Breastfeeding provides all the nutrition your baby needs for the first six months of life. This includes both hunger and thirst. To meet both of these needs, nursing mothers produce two kinds of milk: foremilk, the thinner milk the baby gets first, which has a lower fat content; and hindmilk, the high-fat, creamier milk. The higher water content keeps the baby well-hydrated when breastfeeding. There is an additional kind of milk called Colostrum which is produced during pregnancy and continuing through the early days of breastfeeding.
Foremilk and hindmilk are concepts that really only make sense when longer intervals such as two to three hours or more occur between feedings. The longer the time gap between feedings and the fuller a mother’s breasts become, the greater the difference in fat content between the foremilk and hindmilk. These differences in fat content can vary greatly over the course of a day. For example, when a long breastfeeding gap occurs during the night, at the next feeding a mother’s foremilk will be lower in fat than during the evening when her baby breastfeeds more often.
Foremilk and Pumping
If you are pumping, you may have noticed the difference between the foremilk and the hindmilk. When you first start pumping, it can look very light and watery and gradually become a richer color and consistency. You may have been told in the hospital to do 10 minutes on each breast. While this is true for colostrum, it is not the best way to feed with the increased volume of milk. If you continue this 10/10 pattern, babies will usually only empty the foremilk on each breast causing the below listed problems. Remember to empty one or both breasts during a pumping session so that every bottle has a good mixture of both foremilk and hindmilk.
Too Much Foremilk
For new moms, it’s easy to overfeed the newborn with Foremilk. Babies with colic and reflux are frequently fussy it’s easy to believe your baby is finished with the first breast and ready for the next one. This can contribute to both oversupply and a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, both of which can aggravate colic and reflux. This is easily corrected understanding the issue and altering nursing habits.
“Although infants are not lactose intolerant by nature, a high volume of lactose can overwhelm a baby’s digestive system. When there is not enough lactase to break down all the lactose, the excess lactose causes gassiness and discomfort, and frequently green, watery or foamy stools. Over time, large amounts of undigested lactose can irritate the lining of the intestines so that even a little bit passing through can cause irritation.” Diana West, BA, IBCLC, co-author with Lisa Marasco of The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk (McGraw-Hill, December 2008) and Elliot Hirsch of Breastfeeding After Breast and Nipple Procedures (Hale Publishing, July 2008)
