how long until I get to the hind milk?

[cleoowen]

My baby is 12 Weeks old and I am struggling with breastfeeding. He was just breastfed but now thinking of combination feeding.

anyway, I was feeding him on one boob per feed but he is now fussing,crying on boob and coming on/off, only doing butterfly sucks and sleeping without swallowing etc. so I have found switching to the other boob and effective way of dealing with this. However, he is a small baby and is not putting on enough weight so I am worried he is not getting to the fatty hind milk as I am switching boobs. I really need him to put on weight and have increased the number of feeds, introduced formular.

So how long is it before they reach the hind milk. ? I have read 20 mins. I am thinking it is when the rapid sucking to swallowing slows down and he begins to fall asleep.

Plus, why would. Falling asleep, not swallowing properly during this time? Is it because it is too comforting?

Thanks guys. He does seem to feed better since I ve started feeding on both breasts which goes against what the Hv said.

Still quite strange feeding behaviour as explained earlier and coming off of own accord and then straight away fist in mouth. Sometimes crying and,then when I put my finger in his mouth 10 minutes later he sucks hard. It's like having a new born again as,he was going 3 to 4 he's between feeds but feeing for,ages. Was not working as not enough weight gain so will try this way.

You don't need to worry about hind milk as has been said, the milk doesn't suddenly switch. This link explains it really well.

kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/basics/foremilk-hindmilk/

As has been said, offer more frequent feeds and offer as many 'sides' as you need. You can switch between breasts each time your baby gets fussy like this and changing breasts will stimulate a new letdown too, which will help your baby get more milk and stimulate your supply. Weight gain is as much about overall milk volume as much as anything else.

Also, at times your baby will appear fussy and want to feed often because they are trying to signal your body to produce more milk. Giving formula at these times may actually prolong the fussiness as any formula a baby has is milk your body is not being signalled to make. Of course, if you're aware of this and want to give formula, that's absolutely fine, but it will interfere with the supply and demand process.

I agree with what everyone else has said. Anecdotally, DS2 only feeds for 5-10 minutes (and has done since birth) but is rather massive. I do have an oversupply, and I also think he must be very efficient, so I'm not saying all babies would do this, but he is getting enough milk however he's doing it, so I think any arbitrary limit such as 20 minutes must be wrong. He is feeding for even shorter times at the moment but more often because he's full of a cold - I don't know if that might also be relevant to your DS?

Grr, well feeding is still a problem and now is making me anxious before each feed as I am not sure what he's going to do. Would a growth spurt last this long?

His behaviour is very strange, sometimes he's fine,other times going to the other breast after fussing on the first works but other times he tries both and starts crying,fussing,coming on and off and kicking his legs and ends up with a 10 minute,feed.

At this time we have been giving him formular and experimenting with times of the day he has,it. After being a,but hit and miss he gulps this down like he's starving.

Trouble is,it is now effecting his sleep which is,making it worse. I thought formular especially at a,dream feed would full him up for longer but he is waking up more often and becoming harder to get back to sleep. Last might he woke up 4 hours after a,dream feed on the breast and again 3 hours later after another feed. The formular seems to go straight through him as,he wakes up soaking wet having,leaked despite using nighttime nappies.

Before all this,he was more often than not sleeping until 7ish after 11pm dream feed and even went through from 9 until 7 and with no dream feed would only wake once! So he is more than capable.

He seems more hungry since increased feeds and formular than before with 6 feeds and,a,nice routine. It makes no sense but I want my good sleeper back. At times I feel feeding every two hours is giving him food when he is not hungry at other times he wants feeding after a short period after having the bottle or a feed.

Why is this happening?

Maybe you could try pumping a bit off to begin with, then when you but bubba on to feed, the milk he's getting might be a bit fattier? Not sure if it'll work but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to try x

Louby, that's not right, have you read the rest of the thread?

No sorry. I'm a ftm and still learning!