# Can you tell when your child is drinking hindmilk?



## zora (Dec 24, 2002)

I'm a first time mom and my son is not gaining enough weight, says the doctor. I think he is doing fine. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out when and if he is getting hindmilk. Should I assume that when he does this quick light sucking that he is probaby getting hindmilk?

Do you have a way of knowing that your child is drinking hindmilk? If so, please share it with me.

Thanks,
Zora


----------



## mamada (Oct 4, 2006)

Your baby's stools will offer a clue. If the baby is drinking primarily foremilk the stools will be green. If the baby is getting lots of hindmilk the stools will be yellow/orange.

If you allow your baby to nurse as long as he wants to, he should get enough hindmilk.

In terms of weight gain, look at your and baby's dad's body types. If one or both of you are slight/small then you shouldn't expect your baby to be huge or even match up to the doctor's growth chart. Also, breastfed babies tend to be smaller than the standard growth charts because most of the growth charts are based on the growth of formula-fed babies.


----------



## timneh_mom (Jun 13, 2005)

What the PP said!!

Also, the light, quick sucking you are noticing is comfort sucking (non-nutritive) but that's important too, it helps release their digestive enzymes, it's great for your milk supply, and wonderful for bonding too.









I am assuming he will have a good period of nice, strong sucking and swallowing before the light sucking?


----------



## Alexander's Mommy (Jun 4, 2005)

mamada said:


> Your baby's stools will offer a clue. If the baby is drinking primarily foremilk the stools will be green. If the baby is getting lots of hindmilk the stools will be yellow/orange.
> 
> I've wondered this myself and I never knew that! Thank you! My babies stools are only green if I don't get a chance to rinse his diaper out right away and it turns green over time before it hits the wash, lol.


----------



## momuveight2B (Mar 17, 2006)

Is he contented towards the end of a feed? Does he have that silly drunkard smile? Are his hands completely open and relaxed? Does he come off the breast on his own when he is finished? Do you get exploding diapers, the kind where you pick up the baby and it is up his back and down his legs and somehow got into the socks? Is he having a good sleep inbetwen feeds?

Any time you see him gnawing on his hands offer the breast.


----------



## jaxxy (Apr 24, 2007)

i bet you are doing fine. My DS is huge compared to other babies his age., his ped told me I was using myself as a pacifier. There is just a lot of difference in size of babes!!! Those doc are never happy!!


----------



## MonkeysRUs (Jun 1, 2007)

http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/growth/index.html

The above link has some good info on growth in breastfed babies. Without knowing more about your baby (weight history, feeding pattern etc), it's impossible to say whether there really is an issue with weight gain, but doctors are often unfamiliar with the normal growth of breastfed babies, and the growth charts they use are often the ones that are based on formula fed babies.

As for the hindmilk, as long as you are letting your baby nurse for as long as he wants on the first side, before offering the second side, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about. You can't tell by the way your baby is sucking whether or not he's getting hindmilk. As a pp said, the quick light sucking is your baby comfort nursing. If you hand express a little bit of milk before and after you nurse, you should be able to see a difference. The foremilk that baby gets at the beginning of the feed is more watery, and the hindmilk is much creamier looking.


----------



## mom2L (Nov 28, 2006)

My DS is a great nurser, but tends to want to pop off and look at me several times during a feeding (unless it's a night, and then he feeds and sleeps at the same time). I can always tell what kind of milk he is drinking based on the little drips that roll out of his mouth when he smiles at me. Like the PP said, the initial milk is very watery looking, the mid milk is white and the hind milk is very creamy. My DS and DD both slowed at the hindmilk and took long, slow draws off the breast, slower and longer than in the beginning of the session after I would let down. Don't let the weight thing bother you, if his growth curve is consistent I wouldn't sweat it.


----------



## MommytoTwo (Jun 20, 2004)

I only know by this - in the begining I can hear DS gulping and if he pulls off it sprays everywhere and is thin. I also know from pumping this is thin watery foremilk. When it changes to hindmilk I cant tell there is no gulping and then when he pulls off some really creamy milk dribbles out the side of his mouth.


----------

