How do you know if your LO is getting enough hindmilk or not? Xander will feed for 5-10 minutes and then fall off and often doesn't seem interest in continuing on the same breast, but when I hand express, there's still milk there, so I feel like he's not emptying it. I'm not sure how to tell if he's just getting foremilk or getting some hindmilk too. Any ideas?
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If they get too much foremilk, apparently they have green frothy poops and are fussy. So if you don't have that problem, and weight gain is OK, I think you're OK.
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@sloaneandpuffy: this!
I wouldn't worry about a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance unless you notice something off with his poops--there will definitely be evidence for it.
ETA that one green poop once in a while is ok too! It's when it's consistently green--like kelly green--that there might be an issue.
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Yep, green poop. Keep an eye out on poop color. LO's has consistently been yellowish since birth. When there's a disturbance in his system, he poops green.
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Yep, I've heard the green, frothy poops thing too. If he's gaining and pooping normally, then he should be fine. There will always be some milk left. You cannot fully empty your breasts.
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@sloaneandpuffy: Thanks! My husband handles most of the diaper changes, but as far as I know, it's still that mustardy/seedy stuff. I'm not sure how his weight gain is - we'll find out on Thursday at our 2 week well visit. Hopefully that will put me at ease!
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green gassy foamy poop is a sure sign of too much foremilk! yellow and seedy is a good sign
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Oh and I just wanted to add that my son was a quick nurser since he was a newborn. I would stress a lot that he wasn't eating the so called minimum of 10 minutes on one breast. He would usually only nurse 8 minutes on one breast at a time. As long as he has enough poopy diapers and is gaining, you're fine.
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Thanks ladies!! I feel a little better now - Hubs says his poops continue to be that mustard yellow seedy stuff, so Xander's probably getting enough hindmilk. I can't wait for our appointment on Thursday to ensure he's gaining weight well! I think I'll start to feel better after that (assuming he's gaining well).
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Is he gaining weight? Than it is working just fine. Your body should almost always have some milk so you can feed on demand.
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LO has always been a quick nurser! The only time we had marathon sessions was when he was cluster feeding - other than that he would take one breast for 8-10 min.
Now at 8mo he nurses for about 5 - 10 min and is good for about 3 hours! Babies are efficient little things!
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I should also say that we had great gaining but consistient green poops until he was about 6-7mo old. Block feeding and ED never corrected it. He was happy and the pedi wasn't concerned so we jsut went with it.
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He might just be a quick nurser. Just make sure that when nursing, you start with the boob you ended with during your last session.
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@Freckles: I do do that!
I'm curious if maybe he's just efficient or something because he never actively nurses for as long as they say he should. The LCs and the pediatrician I spoke with made it sound like he should be nursing for 20-30 minutes, but he only really seems to actively nurse for about 10 and then he'll just continue to suck but not seem to be swallowing or anything.
Blah! Why is breastfeeding so hard???
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@Adira: How old is he again? (I didn't know you had your baby already! I think i seem to miss these announcements) Mine got super efficient at about 4 months, but some get efficient a lot earlier.
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As long as they don't have green frothy poop they are doing fine
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@Freckles: He's only two weeks.
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@Adira: if he is gaining and content try not to worry mama
is there a breastfeeding group near you that you can go to? they usually have you put a new diaper on the baby, weigh the baby with just a diaper on, feed the baby and then weigh again to see how much they drank.
that helped me in the early days when he was a quick eater. in about 10 min he would get 3 ounces!
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@littlebittyhouse: Thanks for the tip! I'm not sure how well he's gaining, though he seems content enough (except when he's cluster feeding - then he's a demon who can't be satisfied). I have my next pediatrician appointment tomorrow, so I'll find out how well he's been doing.
I've actually heard of that! Where you weigh them, feed, then weigh them again. I know they have something like that around here because one of my friends was telling me about it. I wish I had heard about it sooner though - at this point, I feel like I might as well just wait until tomorrow's appointment, but it would've been nice if I had done something like that last week - it probably would have saved me a lot of stress (or stressed me out more, who knows).
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@Adira: i went to 'group' 3 times a week for the first 2 months! it was great to talk to LC's and other moms especially when things seemed to change everyday!
let us know how the appt goes!
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He's back to his birth weight!!!! Clearly getting enough food! Yay! Now if he'd just sleep...
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K is a quick nurser too! Sometimes not even 10 min.! The ped told me not to worry because her weight was good and fond babies can empty a breast in 5 min! Also he told me not to worry so much about hind milk and instead I should try to get her to feed evenly on both sides to get the fore milk from both sides. My problem is she will doze off every single time I take her off the boob!
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@Adira: mine is a quick nurser also--hardly ever goes longer than 10 minutes, and usually around 7-8 minutes. i usually just offer one boob per feeding to make sure he gets enough hindmilk. i was kind of worried because i felt like most babies nurse for longer, and we were never switching breasts (after he latches off, he is d-o-n-e), but as everyone has said, as long as your LO is gaining weight and the poops look good, then no worries!
oh man, i hear you on the sleep...
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@shopaholic: Mine tends to fall asleep while feeding too! I always try to burp him and that sometimes will wake him up and if it does, I'll offer him more, but sometimes he stays asleep and I figure he must be done. Though lately he'll just wake up 10 minutes later looking for more... grrr!
@edelweiss: Mine must be a quick nurser too. I mean, sometimes he'll stay on for a while (up to 30 minutes), but he seems to just be comfort sucking after the first 5-10 minutes. I don't hear or see him swallowing.
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@Adira: Yeah - I think that's what I read called cluster-feeding. K does that a lot at night, but I just try to feed her on demand. The best tip I've found to work to keep her feeding longer the past 2 days is to stroke her back and her shoulders. I've been able to get a few 10+ sessions since using that technique!
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