One of the biggest issues I hear as a lactation consultant is, ‘I don’t have enough milk’. As a mom, our sole purpose in those first few days is to feed our baby and heal. And when we feel like we aren’t doing that, it makes us feel like we are failing, right at the beginning. I’m here to tell you…you’re not failing! It usually takes a full 72 hours for your transitional milk (milk supply) to come in. And that’s okay. Before your transitional milk comes in, you have very thick milk called colostrum. Colostrum is like the first few sips of a milkshake. It’s so thick that it takes a lot of sucking and time for the milk to get to the mouth…but once it’s there, oh is it worth it! Colostrum has everything your baby needs to coat their stomach and fill it with good, protective antibodies to keep them safe in their new environment.
Since colostrum is so thick, it takes a lot of sucking to remove it from the breast. The good thing is that newborns have a very high need to suck. This drive to suck fulfills two purposes – one, it helps to get all the meconium (the first sticky, black, tarry poop) out of your baby’s body by stimulating their gut, and two, it starts your milk flowing. Ridding the body of meconium helps your baby’s bilirubin levels fall– the lower the bilirubin levels, the lower jaundice (commonly seen when the newborn’s eyes and skin are yellow). When there are high levels of bilirubin in the blood, there isn’t enough being removed by the liver and we have to do different things to get it out. The more sucking your baby can do, the better this works.
At first, you might feel like your baby is constantly wanting to eat, and you might think that’s because you don’t have enough milk to satisfy them. But the truth is, a baby’s stomach is only the size of a cherry and can only hold about 5-7 milliliters. Colostrum is small in volume, but it’s all they need. By day three your little one can hold about an ounce in their bellies, and this is about the time your milk starts to transition. You may feel engorged and full, and that means you and your newborn make a great team!
With all of these stages, the most important thing you can do is keep your baby close. This helps you to learn their hunger cues, listen to what they are telling you, and be able to respond to them. Newborns will not stick to a strict schedule of every two or three hours of feeding, they cannot tell time. They just know that they are hungry and they want you, their mama, their home. Since breast milk is digested in about 90 minutes, they will usually feel hungry around the two-hour mark. The formula takes longer and is more difficult to digest, thus extending your time between feeds. The goal in the first few weeks and days postpartum should be focused on you and your newborn, skin to skin, and as much uninterrupted time at the breast as possible. Trust yourself, your body, and your newborn. They all know what to do. But if you need help, please always reach out to a lactation consultant. We are here to help, even if it’s just for a little encouragement.
Writer details:
Whitney Chitrakar is a pediatric certified RN (registered nurse) at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California and soon to be IBCLC (international board-certified lactation consultant). After having her little girl, she realized she wanted to help women by educating and de-stigmatizing topics that are hard to talk about by bringing them into the forefront of women’s conversations.
Please look at her Instagram page @lactationladies addressing everything breastfeeding, pumping, latching, and the fourth trimester through evidence-based practice research, empirical evidence, and knowledge passed on through generations.
