I found this advice on foremilk and hind milk on a site, and it explains about when to switch breasts....

[ManyMonkeys]

How your milk changes during a feed.

Your milk changes as your baby?s needs change throughout the feed. The milk in the breast at the beginning of a feed is called the fore milk. This is quite thin and watery. As you make milk in response to her sucking, hind milk is produced, which is higher in fat and more satisfying.

It?s important that you let your baby take as much milk as she wants from the first breast at each feed so that she gets plenty of the more satisfying hind milk. She may well look very full and sleepy after the feed. Give her a while and perhaps change her nappy and she may wake up and want some more. You can then offer her the second breast. She may really be full, and just want to drop off to sleep, but that little break may mean that she is now ready for a top up!

Always start the next feed on the opposite breast to the one you started on last time.

Does this sound correct?? i ALWAYS seem to get confused when it comes to which breast to put dd next, what if shes only had a smaller feed from the first breast? - do you not continue from this side if she wants more?

From the start i single sided breasst fed as my baby wasn't interested in changing sides. It does mean that when they feed they get all the milk and stay fuller for longer (no snacking). They recommend that you should feed from both sides for the first 4 days to get your milk supply in and then start one sided. 'the baby whisperer' explains this.

However every baby is different and sometimes now, at 7 weeks, I have to offer the second breast as he empties my first. It is what you feel comfortable with and how your boobs cope. It took a few days for me to get over the engorgement faze. I expressed a little to help with this.

the way i understand it is there is no switch between the types of milk

and you cannot empty a breast

during a feed a baby will initially do quick sucking, then gulping as let down happens and then the feed will slow down - this is an indication that the fatty "hind" milk is being drunk. The way this happens will be different with each baby

IMO, the baby whisperer books are woefully misinformed about breastfeeding - she talks about yields (which are no indication of supply) and timing feeds which is nonsense

a good tip is look at your baby - if she is relaxed, arms by her sides, and comes off the breast then she has had enough and you can, if you want offer side 2

DD soemtimes feeds off the same side first if she has only had a small feed - doesn't seem to make a difference

DD can now do a 2 sided feed within 15 mins and not need another feed for 3 - 4 hours

Sorry to hijack.. but it seems a good place to ask.
I always offer both (dd is 3 wks old). Should you always continue to offer both for as long as the baby wants? I also quite often go back to the first breast again if she's having a feeding frenzy.

i am not an expert but i used to offer DD 3 or 4 sides per feed if she needed it

really helps with supply i think

OP, that sort of stuff is way too faffy for neurotic first time feeders to follow.

try starting the feed on whichever breast you think makes more sense. let your baby come off that one when she is 'finished' offer the other breast and allow her to take it or refuse it.

if you have a tiny baby or maybe a sleepy one possibly due to jaundice or born slightly early, you may want to swap breasts before they fall asleep. The gush of milk from the other one tends to perk them up and get more down them.

another thing to try for when they are falling asleep is to do breast compressions - search it in the MN archives.

the foremilk hindmilk thing generally sorts itself out without us trying to engineer it.

Foremilk and hindmilk are outdated terms which shouldn't be used anymore because they don't correctly describe the constitution of milk during a feed. Right from the beginning of a breastfeed there is rich fatty, fill them up milk and all the way throughout there will be thinner more thirst quenching milk.

Your breasts will keep giving milk so long as they are stimulated to do so. They do not get empty. They may feel more empty to you because the milk ducts will not have stored milk in them anymore because baby has drunk that stored milk but they are still producing milk it's just not being stored in the ducts but is going straight into baby.

Thanks ruby - she's 3wks as of yesterday and having a growth spurt I think so both breasts are getting constant attention!

Babies are quite good at telling you when the flow of milk has gotton annoyingly slow i find.

I've always tended to feed from one side until the baby unlatches in annoyance and then flip them over.

If they've unlatched with that lovely full of milk smirk on their faces, or fallen asleep i'll often feed again from that side next time.

