Advice please on feeding using only one boob

[Flower3554]

Its many moons since I bf my 3 but unless somethings changed is it not usual to feed for say 10 minutes from one breast then wind baby and 10 minutes on the other breast.

I sat in on a contact visit with the parents of the lo, aged 4 weeks, that I'm fostering and its the only time I've seen him fed from Mum. She fed him for about 10 minutes winded him then returned him to the same breast for about 5 more minutes.

She does send up frozen breast milk most days and I alternate with formula feeding.

Although she feeds him at every contact, 5 x per week for 1 hour, he is always ravenous when he returns home and drains a 4oz bottle immediately.

He is gaining weight well 1lb 4.5ozs weight gain in two weeks so why is he so hungry on his return from contact.

I'm no expert but from what I remember reading when I bf ds (now 3), the milk that comes out first (the foremilk) is the richest and most nutritious. So after the first 10 mins or so it tapers off and becomes more watery. So if she's just feeding from one side, lo probably isn't getting the full benefit of that rich milk. I may have this wrong though!

slayerette -I think you have that the wrong way round - it's advised to feed as long as possible from one side before switching to the other - but Flower 3554 really needs a bf expert to reply to this.

Fore milk is the most watery, and the milk gets creamier the longer the baby feeds. It sounds like a very sad situation to take a newborn away from it's mother.

The current advice is to feed from the same breast until it is drained and then feed from the other side so that they get the more nutritious hind milk. Perhaps she needs to offer him the other side as well...

Thank you. I will have a word with the social worker who can ask the community midwife or health visitor to advise her.

It was puzzling me as to why lo was coming back starving. His Mum has learning difficulties so she needs as much help as possible.

Sorry - just realised that my thread made it sound the wrong way around. The foremilk comes first and is thin; the hind milk is more nutritious and comes later. That is why it is important to drain the first breast to make sure that they get the hindmilk from that breast...

Ah - it's all come flooding back! I did get it the wrong way round - sorry This is what happens when you haven't bf for 3 yrs and what you're most worried about is how to convince a nearly 4 yr old that you're not trying to poison him by offering something that's not a cheese sandwich...

Breast feeds should not be times. The baby should feed from the first breast as long as he wants - he will spit the nipple out when he has had enough. He sahould then be winded and offered the second breast. Especially in this situation I tyhink it is important the baby feeds from both breasts as he has restricted access. Mum should be expressing at least 8 times a day to keep up supply.

Thanks mears. I usually get 3 or 4 4oz bags of milk each day. Usually I get 6 or 7 bags after a weekend when she doesn't have access at all. However there are days when no milk at all comes and he is either fed on formula or any frozen bf I still have. Of course I don't know how much is expressed, only what I get.

Its the feast or famine sometimes. Bless his heart he doesn't seem to mind which milk is offered or whether its from the breast or bottle.