Your Breasts Are Never Empty

It’s important not to wait for your breasts to ‘fill up’ before feeding your baby. Breastmilk is continually being made. In fact, your baby drinks an average of only 67% of the available breastmilk each feed.

The more drained a breast is, the faster the rate more milk is made. Whereas, the less drained a breast is, the slower the rate more milk is made.

Also, the more drained a breast is, the greater the concentration of higher-calorie/higher fat-rich milk in that breast. The less drained a breast is, the greater the concentration of lower-fat/lower-calorie milk in that breast.

Feeding your baby when your baby need to be fed helps ensure he gets the breastmilk he needs. Therefore you need not worry about ‘foremilk’ or ‘hindmilk’.

Another factor that influences milk production is your storage capacity.

Different Mothers Have Different Storage Capacities

Storage capacity refers to the amount of milk a breast can store between feeds. Storage capacity differs greatly between mothers and also differs between breasts of the same mother. Mothers with either large or small storage capacities can both produce sufficient milk for their baby.

A baby whose mother has a larger milk-storage capacity may be able to go longer between breastfeeds. A mother with a smaller storage capacity will have breasts that fill up quicker and so she will need to breastfeed her baby more frequently to maintain her milk supply (by keeping her breasts well drained) and to satisfy her baby’s needs.

Again, feeding your baby as often as your baby needs helps ensure he gets the milk he needs.

But how much milk do breastfed babies typically need?

A Breastfed Baby Drinks A Similar Daily Volume Between 1 And 6 Months

After the initial rapid increase in breastmilk consumption in the early post-partum period, consumption levels out. There is wide variation for when this levelling-out occurs but typically it’s somewhere between about one week and one month.

The volume of breastmilk consumed when this levelling-out occurs varies from baby to baby. What research tells us, however, is that for an exclusively breastfed baby between the ages of 1 and 6 months, the average volume consumed in 24 hours is 788mL (range being 478mL to 1356mL).

The only precise way to help ensure your baby gets the right amount of milk he needs is to breastfeed him when he needs to be fed (provided he removes milk well).

Now that you have a better understanding of how breastfeeding works, hopefully you feel more confident in your body’s ability to help your baby grow and develop in the way nature intended.