Here is some practical guidance. Congratulations - a bundle of joy is very exciting! We are here to help with answers to your most common breastfeeding FAQs.
Breastfed newborns nurse a lot, but just at first. On average your baby will awaken to nurse every one to three hours, translating to at least times per day. Look for hunger cues such as your baby sucking their fingers or hands, making smacking noises with their mouth or rooting around looking for something to latch onto. Crying is a late sign of hunger. We recommend not to time feedings but rather feed on cue and watch for when your baby acts full and stops feeding on their own.
Sometimes babies nurse and then pause to take a little rest. This is normal, and it does not always mean they are ready to stop. Offer the baby your breast again to see if she still wants to nurse. Sometimes early on when babies are still very sleepy, they get comfortable and fall asleep soon after starting to feed.
This is caused by Oxytocin, the hormone responsible for let-down and providing that wonderful feeling of relaxation to you and your baby. If this happens, gently wake baby up and continue to nurse.
Sometimes unlatching the baby to burp and then re-latching can rouse the baby. You can also remove some clothing so they are not too warm and cozy.
Breastfeed as long as your baby wishes on the first breast the amount of time will vary given that every baby is different—some suck fast, others suckle very slowly.
Watch for his cues of hunger or fullness. If your baby has fallen asleep, wake him gently try tickling his toes or stroking his face , burp him, and offer the second breast.
Even if his eyes remain closed, you may have some luck getting him to latch on by gently tickling his lips with your nipple. How do I know when my baby is ready to switch breasts? Next on Your Reading List. What You Need to Know.
How to Relieve a Clogged Milk Duct. The faster flow of another let down on the second side will keep him interested in feeding, then, once sucking slows on this breast, swap back to the first breast and so on. Switch nursing can be combined with breast compression; once sucking slows on each side try breast compression to keep your baby feeding actively before offering the next breast.
When weight gain is an issue, the answer is almost always that the baby needs more breast milk rather than a few more drops of higher fat milk from one breast:. An extra ml of high fat milk from the same breast is no substitute for the extra ml of fore-hind-and-in-the-middle-milk they might need from the other breast.
Breasts make milk on demand; so that the faster your baby drinks the available milk, the faster your breasts will make more milk to replace it, indefinitely.
Breasts gauge demand by their degree of fullness:. More frequent feeds , breast compressions , and using both breasts per feed are all strategies to make more milk and see How to Make More Milk on this website.
Let your baby decide whether he wants one breast or two per feed and whether he wants to feed again in 30 minutes or two hours. Start each new feed with the breast that baby finished on last. Breastfeeding authors Mohrbacher and Kendall-Tackett explain:. Once your milk increases on the third or fourth day, most babies take one breast at some feedings and both breasts at others.
As with us adults, some babies are fast eaters and some are slow eaters. So a clock will never tell you when your baby is done.
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