How long does your baby nurse for after the letdown?

[loucee]

This might be like asking "how long is a piece of string" question!

DS is 11wks old and exclusively breastfed, his feeding has been quite settled but I've noticed the past week He doesn't feed for much time at all but gets hungry quicker than He usually does. I know there's a growth spurt at around 3 months.

He used to suck suck suck then I'd feel the letdown then after that he would continue to suck suck suck then either fall asleep or get all wriggly and want to come off. Now he sucks til the let down but after the let down has finished he wants off then. I don't think he's getting enough hindmilk because he's had green poo for the past week as well. He has had a bit of a cold.

Before he started feeding like this he was gaining around 10oz a wk but I haven't had him weighed for 2 wks so I don't know if he's still gaining well (I'll get him weighed on Tuesday).

Do you think it's possible that he can get everything he needs from feeding for such a short period? He used to go 3 hours between feeds but now he's feeding every 1.5-2 hours or sometimes 2.5 hrs.

if he has a cold it's possible he's thirsty -like when your nose is blocked and you breathe through your mouth

loucee, there are several let downs per feed, not all of them 'feelable' by the mother - to talk of 'the' let down is misleading.

yes, he can get what he needs in a short time, but as MrsB says, he may be making adjustments - feeding for a shorter time more frequently, possibly as a result of his cold.

Green poo is on the normal spectrum. In a healthy baby worrying what it means isn't necessary

Sorry I didn't check for replies sooner.

Couldn't get him weighed today so will try and get the HV to come tomorrow or it will have to be next Tues.

MrsB yes that makes sense, if he's thirsty with a sore throat etc. It's just hard knowing when he's hungry and when he's not. I do try and feed him on demand but I seem to be unable to read his hunger cues.
On Sunday he hadn't fed very much at all and I could feel my breasts were getting very full so I expressed some milk. DS was being crying/screaming and nothing would console him, I offered him a feed, winded him, changed nappy etc but nothing worked then I gave DH the expressed milk and DS sucked it all down no problem at all and then seemed very content.I don't understand though because I had offered him a feed and he just seemed to cry harder.

Tiktok I didn't know that about several letdowns, there's one I feel quite early on in the feed as it used to be quite painful. I only see his jaws do big chomps once during the feed as well - do you think it's possible my boobs aren't up to this job? Feeding DD was a struggle but we did persevere, it's harder this time round as she's now 2 and looking after her with the unsettled feeding is a hard job.

TT - I've been unable to make contact with any of the breastfeeding helpers in my area (tried La Leche League, BFN and ABN), noone has returned my calls over the past month and my HV just doesn't have the breastfeeding knowledge. Do you know of anywhere else (online perhaps) where I can get some bfing advice? I am willing to pay

Oh, God, Loucee, I wish I hadn't said anything now!! You're now taking what I said as a sign there's something wrong!

There isn't - at least nothing you have said here indicates it.

Most mothers do not feel or see all the let downs.

For help, try the NCT bf line 0870 444 8708.

I'm sure a bit of confidence will help

yes there are a few letdowns in a feed. Look at his lower jaw and ear when he feeds. he starts with fluttery sucks (suck, suck, suck, as Dr Jack Newman puts it) then with a letdown, he goes to suck, pause (swallow) suck. you should see the swallow and sometimes hear it. If he stays on the same side, you will then see the fluttery sucks again and then the suck, pause, suck. The later letdowns are not as big as the first but they are there!

What I did when dd would not want to stay too long on one side was to put her on the other side, let her do the same, then once she came off that side, put her back onto the 'first' side. you can do this as many times as you want. If i remember rightly, around this age, your production has settled down to a more demand/supply thing and babies probably miss not having to work so hard for a big payback. It doesn't mean you have less milk or that something is wrong.

FWIW, my dd never went longer than 2 hrs between feeds. 2.5 was a dream that never came true. But I am now bfing a toddler.

Sorry tiktok I didnt mean to turn on the information you supplied, you're right I do lack confidence as DS never seems very content after a feed and neither did DD.
Thanks for the tel no, i'll wait til school run time is over.

