Hind milk?

[blankfornames]

Hi, my 3 wk old DS is slow to put on weight. Im afraid Im switching breast too soon. Is there anyway of identifying if they've reached the hind milk or not?

Thanks.

"fore milk" and "hind milk" are somewhat out-of-date concepts. There aren't two different kinds of milk in your breasts.

To the best of my knowledge, babies only end up with lower-fat feeds if they are always feeding off a very full breast. Do your breasts still seem full at the end of the feeds?

Switching generally helps to boost a mums supply.

Other things that can help boost your supply include:

• do the best you can to improve the latch (do you have any discomfort at all?)
• lots of skin to skin
• offer breast as often as possible
• breast compressions can be particularly good for sleepy babies.

I would put him back on the same side if he wakes up within an hour of a feed and then when he has finished move him to the other side.

Try and rest as much as you can, eat as well as you can and drink lots of fluids , these are all things that will help.

You might find this link of interest

www.llli.org/nb/lvaprmay98p21nb.html

blankfornames, NQC is right - the concept of two different milks is not very helpful.

The fattier milk comes with the let down reflex, and from a breast that's got less milk in it...but to be honest, that doesn't help much either :)

There is no way of knowing when to switch sides, except from your baby's behaviour. Switching too soon will not prevent your baby from gaining, unless you are deliberately stopping him from feeding before he has had what he wants/needs. Best way to increase your baby's weight is to feed more often, and from several 'sides' per feed if your baby is willing to co-operate :)

Post a few more details of weight and what your baby does, and what your midwife/HV has suggested and what you have tried.

homeaway, putting the baby to the same side again is not necessarily helpful in these situations. Resting, eating and increasing fluids won't make any difference, either, though they are nice to do :)

Hi, thanks for all your suggestions and advice. DS is a month old tomorrow. He was 8lbs 7 when born and back up to his birth weight now. He's being weighed again on Monday and the PHN said that she'd like him to put on a minimum of 4 ozs in the week.

He'll go on for comfort a lot of the time and no amount of foot rubbing or stripping will keep that little boy from sleeping when he wants to. I feel he has a better latch on my right breast and that my supply on that side is greater as he'll always feed for longer on that side. He'll tend to snooze more on the other side. He might feed for an hour on my right side and 20-30 mins on my other. I'll offer both breasts per feed. I have slight discomfort at times with the latch but it disappears after a few moments.

Homeaway, that link is very interesting. Definitely quashed a few things that I believed were true. Thanks for that!

For sleepy babies, breast compression and skin to skin are great ways of encouraging them to feed a bit longer and better. This link is pretty good.

Thanks Notquite. great link

Hi blank!

I've been told two useful things:

1. when the baby gets to the fattier milk and away from the thinner 'thirst quenching' milk they drink more slowly and sleepily. IME that's with pauses between glugs
2. if their poo is greenish then likely that they're getting too much of the 'fore' milk

Not sure how true these things are but my lo seems to be getting bigger by the day... Good luck!

Do you alternate which side you start with?

A worrying number of midwives gave me crap advice about foremilk / hindmilk and not switching sides during a feed.
Since going to a breastfeeding group I've learned that switching sides is good unless you are dealing with specific oversupply issues and that green poo doesn't mean anything about your milk.
However, don't listen to me listen to tiktok she'll give you the best advice

Thanks pomeral. Well ignore what I said then!

Pomeral, he's had green poos the last 3 days. What does it mean? He might stay on for 20/30 mins at a time, I'll always put him back on the same breast in the hope he's getting the fattier milk.
Hi Loops! Good advise..im currently listening out for the change in suck!

blank as far as I'm aware green poo is on the normal spectrum and doesn't really mean anything.
Are you struggling with oversupply? If not, switching sides frequently ups your supply, which will give your DS a higher volume of milk which is far more important than worrying fore/hind.
Look at the kellymom website or ring the national breastfeeding helpline. It sounds like you've been given out of date advice by midwives (like I was - told to use same side to get to hind milk) and the helpline will be able to take information from you able your baby and be able to give you proper advice about how to improve his weight gain.
Oh and stick with it! Must be so worrying but remember how good breast milk is for baby :)

This kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/basics/milkproduction/ is a great page about the science of milk production if your interested or this link kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/low-supply/ gives practical advice on increasing milk supply

Excellent. Thanks so much! I did ask 2 PHNs about how often I should change sides. Both gave hugely different answers! Such contradictions!

Yeah, it is so horrible that the very people you want to turn to for advice are frequently poorly educated and not up to date.
I didn't have supply problems but did have other issues and it's so frustrating when everyone seems to give a different answer to the same problem :(
That's why I sugggest using the breastfeeding helpline and/or a breastfeeding support group. It will really help your motivation to carry on too to talk to someone supportive & knowledgeable.

Thanks Pomeral. Went to have him weighed today as I was paranoid about his weight, he put on 9ozs in a week so Im thrilled. The hard work is finally paying off!

Brilliant! Glad it's working out for you :)