How long in to a feed does the hind milk come in?

[CharCharxxx]

Hi ladies, my LO is 3 months on Tuesday, he's always been a good feeder and feeds very regularly throughout the day although he doesn't wake up much in the night anymore maybe once around 4am having last fed about 10/10.30 no set routine as such. My concern is that his feeds the past few weeks seem to be a lot shorter. He becomes very distracted and seems to pull off constantly to smile at me or look at his surroundings so I take him off for 5 minutes then offer it again or the other breast and he's not that bothered. At the moment his feeds are no longer than about 10 mins maybe 15 at the most. I'm now worrying that he's not getting much of the hind milk with the most fat in, and he has dropped a percentile now. It's confusing though as he always has very wet nappies and poohs every couple of days. But I can't force him to take the milk if you see what I mean?! What do I do?! Just feel like he's getting so distracted even when I don't look at him etc I can see him out the corner of my eye smiling haha! Xx

 

[CharCharxxx]

Ps Just to add he is exclusively bf and never had a dummy or bottle x

 

[jessmke]

The terms "foremilk" and "hindmilk" are a bit misleading. All of your milk is the same, "foremilk" refers to the milk that stays in the ducts in the breast, it has less fat because as it sits in the ducts the fat adheres to sides of the ducts, so when baby first starts drinking they get that initial milk without as much fat, then as baby continues feeding the milk that comes in flushes the fat off the sides of the ducts and thus that milk has more fat. The more regularily you feed baby the less time there is for the fat to adhere to the sides of the ducts, and the more fat there will be in your "foremilk". Don't worry too much about how long you are feeding, as babies get older they become much more efficient feeders and although they feed for less time, the actually take in more milk. Weight gain fluctuates so I don't think there's anything to be concerned about with a single percentile drop.

 

[CharCharxxx]

The terms "foremilk" and "hindmilk" are a bit misleading. All of your milk is the same, "foremilk" refers to the milk that stays in the ducts in the breast, it has less fat because as it sits in the ducts the fat adheres to sides of the ducts, so when baby first starts drinking they get that initial milk without as much fat, then as baby continues feeding the milk that comes in flushes the fat off the sides of the ducts and thus that milk has more fat. The more regularily you feed baby the less time there is for the fat to adhere to the sides of the ducts, and the more fat there will be in your "foremilk". Don't worry too much about how long you are feeding, as babies get older they become much more efficient feeders and although they feed for less time, the actually take in more milk. Weight gain fluctuates so I don't think there's anything to be concerned about with a single percentile drop.

Thank you very much for the reply 😊 I'll try not to worry too much then and hopefully he won't drop another percentile! X

 

[noon_child]

The terms "foremilk" and "hindmilk" are a bit misleading. All of your milk is the same, "foremilk" refers to the milk that stays in the ducts in the breast, it has less fat because as it sits in the ducts the fat adheres to sides of the ducts, so when baby first starts drinking they get that initial milk without as much fat, then as baby continues feeding the milk that comes in flushes the fat off the sides of the ducts and thus that milk has more fat. The more regularily you feed baby the less time there is for the fat to adhere to the sides of the ducts, and the more fat there will be in your "foremilk". Don't worry too much about how long you are feeding, as babies get older they become much more efficient feeders and although they feed for less time, the actually take in more milk. Weight gain fluctuates so I don't think there's anything to be concerned about with a single percentile drop.

This exactly! Thanks for writing this so I didn't have to as I sometimes get in a muddle trying to explain it!

OP - that age is classic for getting distractible during feeds (well anytime really) and there's not much you can do except try to limit the distractions for a few weeks till it settles down. I couldn't go out and about as much wth my LO because she would pull off at every noise, every person walking past, every bird flying over head, ANYTHING. However we had feeding issues and weight gain issues so I had to be more careful about making sure she was getting her fill. Your LO sounds like he might be getting what he needs in 10-15 minute feeds.