Please talk to me about fore and hind milk

[Helms]

My baby is three months old. Recently he has become very fussy after feeding for a little while.(10 mins or so). I think this is as the milk slows down. He will pull back, kick with his feet and generally seem frustrated. This is a recent development (used to get slowly diminishing gentle sucking) and is making me quite sore. He will settle if I offer him the other side. If necessary I go back to the first side.

Talked to the HV and she said she is worried he is not getting the hind milk. Now I am worried but also remember hearing somewhere that is best not to think in terms of fore/ hind milk? Can anyone explain this.

Also any tips for making feeding time a bit calmer again?

TIA

You'll get a better explanation from on eof the experts soon, just on the fore/hind thing - it's more really about the milk getting more concentration of fat droplets coming down in the milk as the baby suckles.

Here's a useful extract I found that explains it better:

"You may have heard that mothers produce two kinds of milk, foremilk, the thinner milk the baby gets first, which has a lower fat content, and hindmilk, the high-fat, creamier milk that follows. These terms can make it seem as if the breasts produce two kinds of milk, but this is not the case. The milk-making cells in the breast actually produce only one type of milk, but the percentage of fat in the milk that is removed varies according to how long the milk has been collecting in the ducts, and how much of the breast is drained at the moment. As milk is made, the fat globules stick to the sides of the alveoli where the milk is stored, while some of the watery portion of the milk moves down the ducts toward the nipple, mixing with any milk left there from the last feeding. The longer the amount of time between feedings, the more diluted that leftover milk becomes. This ?watery? milk has a higher lactose content and less fat than the milk stored in the alveoli higher up in the breast. As baby begins nursing, the first thing he receives is this lower-fat foremilk, which quenches his thirst. Baby?s nursing triggers the mother?s milk-ejection reflex which squeezes milk?and the sticking fat?from the alveoli into the ducts. The longer he nurses, the higher the fat content of the milk and the more cream he receives, ending up with a nicely balanced meal containing all the fat calories for growth and lactose for energy and brain development that he/she needs."

HTH

Thank you, Lotster!

Helms also search tiktok's posts on the topic. i think she gets a bit tired of explaining it over and over again

your hv is wrong

Helms how's it going soreness-wise? Great to see you are still bf!! (Does it feel like issue after issue for you too?!)

I am no match for the experts on here and Lotster's explanation, but I get worried about this fore/hind malarky sometimes but it's not like a sudden switch is flipped and it changes abruptly...it's more gradual and I think experts have said on here before not to stress too much about it- I try and think about DS gaining weight fine, wet/dirty nappies etc and just have to trust that 10 mins of fussy messing around is actually ok. If stressful!

My DS goes through serious faffy episodes at the breast too and it's just baffling. I have an incredibly powerful let-down so he splutters and chokes on that, pulls off (spraying the room) and then goes back on only to pull off later similarly to your DS- so I'm like, 'oooh it's too much for him' then 5 mins later 'oooh it's too slow for him.' Sometimes it actually turns out he is finished (could be for a couple of hours or just 15 mins) and here I am smooshing my boob against him!

I guess what I'm saying is that (all being well health/weight etc-wise) I just need to trust DS is doing what he needs to!
HTH