Re: Amount of breastmilk required

[Guest guest]

Jan,

I see the exact same thing.  A baby is happy with whatever fed if the feeding is slow enough. Hence those babies who drink less than an ounce and think that was a good thing! Yikes. And, yes, I do see them .... they are the babies born at 38 weeks below bw at 2 weeks, happy little sleepers all nice and swaddled!  There mom swears they are happy, they don't wake often, they barely eat at breast or bottle, and they are indeed happy to starve.  I never trust a baby until past 40 weeks gestation.  Haha.

I think we need to keep in mind that it does not matter much what a baby takes at any one feeding as long as the daily amount is adequate for growth.  So, the baby who takes 5 ounces 6 times a day is no better off than the baby still feeding 10 times a day for 3 oz  a feeding.  We obsess a lot over amounts and increments of time  instead of letting the baby direct feeding once everything is working well and as along as the weight gains are within normal, what's the biggie?  Do all babies have to gain on the high end of normal? Nope.  Babies also do not have the ability to tell time.

 

I too have found for working moms if they slow down the feeding, the baby takes less and is just as happy.  I tell them to remember how the breast flows when they are pumping. Mommas have care providers pace feed with intermittent sucking without milk flow using a finger or a pacifier and I suggest they match it the way the milk flows for pumping.  They find this helps alot and babies are much happier on a lot less milk, and still continue to grow and gain weight the way they were before.  This is on my list of things we know a lot about, but still not so much.  Every baby is different, every mother is different, very hard to compare a bunch of differences and come out with an exactly the same anything.

 

Take care,

Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLC