B4 you think you don't have any milk to feed your new baby, think again. From 16 weeks into pregnancy your breasts are able to fully lactate. The phrase 'when your milk comes in' is in fact wrong. Colostrum or as some people call it, liquid gold, is already there. Thick in consistency and yellow in appearance,colostrum is high in protein and lower in fat than mature milk. The smaller volume of colostrum is ideally suited to your newborns tiny stomach and it its laxative abilities help to remove meconium. Protection from infection and sealing the gut are other vital components of colostrum. Frequent skin to skin and breastfeeding control the amount of milk continually being produced. Simply put, it is a matter of supply and demand - the more feeds, the more milk is produced.
Breasts are there to feed our infants, breastmilk is species specific and is ideally suited to each child. Just as your child is unique so is the milk that you produce for them.
It would be nice to have more discussions about oversupply. There is so much conversations about a mother's worry of not producing enough milk but i feel there should also be an equal amount of conversations on producing too much and how that can affect breastfeeding.
ReplyDeleteI hope to see that here! Thanks so much.