# breastmilk changes as the child gets older right?



## babygrant (Mar 10, 2005)

I have a friend who wants to start supplementing her son with formula. He's almost 5 months old and just over 14 lbs. Her reasoning is because she pumps and gives him a bottle once a day and after one of the bottles had set, there was only a small amount of the fat on the top. She is comparing this bottle to the bottles she used to get when baby was a month old where there'd be 1/2 inch of the fat on the top after it seperated. I told her no no no no, your breastmilk is perfect food for baby...baby is just smaller because mom and dad are both very slender. She wasn't really buying my compliments, so I pumped yesterday (I don't ever pump cause I don't do bottles) and my milk looked exactly the same (After it seperated, lots of clear fluid on the bottom and only a tiny amount of fat on the top...but my ds is over 18 lbs). My ds is only 2 weeks older so it would be the same thing. I emailed her and told her but she's still not buying the idea and she still wants to supplement because she believes her breastmilk is "faulty" and not fatty enough.


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## LolaK (Jan 8, 2006)

Bull doody.

You are absolutely correct breast milk changes as baby grows and the amount of separated fat in a settled bottle is NO WAY to tell if a baby is getting good nutrition. Pumping is NOT the same as nursing.

I would check out www.kellymom.com for some good articles on why breast is best (and formula sucks).

Also maybe pop into the nutrition boards because it IS possible that your friend is not eating a great diet herself and there are things she could change to help her son gain a bit more. For example, I know a lot of women try to go low fat to loose weight when they need to be eating good fat to make good breast milk.


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## justmama (Dec 24, 2002)

Bull doody!







I agree with the way the previous poster so elegantly put it!







Breastmilk changes over time to meet the needs of the baby. That's another wonderful way in which we, as parents, adapt to the changing needs of our children. For example, my daughter was premature. The milk I pumped would be totally different than the milk that the mother of a term baby pumped back then. She's now 15 months. Do you think she needs the same amt of fat and calories? Of course not. So the milk I pump now has a tiny bit of fat, some nice white thin milk, and a bluish watery layer at the bottom when it separates as opposed to the yellow milk with the 1/2inch minimum of fat when she was in the NICU as a newborn baby. Mama's milk is always the right temperature, the right flavor, and the right consistency for baby. It's always perfect, no matter what age the baby is. It never goes bad in the boob!

Meg


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## PABDIBCLC (Apr 18, 2006)

Not only does breastmilk change as a baby gets older but pumped milk looks difffernt depending on when mom pumps in relationship to when she last fed. The fuller the breast the less fat there is.
- patricia- international board certified lactation consultant -


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## Fiercemama (May 30, 2003)

The composition of breastmilk not only changes as your child ages, increasing in fat and calories in the 2nd year, it changes during the course of a single feeding, and from one feeding to the next. Four factors affect the fat content in milk: time from last feeding, fat concentration at the end of the last feeding, volume of milk taken at last feeding and volume of milk taken in at this feeding.

I recently read the new LLL book "My Child Won't Eat" by Carlos Gonzalez. I highly recommend it to any parent who has any kinds of concerns about "eating problems" (usually more a problem with our unrealistic expectations, like sleep).

Quote:

Your child has at his disposal a large selection of "menu" items from which to choose, from a light soup to a creamy dessert. Since the breast can't talk... the baby puts in his order three ways:
1. By the amount of milk he drinks at each feeding (that is, nursing for a shorter or longer amount of time, and with more or less intensity).
2. The interval between one feeding and the next.
3. Drinking from one or both breasts.
What your child does at the breast to obtain exactly what he needs from one day to the next is pure engineering. The child has total and perfect control over his diet as long as he can change the variables at will... When a child is not allowed to control one of the mechanisms, most of the time he manages an adequate diet by maneuvering the other two variables.
He goes on to describe an experiment where babies were kept on one breast only per feed for a week, and both breasts the following week. We would expect that they would take in more fatty hindmilk during the week when they were only offered one breast per feed. But

Quote:

*...the babies spontaneously modified the frequency and duration of their feedings and were able to take in similar amounts of fat (but different volumes of milk).*
(bolding mine).

The perfection of TRUE feeding on demand just blew my mind when I read this passage.


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## Ammaarah (May 21, 2005)

When I pumped when my daughter was first born, I had a big layer of cream. I pumped a few times a few weeks ago when we tried cereal (we ditched it in favor of baby led solids) and I only had a little layer of cream, but it was thick as butter. Remind your friend that a tablespoon of butter has 100 calories, so even a thin layer of cream is going to be packed with calories.


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