'll soon get to know what your baby seems to want, and guage from the feel of your breasts (without squeezing....) whose 'turn' it is.

It's no big deal as long as your baby gets both sides offered very frequently. An hour sounds a long time to me to be on the same side, though, and anyway, the clock is always a poor guide to feeding requirements :)

If you feel he has had a 'good feed' on side one, then offer the second side next time he perks up, even if that is only a short time.

It's more a question of following the baby's lead, rather than the clock's lead :)

Thanks tiktok. It was the midwife who told me to see if I could squeeze any more out and if I could then I should still use that side I'm just worried as I know he needs the hindmilk and thought if I was swapping too frequently he would only get foremilk, and maybe not put on enough weight?

I think it would help to speak to a different midwife - the idea that breastfeeding goes well only if we do all this squeezing is a bit mad :) :)

Please don't worry about foremilk and hindmilk. This looks after itself, it really does, as long as you feed responsively. It needs no 'engineering' of time on the breast.

If you go to www.kellymom.com and click on how breastfeeding works, you will find a good explanation of foremilk and hindmilk, and how the baby just needs to be in charge, and you don't need to do anything except let him be so :)

I don't swap during a feed. DD 6m has reflux and I found block feeding helped. Switching sides seemed to give her more pain and she'd be very unsettled. I think that reinforces Tiktok and the midwife saying don't worry too much about it. it still amazes me how effective our bodies are.

Every time ds comes off one side, I offer the other side.

I use the very non-scientific method of having a squeeze to see which is most full

I turned into Daisy the cow when I had DCs so had to time 5 mins each side per feed or they overfed and puked

And they still looked like sumo wrestlers within days

I was told to do this squeezing thing too. I still do it, as I do find it a useful guide actually. I get that you can't actually be empty, but my squeezes certainly go from getting watery looking milk, then creamy looking milk, then nothing - totally, and I'm sure incorrectly, reinforcing the foremilk-hindmilk-empty theory.

FWIW, I rarely swap sides during a feed. I take DD off when I start getting sore because she would suck all day if she could. It's pretty clear when she's just playing. I used to offer the other side and she would willingly take it, but then throw the milk back up. So now I don't.

the squeeze idea might be breast compressions which is a way of helping the baby get more milk. You want your baby to get milk, and lots of it, to enable them to grow and thrive. The foremilk/hindmilk thing is a bit of a red herring in terms of 'the first five minutes is foremilk, then comes the next milk, then the hind milk.' milk does get progressively more fatty throughout the course of the feed and the milk from an 'emptier' breast is fattier than a very full one, but unless you have literally pints of milk and have oversupply issues, you really don't need to worry: your baby just needs lots of milk and getting it from either side is all good. if throughout the course of a 24hrs both sides get lots of stimulation and are well softened by the end of the day, this is great - your breasts and your brain will work together to produce lots more.

sometimes a baby fusses at one breast and wants to change sides because they want faster flowing, less fatty milk. sometimes they want to stay on one breast for a while to stock up on some higher fat milk but even this is not a rule to 'follow' as it were. just get to know your baby.

as tiktok says, watch your baby, not the clock. the 'give him the other breast within the hour' is a bit too. it doesn't matter. at 5 days old, your baby is working hard to establish a good milk supply and he has lots of growing to do so just go with him. you can offer him the other side if he has softened the other side nicely, and 'drained' it.

breastfeeding is funny isn't it because there are basic premises to how milk production works but there are no rules to be followed really. it is much cleverer than that and the baby often knows what they are doing more than we do!

hth.

When bf is going normally, there is always milk in the breasts. It may not be apparent by squeezing, but this doesn't mean there is nothing there....milk is made dynamically, in response to the milk being removed, and production speeds up/slows down according to the amount of milk in the breast (more milk = slower production; less milk = faster production).

Squeeze if you want to :) But don't feel you have to, or that it is an indication of when to swap sides.

thanx for asking this question tiktok . my dd2 is the same age (6 days today) and I was wondering the exact same thing.