Ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of feeding your newborn? In the thick of those first few days postpartum, when your little one suddenly becomes a round-the-clock diner, we dissect the phenomenon of cluster feeding and its crucial role in establishing milk supply. With special guidance from an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), we reveal the secrets behind weighted feeds, offering you a clear picture of your baby's intake and easing that all-too-common worry: "Is my baby getting enough?"
As a new parent, you're not just juggling feeds; you're also handling an array of breastfeeding hurdles, from engorgement to unpredictable milk flow. That's where support, be it professional advice or a loved one's reassurance, becomes your lifeline. Our discussion extends beyond the mechanics of breastfeeding to the emotional empowerment of seeking help. We're in this together, tackling each challenge and celebrating every victory, all while equipping you with knowledge and resources, like those found at birthlearning.com. So, let's embark on this breastfeeding journey, embracing both the joys and the tribulations, and emerge stronger, wiser, and more connected with our little ones.
Visit our website, here: https://birthlearning.com/ Follow us on Facebook at Birth Learning Follow us on Instagram at @birthlearning
Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier Music: Michael Hicks Photographer: Toni Walker Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood Producer: Gillian Rosier Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of feeding your newborn? In the thick of those first few days postpartum, when your little one suddenly becomes a round-the-clock diner, we dissect the phenomenon of cluster feeding and its crucial role in establishing milk supply. With special guidance from an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), we reveal the secrets behind weighted feeds, offering you a clear picture of your baby's intake and easing that all-too-common worry: "Is my baby getting enough?"
As a new parent, you're not just juggling feeds; you're also handling an array of breastfeeding hurdles, from engorgement to unpredictable milk flow. That's where support, be it professional advice or a loved one's reassurance, becomes your lifeline. Our discussion extends beyond the mechanics of breastfeeding to the emotional empowerment of seeking help. We're in this together, tackling each challenge and celebrating every victory, all while equipping you with knowledge and resources, like those found at birthlearning.com. So, let's embark on this breastfeeding journey, embracing both the joys and the tribulations, and emerge stronger, wiser, and more connected with our little ones.
Visit our website, here: https://birthlearning.com/ Follow us on Facebook at Birth Learning Follow us on Instagram at @birthlearning
Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier Music: Michael Hicks Photographer: Toni Walker Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood Producer: Gillian Rosier Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning, where we help prepare folks for labor and birth with expertise coming from 20 years of experience in a busy doula practice, helping thousands of people prepare for labor, providing essential knowledge and tools for positive and empowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2:
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast. I am your host, angie Rozier, and we are sponsored by Birth Learning. So today we are going to discuss some normal and realistic expectations for the second day of life, especially in regards to breastfeeding, for those who are planning to do breastfeeding or chest feeding. So our other episode. We talked about the first day of life and babies are super sleepy, and then the second day of life is different altogether. So on that second day of life, babies kind of start waking up. They start kind of being more alert to their environment. That first day they're exhausted, they're sleeping, and second day they wake up and it's kind of being more alert to their environment. That first day they're exhausted, they're sleeping, and second day they wake up and it's kind of a night and day difference and night and day tongue in cheek, because their nights and days are often mixed up. But usually it's at about that 24 hour mark to the time, the hour that they were born, that they start to wake up and they might begin cluster feeding. So this is latching and wanting to eat and to suck frequently, like maybe every 30 minutes. Maybe they just finish and they want to latch 10 minutes later. So we know they want to latch, by them showing signs like they're rooting around with their mouth, they're fussy, they might be seeking for some comfort, they might be unsatisfied, and that's all incredibly normal. But it feels so stressful to parents who are already exhausted and this is a very temporary stage. I want people to know that day two is tough. We call it. You know it's a very challenging day really. And this baby's hungry, this baby's ready for the milk to come in. And all the actions of the baby, this cluster feeding, the constant wanting to latch, is for the milk to come in, and all the actions of the baby, this cluster feeding, the constant wanting to latch, is helping that milk to come in. So ideally that milk comes in between days two and five, with an average of three.
