Newborn breastfeeding – what to expect
Breastfeeding in the first few days
Initially and often prior to delivery you will produce colostrum which is a thick, yellowish concentrated milk rich in energy, proteins and antibodies that give your baby immunity against some illnesses. It is the ideal nutrition for your baby and helps to establish a healthy gut by coating the intestines. Colostrum is easily digested by your newborn and in fact acts as a laxative to assist your baby to clear meconium with their first few poos.
– Breastmilk in the first few days –
At birth, your baby’s stomach is tiny and they only need a small amount of milk. The amount of colostrum your breasts make is enough to meet their needs.
Between 2 and 5 days after your baby is born, there is a big increase in milk production. Colostrum is gradually replaced by a more mature breastmilk that looks thin and a light blue/white colour. By offering frequent flexible feeds in those first few days your milk will come in sooner and your supply will increase to meet your baby's needs.
– How much milk does my baby need –
Babies are biologically hard wired to feed frequently in the early days with many feeding every hour or two initially. Breastmilk is easily digested and babies have small stomachs that become full easily, requiring frequent feeding. It's not necessary to measure how much your baby is drinking if all is going along well as the volumes vary greatly for each baby. As a guide however for a term healthy baby the following is a typical volume per feed ;
1 day old, 2 to 10 mL
1 to 2 days old, 5 to 15 mL
2 to 3 days old, 15 to 30 mL
3 to 4 days old, 30 to 60 mL
Over the first 2 weeks or so your baby will take in larger volumes as their stomach also increases in size. In order for you to produce enough breastmilk your baby may feed more often to stimulate production to meet their needs. This is normal newborn behaviour and essential in establishing breastfeeding. Most babies will need to be at the breast 8-12 times in a 24 hour period and often they will feed from both breasts each feed.
It is very common and normal behaviour for your newborn to cluster feed at certain times in the day. Typically this is in the early evening and is often followed by a longer sleep.
If your baby is extra sleepy, you may need to wake them to make sure they get the milk they need.
Be guided by your baby's feeding cues and feed them whenever they show an interest. This is the way to ensure that your milk supply keeps up with your baby's needs.
Many new mums worry whether their baby is getting enough milk. We can't measure how much a baby takes when they breastfeed but even in the first week, there are some reliable signs that your baby is getting enough.
– Your newborn's first nappies –
By around day 5 of your baby feeding well you can expect to see 5-6 very wet nappies and a number of small poos in a 24 hour period. Along with adequate weight gain you can be reassured your baby is transferring enough milk to meet their needs.
Talk to new mothers about breastfeeding, and there’s one message sure to come through: it’s painful and it’s difficult.
But breastfeeding is not meant to be painful or difficult. So what’s going so wrong for so many women?
Getting the positioning right is crucial. When starting out, The mother should be in a semi-reclined or “deckchair” position, and the baby should be in a cradle hold, tucked up under her breasts.
The little one is across the mother's body, face buried into her breast, above the nipple and the areola. Mum is reclined, the baby’s chest and tummy are flat against hers, and that starts to turn on the baby’s reflexes. So the baby will start bobbing away and coming down closer to the nipple and areola. When the chin and lower lip bury into breast tissue, the baby opens up their mouth, and the mother uses her forearm just to help him on at that point.
Next, the mother will make very tiny movements to get the positioning just right.
Often the baby will come on fairly shallow. That’s normal. But then, as that jaw drops more, which it will as a reflex, and a vacuum’s created., The mother can experiment with little micro movements to have the baby deeply buried into the breast.
These micro movements help to find that place where there’s no pain and the mum’s breast tissue is being drawn up so deeply that the nipple is beautifully protected.
Fit and hold has been the “big blind spot” in clinical breastfeeding support.
