how to know if baby has had 'full feed' from one breast before moving to next

[quitescared]

My HV suggested last week that I start feeding from both sides at each feed. I have been doing this for a few days but am worried that my baby isn't getting the hind-milk from the first breast before being moved to the second breast. HOW DO I KNOW??? Any advice please?

It's not quite as simple as foremilk then hindmilk. There isn't a sudden switch from one to the other.

I think most people keep their baby on the first breast until they come off naturally and then offer the second.

There's a good article about foremilk and hindmilk here.

HTH

I just wait til ds comes off then offer the second - up until about 4 months he didn't always want much/any from the second side though.

Thanks for linking to that crikeybadger, rally good article. I could see from reading that where I went wrong with dd1 and why dd2 seems so much easier to feed.

Thank you to all of you - and that article is fantastic crikeybadger. I was worried about the fact that my baby doesn't generally pop off but falls asleep but it would seem they can mean the same thing. Hopefully I will stress less about it now.

THANK YOU again.
x

Glad you found the article useful
I've only just discovered this blog and find it really great.

Thanks for sharing my article/blog and really glad it was helpful :)

Quitescared was there a reason your health visitor suggested feeding from both sides? just wondering if I could help any further.

AA

I was going to ask the same question AA.

How old is your baby quitescared? And what prompted your HV to suggest feeding from both sides?

what a great article - thank you!

Oh my lord!!!

Just wrote a veritable novel in response to everyone and then computer 'went off-line' and message been lost! :(

Great article, thanks :)

Here we go again...

Thanks analytical and mawbroon, any help or advice gladly received.

Summary of feeding from baby's side...
16 weeks on Thu. Born on 91st centile and now just below 25th. Thank G-d healthy. Was at the point of only waking once per night for feed but for last two weeks has woken much more frequently and not necessarily settling well in between. Generally falls asleep at breast and would happily spend 24hours there if allowed!

Summary from my side...
Baby 3.
Baby 1 fed until just after 1st birthday (obviously with solids by that time!)
Baby 2 born with leukaemia. Fed from breast whilst she was able and had expressed milk via NG tube or syringe when couldn't suck. On breastmilk (one way or another) until she died at 15 months.
Has been long time since I breast-fed and just seem so unsure of myself on many levels. Also, suffered with depression after baby 2 died which has left me much more 'sensitive' to broken sleep.

Hope all of that makes sense, and looking forward to any thoughts.

x

Gosh massive hugs (which sounds trite under the circumstances I know), I can't even begin to imagine how traumatic things have been for you - but what an amazing inspiration of a momma you are!

You mention DS started out on the 91st and is now below the 25th - can you expand any on his growth pattern? Did he downsize and drop rapidly down a few centiles after birth, or has it been a gradual drop? what sort of figure has he been gaining on average? Probably most importantly, are you plotting him on the new exclusively breastfed chart?

A good question to ask yourself is, if you hadn't had him weighed would you be concerned about his growth or how much he was taking? What is his length like ie does he look in proportion or does he look to be getting slimmer? What was the growth of your eldest like what does your gut feeling tell you?

Sleep cycles also change around 3/4 months and lots of infants do experience waking when they have slept brilliantly before - this may be related to intake, but is very frequently completely unrelated and in fact far more about developmental growth. Is he trying to master any new skills such as rolling or sitting up, any drooling or signs of teeth moving about under the surface?

I think as you say maximising sleep for you is important - where does baby sleep now? if separate maybe consider converting the cot into a side car cot so you can feed without really waking/getting up? Several studies show sleeping next to baby without a barrier results in not only more sleep for mum, but also better quality sleep - leaving mums feeling more rested (a recent study showed different sleep phases were hit for different lengths of time, with a longer period of the most restful type)

You could try increasing intake during the day too, to see if it helps - which would also be relevant if you do feel there is genuinely a weight issue.

There's a few ways you could do this - if you look at the bottom of this article (a lot wont be relevant to you), under the header "tips for increasing gain" you should find the info you need.

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2010/09/is-my-breastfed-baby-getting-enough.html

HTH a bit :) Sorry for the rather long reply.
AA

You mention DS started out on the 91st and is now below the 25th - can you expand any on his growth pattern? Did he downsize and drop rapidly down a few centiles after birth, or has it been a gradual drop? what sort of figure has he been gaining on average? Probably most importantly, are you plotting him on the new exclusively breastfed chart?

I'll answer in stages...
Yes, she's being plotted on the breastfed chart.
She didn't lose an abnormal amount to begin with, but took 4 weeks to regain birth weight.
Because she is to all intents and purposes healthy I have tried not to be paranoid about her and have only had her weighed twice.

TBH I'm not overly worried about the weight element (although I'm now wondering whether I should be!) as my son who was born at ten pounds did the same thing. He dropped way down on the centile charts until he started on solids at which point he came back to a more average weight.

I guess I'm looking at it from a hideously selfish standpoint and wanting to get her to sleep more (although i wouldn't go down the root of formula feeding to boost things). I don't expect her to sleep through but would like more than a couple of hours actual sleep between feeds. That sounds awful doesn't it?

Thanks again for the link to the other article. Am going to go and read it.

x

Have just read own post and think I sound like one of those mums who has a baby and thinks it shouldn't affect her life. I don't mean it like that. I really don't expect her to be sleeping and really don't mind waking to feed her. I just want to know if there's something i should be doing feed-wise to help her settle between feeds.

This doesn't seem any better and I think I should stop there - I just don't want you thinking I'm a horribly selfish person.

no you dont! wanting sleep, esp at 16 weeks is not unreasonable!

QUOTE TBH I'm not overly worried about the weight element (although I'm now wondering whether I should be!) as my son who was born at ten pounds did the same thing.

That's really interesting as mums often notice a pattern between sibling growth (whilst others are opposite)

Have also just realised I spent the last however many posts thinking you had a little boy and calling your daughter "he"! Apologies.

I don't think for a second you sound at all like someone selfish not wanting baby to interfere! I do think waking is normal for a lot of infants ie don't feel you are doing something wrong because baby is waking - but of course it makes sense to try ideas to maximise sleep; including trying to get more day calories in during the day :)

AA

Thanks again. Here's hoping!
x