Speaker 2:
So it depends on several factors when that milk comes in. One of those factors is the birth experience. If this was a c-section, the milk might come in a little bit later. If this was an induction, that might delay lactogenesis or milk coming in a little bit as well. The best scenario for the milk coming in smoothly and quickly is spontaneous labor. So labor you just go into labor on your own, but the milk still will come in, of course. So we're hoping by day three and this day two helps that to happen. So milk comes in a little more quickly for those who have lactated before.
Speaker 2:
And skin to skin on this day is going to be helpful too. So literally like no clothes right, like baby has just a diaper on baby's sitting on mom mom doesn't have it. Maybe you know she has a. She can pull a shirt around her and the baby or something. But spending time skin to skin will help that milk to come in. As the baby's trunk and core of its body touch the mom's breast, that teaches the breast to make milk. So go and take off those cute outfits and just keep that baby skin to skin.
Speaker 2:
The baby's stomach volume by the time the milk comes in you know we're hoping on day three or so is the size of a walnut. So on day one it was the size of a marble. Not a lot of food can fit in that Walnut still small, but a lot bigger than a marble. So baby is wanting more, it's ready for more and we still want to be having eight to 12 feedings a day. But that cluster feeding day there might be more. There might be like 24 small feedings a day, which feels unsustainable and thank goodness it's very temporary. So when that milk starts to come in, the breasts may feel engorged, you're going to feel some fullness, you may feel some tightness and the baby's going to get more volume. Instead of that awesome thick, yellowish, goldish colored colostrum, we start to get a thinner consistency, whitish, even bluish, white sometimes.
Speaker 2:
Milk that comes in. Now kind of cool to note that the colostrum remains in the milk for up to two weeks. We call that transitional milk. What's transitioning from colostrum to milk? So we have colostrum in the milk for about two weeks, which is kind of cool. Milk so we have colostrum in the milk for about two weeks, which is kind of cool. So in these early days of breastfeeding so day two is pretty early it can take 30 to 60 minutes at the breast to complete a feeding Super normal. That's helping the milk to come in as well.
Speaker 2:
The dyad I call that the mom and baby team the dyad learns what they're doing, so later on that time decreases dramatically. So as I worked in lactation department in hospital, we would come into rooms on day two of life and some people would say this baby wants to latch all the time. I can't keep them happy, I can't satiate them, I can't keep this up, I'm going to quit. Knowing not knowing, rather that that's incredibly normal. So I just I hate for people to quit because they don't have realistic expectations and they don't recognize what's going on is very normal and temporary. Key to know that it's temporary will change.
Speaker 2:
So in the beginning we've looked at some data that says the time at the breast in the beginning takes eight hours or more a day. Okay, so that's like a full-time job if you think about it, and it's not eight consecutive hours. Of course babies like to eat around the clock, around that 24 hour clock, but as we look at latching babies, helping babies breastfeed, bring that milk in in the beginning, it's eight hours a day or more. As we look at bottle feeding bottle feeding when we include prep of the bottle feeding, of the bottle washing, of everything, bottle feeding takes about six hours a day. So it does take less time in a day than breastfeeding in the beginning. However, breastfeeding the time it takes to breastfeed often decreases dramatically over a period of time over a period of time. So it really can get down to where that is one hour a day of combined time at the breast and there's no dishes to do, there's no bottle warming or bottle prep to do, so that time decreases.
Speaker 2:
Babies spend a lot of time at the breast in the beginning to help establish milk supply, help regulate milk supply and learn what they're doing. Once all that gets like working like a well-oiled machine, babies can get a full feeding, some babies in 10 minutes or less. So keep that in mind, that this is all temporary. Bottle feeding will always take six hours a day by about four to six weeks. That's where the breastfeeding drops down and it can be as little as one, one and a half hours a day, combined time where bottle feeding will always maintain that six hour level. So one fun little trick to be aware of as a baby's eating kind of take note, watch the baby's behavior and actions as they're eating those newborns.