I had the added complexity of one boob having a very differant flow to the other though... two of mine struggled on the fast flowing boob so i couldn't feed from that sidfe in public or if they were cranky!

your breats won't shriel up and stop producing milk if you mix and match, just feed from whichever side suits best at the time... as long as both are being fed from it'll be fine. I often feed from a paticular side based solely on where i'm sitting and what's comfortable!

This is all really informative for me as a newbie.

DS is 5 days old. I feel like a milk machine, and there is just so much advice coming at me from MW, leaflets, friends that it's hard tp know what's 'normal' and what's not.

rubyslippers what age is your DD? You said you can feed her in 15 mins and not re-feed for 3-4 hours. That sounds good.

my DD is 20 weeks

she was feeding every 2 hours day and night when she was newborn

IME, and DD is EBF, the feeding is so easy now

she feeds twice at night still (that is a whole other thread ) but it is a breeze especially in the day

i couldn't believe it could ever be so easy, especially in the early days when DD was permanently attached to me but it really is a doddle now

the intensity of the first few weeks does end

"Foremilk and hindmilk are outdated terms which shouldn't be used anymore because they don't correctly describe the constitution of milk during a feed"

Really?

I'm delighted. I have never been able to make any sense of it.

Also never know when a breast is supposedly "empty"

I know when it's FULL all right

Rubyslippers thank you for saying that about your experience with your DD, it sounds just like how my DS is now sy 5 days old. He is always attached to me! Lol!

I wondered if we were normal, but reading this thread and similar ones in this topic have settled my mind.

btw, excuse my typo. I meant to say 'how my DS is at 5 days old.'

you're welcome

now if DD doesn't want to latch there is no chance

the first few weeks are an utter feeding frenzy IMO - it is usual and normal and gets your supply really well established

good luck and congratulations on your DS

Wow, just read through all these - some really fab advice - thankyou, i have to confess dd is not my first child/first exp of breastfeeding! But i too have never fully grasped this whole foremilk hindmilk etc! Despite the fact that i have breastfed before there is still so much i dont understand. Dd seems to prefer my left side, and thus this side ALWAYS feels full, i try to offer the right as much as i can but i find it more comfortable when she is on my left too, so in fear of my right side loosing any supply i try and encourage both myself and dd to get on that side, so she had a good old feed on the right, i had to go pick my other dc up from school and when we got back dd ready for more food, so my left, being the usual preference is feeling pretty damn full, she only wanted a top-up so only takes a small feed and she's now proper zonked, and my poor left is still feeling very 'full' - ive been told if you leave a breast full for any length of time its sends signals to the brain that your producing too much milk and your body reduces!! - i dont want that!! but i dont want to express either - i have a pump on loan only at the mo, so i can get into the habit of expressing as it will be gone soon. Am i getting it all wrong????

if you leave both breasts full, you def. send a message that you don't need the milk but i don't know about only one. the fact she is still emptying the other breast will be telling your brain that she still needs the milk so your supply shouldn't dry up.

just feed her from your fuller one when she next wakes?

tbh, i now frequently forget which boob we're on, and if he is fussing about on one, i'll just switch to the other so . i don't worry bout it - also sometimes they want / need higher fat or lower fat milk and as i understand it they are pretty clever and will try and get what they need. sometimes if ds fusses on an 'emptier' breast, it is because he wants the lower fat milk in the fuller breast - a drink, rather than a meal, if you like.

basically, chillax try and 'empty' them both as much as possible so at the end of the day they have had pretty much equal use

sorry - i think i got the wrong end of the stick - it is the one you always use that is fullest? so your body is actually producing more in one breast?

hmmm, i dunno?? some women feed from one breast...

Hehe, funny you should say that Ruby, I feed from just one breast (nipple malformation on my right breast), so have never quite understood all this switching breasts malarky! I think it's important to switch so that each breast is being regularly 'emptied' (I know, I know, it's a bad term, they are never empty), but I have enough faith in the human body to believe that it just all sorts itself out wrt foremilk and hindmilk.

I reckon that the only 'rule' is to start on the side opposite to your writing hand (I'm right handed, so start on my left boob).

That way, the hot cup of tea will be at just the right cooled down temperature when he wants to switch sides, freeing up my stronger hand to take a slurp .