SLEEPY BABY TIPS AND EFFECTIVE TRANSFER
I am often consulted to work with moms who have low supply. All too often, the problem is that baby was not transferring and extracting milk effectively in the first few days and weeks, and mom's supply did not fully come in. I have lots of ways to remedy this situation, but the best would be to fix it before it happens! Here are my top tips on how to get your sleepy newborn baby to transfer milk effectively and bring in your full supply:
It’s important to know the difference between comfort sucking and nutritive sucking.
Comfort sucking is fast, little jaw movements. Very little milk is transferred.
Nutritive sucking is large jaw movements, at a slower rate, with a pause every 1-2 sucks for a swallow (sometimes you can see a ripple in the throat as they swallow).
Your job is to teach baby to feed efficiently. As soon as the nutritive sucking rhythm slows down, you need to stimulate him by touching under his chin, top of his head, along his back, blow on his face, talk to him. If after 30 seconds he is not back in a productive sucking pattern, take him off, change his diaper, burp him, switch breasts. Don't let him learn to just feed for a minute then fall asleep or your feeding sessions will take hours each and he may not bring in your full milk supply. Non-nutritive (pacifying, not transferring milk) sucking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugw5brAshi0 Nutritive (Good milk transfer) sucking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvYF7z7Rfiw