Speaker 2:
They're pretty tight. Newborns have to like uncurl for I think about three weeks before they get a. You know they're not so tight and their eyes aren't closed all the time and they're all drawn up into a little ball. They kind of uncurl for a little while, unfold, if you will, and babies have, if you look at their top arm, say you're breastfeeding in the cross cradle hold or a football hold maybe, but a place where you can kind of see what their top arm is doing. Likely in the beginning of a feed they're going to have a fist. Their little hand will make a fist and their arm will be tight. They'll hold that arm tight into them so their elbows completely bent and as their little belly fills up, their hands going to loosen, that fist will kind of let go. That elbow will bend out easily and loosely and by the time their belly's full you can just pick up the arm and it's. You can just drop it and it'll be floppy, sloppy. You just drop it and that baby. That's a fullness indicator to know that they are getting enough.
Speaker 2:
Because sometimes it's difficult to measure intake. Some parents obsess about this. They know how much the baby weighs at birth, they know the time the baby was born, they know how many times the baby has to eat and how long between feedings. But one thing we don't know with breastfeeding is the intake, what the baby's actually getting with a feed. There are, however, many ways to measure intake that can put our minds at ease. So one of them is output. If the baby's having good output, good pees and good poops in a day. Then we can be assured that the baby's having good input, because or else there would be no output. So here's a fun little. I don't want to give you a chart verbally, but it's an easy little formula here.
Speaker 2:
And on day one, one pee diaper, one poop diaper is normal. Day two, two pee diapers, two poop diapers is normal. And realize, remember this poop will be that tarry black meconium that's sticky, because that's what the baby has in their system when they're born. They've got to flush that out and eating will help them do that. And then, as the milk starts to come in, that poop will transition to that mustard seedy type poop of breast milk poop. But it'll transition first to dark green and then it'll become orange and yellow Kind of a cool process in your baby's diaper, going on, okay.
Speaker 2:
So day one, one of each pee poop. Day two, two of each pee and poop. And this is within a small range. You know we're looking at two to three pee diapers, one to two poop diapers on day two. Day three, we're at three each. Three to four pee diapers, three to four poopy diapers, that's, we're probably getting that green poop by now. Day four, we want four to six. We jump now because hopefully the milk is in and there's a lot more volume to that milk. We want four to six pee diapers and four to ten poopy diapers. And sometimes a poopy diaper is a little tiny squirt. Sometimes it's a massive amount that you're not sure how that fit inside that little body. But we're looking at more poopy diapers on day four and after day four. Days four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, for the next several days we're looking at six to eight pee diapers a day, four to 10 poopy diapers a day and sometimes it's a combo diaper, right? Usually if they poop they've also peed. So we can assume that if they pooped they've also had urine in their diaper. So newborns for about that first month have a lot of diapers, like 12 a day is normal. You're changing them and feeding them all of the time. That also changes. That is temporary, thank goodness. That will kind of slow down. So another little.
Speaker 2:
I'll give you another little verbal chart. That's kind of interesting to note these amounts. That first day of life baby's feeds. Each feed is about two to 10 milliliters. That's like drops, that's drops. Days two to four well, on day two we want five to 15 milliliters per feed. So we're going up, but still small. And then day three we want 15 to 30. We have a jump there. Now, remember, about 30 milliliters is an ounce. So depending on if you're thinking about this with ounces or milliliters, we're at about an ounce on day three per feed and then by day four we are one to two ounces for a feeding. So that's whether the baby's having bottles being breastfed, getting formula being supplemented, that's kind of what their feedings are, and breastfeeding is very dynamic. It's all changing all the time. Day one is very different than day two, week two is different than week four, but we always kind of look at those small little steps that we can anticipate getting to.
