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- My milk didn’t come in.
- My baby was never satisfied.
- He nursed all the time.
- I couldn’t pump anything out.
- My baby wasn’t gaining enough weight.
- I stopped producing milk.
- My baby didn’t want to nurse anymore.
“My baby was never satisfied.” or “I couldn’t produce enough milk.”
The Myth of the Breastfeeding Schedule
Mothers usually think that their supply is failing or that they never made enough milk simply due to the nature of breastfeeding. Often times in the hospital after the birth doctors and so-called lactation nurses will advise to feed baby 20 minutes on each breast every two to three hours, and that as baby grows his feedings will space to four hours. That advice is simply not realistic nor is it accurate.
Human milk digests in half an hour, and prolactin levels are dependent on very frequent feedings in order to maintain an adequate milk supply. Unlike formula, which is filled with difficult-to-digest casein curds that sit in the baby’s stomach, human milk is extremely digestible for the baby. Mothers should expect a newborn that takes a long time to nurse and wants to nurse at least every hour. As he grows the time he spends per feeding on the breast probably will decrease as he becomes more efficient at extracting the milk, but feedings may remain very frequent, often times up to four times an hour. This is a normal breastfeeding schedule, but it is not widely known.