Kiskidee, I dont tend to swap sides too much for worry that DS will get too much foremilk or is that a myth? I realise it's not as black and white as that.

yes, the foremilk/hindmilk thing is confused by people who don't understand enough about bf - not you, people who should know better but don't.

basically, if you are feeding every 1.5-2 hrs, there is little or no 'foremilk' there. the longer the gap, the more foremilk there will be. Think of a hot tap. If you turn it back on 2 mins later, there is little cold water there before it goes hot. If you do so, 5 mins later, there is more cold water there before it goes hot.

kiskidee - I don't understand the foremilk/hindmilk - are you able to explain it a little? As in if I start feeding DS on my right boob, he feeds for a bit I feel a letdown etc then he comes off, if I put him on the left boob will be get a lot of foremilk again at the beginning?

Sorry for all the questions

Hello!

I was well confused and HV suggested I read this:

www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/foremilk-hindmilk.html

A lche league lady told me that it hind milk was like hot water coming out of a tap - that when you put baba to breast the 'cold water [fore milk] comes out first then gradually changes to hot [hind milk]. Each time you turn the different taps [left and right breast] you start with a bit of 'cold'.....

hmmmm

Hope this dodgy meterphore means as much to you as it did to me. She explained it better!

Also. I've NEVER really understood the let down think and sometimes look down and wonder if she's getting anything! However she has survived 6 months with only a teeny bit of formular so she must be getting it.

My baby sounds like yours at three months. Breast feeding councillors suggested that she was most efficient at getting milk so quicker feeds, having a growth spurt (she grew out of EVERYTHING and was constantly feeding) but also getting more distracted.

If still worried try la leche league - always found them fab

Good luck!

your breasts make one kind of milk. when milk sits unremoved from your breasts, the fat content starts to separate from the water content not much unlike it would in a bottle, i suppose. The fat contents cling to the side of the alveoli (you feel them like frozen peas in your breasts when you are 'full') so the watery 'foremilk' gets removed first if there has been a long gap between feeds. if there has been a short gap, less of the 'foremilk' is present because not much of the fat has migrated to the alveoli walls. So if you have fed say an hr and a half earlier, there will be less 'foremilk' than if you didn't feed for 3 hrs.

and yes at 3 months your baby will be pretty fast at removing milk so if you try to swap breasts and he just tries to turn away, pull back or scream at you, then you can feel sure he has had enough.

my dd though she fed every 1.5 hrs, only really wanted one breast. nothing I could do would let her feed off both and 'wait' for longer. oh how i used to wish. she only started to take both at around 8 months when she was still exclusively bfing and refusing all solids so it was enough for her and i think i am just an average milker.

The best advice i can give you is to trust your body and trust your baby. They are working together like a little symphony which is very hard to improve upon.

thanks for your replies ladies.

ILWN - I'll have a read of that link, thanks.

Kiskidee, thanks for the information, it has helped me to understand it a little better. I would trust my body better if DS appeared a bit more satisfied after feeds. In saying that though there are some feeds where he is satisfied and will then go 3 hrs until the next one (the time inbetween feeds isn't an issue for me it's just I want to make sure he's getting enough food)

your body was his sole source of nourishment for 9 months and it can be the same till he is at least 6 months.
start to relax and enjoy him some more.

the 3 hr gap is a western convention or expectation of babies. some babies will never manage this. in some traditional cultures babies feed as often as every 15 mins, all day long and their mums don't seem to stress out over foremilk.

PS, we are the only mammal which has seen its own milk, or expects to see it.

thanks Kiskidee, now I understand a bit more about the formilk and hindmilk I am relaxing a bit more about the feeds. I gave DS a dummy when he was two weeks old because he seemed to want to suck continuously but he kept stimulating letdowns which made him scream and cry at the breast or else the milk would just pour out of his mouth onto my trousers (he wasn't latching as such just sort of suckling the nipple). I worry that I give him the dummy when he might be hungry instead but at those times I've offered him another feed but he's refused but then say 20 mins later he will have a feed.

I have a DD who's just turned 2 so I have my hands full keeping an eye on her whilst feeding DS and often he unlatches and ends his feed if she's crashing around etc.

you are doing fantastic. especially with a 2yo around. ds will learn to ignore his sister but it may get worse before it gets better. I remember how nosy they can be when they realise there is a world beyond the nipple.

do you have maybe a special group of toys (for quiet activity) or books which dd can have only when you are feeding? that seems to be recommended often on MN when there is a baby and toddler around.