Speaker 2:
I also want to talk about a weighted feed and what a weighted feed is. A weighted feed you would do with an IBCLC, so a lactation consultant, and I've loved going to people's homes and doing weighted feeds. That it gives us a good picture of what's going on. It is just a snapshot in time. It's important to remember that just because at 11am on Tuesday the baby ate 60 ounces in 12 minutes. It might not get the same 10 hours from now, but it's a snapshot of the potential and what's possible If we wanted to really get an average of what the baby's getting with every feed, we do a weighted feed, every feed for three days and that's a little bit unreasonable to do as well.
Speaker 2:
But that weighted feed, what a lactation consultant will do is weigh the baby on a gram sensitive scale. So it's a very, very accurate scale. To small amounts we'll get the how many grams that baby weighs before. Oftentimes I'll have my clients strip the baby down to just a dry diaper. So we're, you know, we don't have any clothes on. We don't want to weigh the clothes or anything. We'll feed the baby A lot of times. I'll do a feeding. If the baby's eight on the right side, we'll weigh between breasts, between sides, so we can see how much the baby is getting in a given amount of time and on either breast as well. So we get a total for what the baby's getting during that time and that can be really helpful information to know as well. So keep a lot of these things in mind.
Speaker 2:
Day two is rough, and a lot of times the roughness comes at night when the milk comes in kind of changes everybody's world for the best, and you know then we have a challenge of engorgement. A new challenge comes up. There's always kind of new challenges as we work along. Some babies will experience a challenge at two weeks because the milk flow is pushed by hormones. For about the first two weeks Milk flow is just pushed out of the, out of the breasts and by week two that stops. The cycle of the hormones has stopped quite a bit. It's a cool system because it gives that baby kind of some leeway for two weeks as they're learning to breastfeed. But by two weeks we want a baby who's able to pull milk out because it isn't pushing as easily as it was in the beginning. So some babies won't have their challenge until that second week. Other babies and other milk supplies might have a challenge when the baby starts sleeping through the night a little bit more.
Speaker 2:
And there are tricks and tips and little things you can shift and strategies we can address to face all of these challenges. So know who your resources are in your area where you live. Moms, sisters, aunts, grandmas might be awesome resources. And then there are professional resources as well. Ibclcs are great. I always like to have a good IBCLC in my pocket. I've said for all this time that I've been a doula and I am an IBCLC now, so it's awesome to have that information because it can be so helpful. Just trying the right things, knowing what to expect, can be pretty awesome to help you be successful on your journey.
Speaker 2:
So we look at normal gains for a baby up to about four months. So, looking at 16 weeks, we want that baby, after they've gained their birth weight back, to be gaining about an ounce a day. So that's something else that an IBCLC can kind of help you keep track of. Some slow gainer babies can get away with gaining about half an ounce a day, but we watch those babies pretty carefully. Some babies gain two ounces a day. They're just super robust and growing incredibly well. So kind of keep those things in mind. You can hop on over to our website at birthlearningcom. We do have some breastfeeding classes that are all pre-recorded. You can watch in the comfort of your own home. They cover a whole lot of basics before a baby's born talk about latch, how to do paste bottle feeding, a lot of the normals and what to expect. So that breastfeeding class is available at our website and I hope that helps you.
Speaker 2:
I hate to see people struggle and not know that there was help to have and some simple things they could do to help themselves. So please get help wherever you are. Hopefully this has been helpful for you. Thanks for being with us here on the Ordinary Dealer Podcast. This is Angie Rose, your host, and I hope you have an amazing day. Go do something that inspires you today. Seek for someone, something, a sight, a vision, something you see, someone you talk to, that just inspires you and helps make you feel good. Reach out to someone else and make their life a little better today as well. Hope you have a good one and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning. Episode credits will be in the show notes Tune in next time as we continue to explore the many aspects of giving birth.