| My baby is 1 month old. I breastfed from the beginning, but in hospital I supplemented with water & glucose, and even now, I supplement 2 night feeds. She feeds every 1 to 2 hours during the day, and may feed for 45-60 minutes. Is this normal? As I do not need to go back to work, I would like to fully breastfeed if possible, but I am afraid I don't have enough milk. |
| You seem to share a common anxiety with many mothers that you are not producin enough milk. Most newborn babies tend to feed at fairly short intervals, because in the early weeks, the milk supply is not yet well established, and breastmilk is very easily digested. For the 45 minutes that she is on you, how long is she actively sucking? If I am not wrong, she is probably sucking strongly for the first 10 to 15 minutes, adn then very intermittently for the rest of the time. A baby will satisfy his need for food first, but will continue to suck for comfort. What is important for you to ascertain is that she has latched on properly - that your areola, and not just your nipple, is in her mouth. This will help ensure that while she is sucking, she is sucking efficiently. You probably are at present producing a little under your baby's requirements, because of your regular pattern of supplementing. Our milk production works on a very simple demand-and-supply principle. The more milk is take out, the more your breasts will produce. You are probably short by the amout supplemented. The easiest way to step up supply is to put the baby to feed more frequently in your case, at night. Bear in mind that supply does not increase immediately. The breasts take 48hours to respond to the increased stimulation. For 2 to 4 days you may need to put the baby to the breast whenever she wants, especially at night, to let your supply catch up with her need. Alternatively, you may like to express any leftover milk after each feed for these 1st few days, and use the milk collected to supplement her night breastfeeds which may, at the moment, be lesser in quantity because she has not been breastfeeding at night for some time. Try to experiment with lying down to breastfeed, especially in the night, as you may need to go through a period of rather frequent night feeding to bring the supply up again. Eventually, when the supply has caught up, the feeding interval will space out again. With some peserverance, you should be able to achieve full breastfeeding before long. |
