Expert: ruth kraft - 8/6/2011

Question
How can my wife increase her breast milk as our 3 weeks son need breast milk to soothe the colic pain? how does little sleep affect mother producing enough milk? What are dangers of changing baby sleeping pattern?

Answer
Little sleep can make milk go down a little bit as can any stressful event. But new mothers are conditioned to wake often for their baby so it would have to be pretty extreme for it to effect the milk.  THe easiest way to increase milk is letting the baby nurse more frequently and increasing fiber in the diet.  The dangers of changing a sleeping pattern in a baby can be hard to judge. I am not a sleep expert but I do know that not letting a baby follow its own internal clock can increase fussiness a great deal. This crying can effect brain development as well.  It is always best to let your child determine when and how long to feed as well as when and how long to sleep. Neuologically they know best of what they need.

I hope that helped.