Expert: ruth kraft - 1/11/2009

Question
I have been solely breastfeeding my 4 month old.  My baby has since the beginning only fed on one breast for 8-12 minutes.
Since a few weeks he had been waking up at the hour at night and constantly putting his fingers in his mouth. When teething was ruled out, I figured that he is hungry. So I started offering him 4.5-5 oz of expressed milk right before going to bed for his last feeding. That seemed to help and he was able to go on for 4-5 hour stretch without a feeding during the night.
In the day too now I have been offering him only expressed milk 4-5 oz per feeding every 4 hours and he seems to hold out better. When I nursed him before he would want to feed every 3 hours for 8-10 minutes.
My questions is : Since I am a stay home mom its easier for me to nurse him but is it possible that he took less milk from my breast as compared to the bottle?

Also, since he turned 4 months old I'm just about able to keep up my milk supply. I pump 4-5 oz every 4 hours. Is that sufficient?  

Answer
I think that what you experienced is kind of coincidental although I dont know exact time frames on there.... babys develope in stages in drinking and sleeping etc... at first, tehy all start out wanting to nurse every hour to 90 minutes... well. most of them, that lasts for the first 2 months ish... then they graduate to 2-4 hours and then around 3 months start sleeping longer at nights as their body becomes more in control of itself. as a newborn, they have an instinctual need to suck ALL the time, ( hence the fists in his mouth ) however, because its a common feeding cue, most women think it is only because they are hungry. its actually instintual, not from hunger. but they still need to suck , and therefore get small amoutns of milk which help build their immune system as well.

it sounds to me , from what you wrote, he has done everything right on cue... you should esily be able to go back to nursing him full time and not worry about the bottles now that he is more settled in especially. Is it possible that he got more milk from the bottle? yes, anything is possible. but its not likely. your breasts produce milk on supply and demand, and him nursing all the time is what made you able to pump so much in a short amount of time... he is much more efficient at getting milk from yoru breasts than the pump ever dreamed of... that is why , eventually it will be hard to keep up with his needs for milk as he gets older unless you also pump through growth spurts as he would if he were nursing . ( 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and a year )

if he will nurse exclusivly, it would be much easier and better for both of you to continue that. not only does he get milk but by nursing he is developing his muscle tone in his mouth so that when he starts to speak he will have less chance of a lisp or speech impediment, and he is able to tall your body just what he needs as the saliva in his mouth talks to your nipples when its absorbed by your breast, that tells your body what he needs for immunity and also for vitimins and nutrition.

And yes, I do think that you are produing enough for him at his age.

I hope that was helpful,
Ruth Kraft
www.honoringwomen.com