Normal feeding patterns

Some babies may do this from 4 pm right up to midnight, with a lot of frequent feeding.

Other babies may have a 7 pm till 9 pm fussy period! Babies have to work that little bit harder towards the end of the day to access the milk.

All the milk is available, but the flow is slower, and some babies do get a little bit flustered with the extra effort needed. 

It’s also important to do skin to skin at that time of the day if you can. It can also be useful to learn how to do breast compressions, which can help your baby to get more milk at that time.

Your supply will also get a real boost just by enabling your baby to feed as often and as frequently as he wants with effortless unlimited access to the breast.

Some breastfeeding mothers are concerned that they may not feel the let-down of milk.

When babies come to the breast, they do fast sucks initially which sends impulses to the brain, the brain then releases hormones, and the hormones cause milk to let-down on both breasts at the same time, and the milk will come down to your baby who is attached to one breast. 

Some women feel this let-down very strongly, some don’t feel it at all. Some women feel it more strongly in the first couple of weeks after birth, but don’t feel it now.

None of this is relevant. It isn’t a sign of your decreasing milk supply and is NO indication of how your milk supply is doing. So to reiterate, it’s perfectly normal to feel the let-down, or not to feel the let-down.

Another common concern that I come across while talking with breastfeeding mothers is concerns about leakage of milk.

Milk leakage becomes a concern, especially if you leaked milk initially after the birth or in the first week or so, but as the weeks have progressed, you have noticed that there is no leakage at all! 

You may have never leaked milk, or you may leak lots of milk! It’s very variable from person to person because of the individual interplay of hormones.

Also, as time goes on, generally, your body adapts to the needs of your baby. Many women often stop leaking milk as the weeks go on, and some don’t. It’s just not a reliable sign, so please be reassured about that.

Using different pumps can produce different amounts of milk, and different women using the same pump may produce different amounts as well.

So everything is very variable, and the amount you get with the pump is not a good indication of what your baby gets at the breast. Babies are usually far more efficient at being able to access milk from the breast than the pump.

Another false alarm is if you have pumped your milk and then given it to your baby from a bottle – noticing your baby had guzzled that expressed milk or formula milk so fast, even after feeding at the breast.

Many women express concern about this and feel that it’s an indication that their baby hasn’t been getting enough at the breast. 

Please be assured that the mechanics of bottle feeding are very different from feeding on the breast, and it’s important to know that studies have shown that babies can override their feelings of fullness while feeding from a bottle.

When feeding from a bottle, babies try to control sucking, swallowing, and breathing, which is hard to do. Consequently, they tend to gulp down milk quite rapidly.

I would encourage you to have a look at the videos relating to offering bottles in a safer and more biologically natural way that can replicate more closely how babies feed at the breast.

Please note that as your baby gets older, into their third month particularly, the pattern of feeding is very likely to change, and it can often be another concern.

I get a lot of telephone calls from breastfeeding mothers who tell me that the feeding pattern has changed.

The baby may be unusually unsettled at the breast and is very distractible, and the feeds are much shorter than usual.

Again, this is all normal.

Babies become more efficient at extracting the milk in a shorter space of time. They have gone through rapid growth and the mouth shape and size is different.

However, they are also very interested in their surroundings and therefore very distractible because of major brain development, so this is all perfectly normal behaviour. 

It’s important to mention that babies often do reverse cycling, which means that your baby may start to wake up more at night. (Your baby may already be waking up at night at this stage, but even if he has been starting to sleep a little bit longer, he may begin to wake up more at night again) which is normal.

Your baby is just trying to get his intake of milk at a time of the day when everything is more boring and quiet and when he can concentrate on getting more milk!

So if you are experiencing any of the above, please rest assured that if your baby’s weight gain is fine, then this is all completely normal.