How to increase Fat content in Milk

[StrongFeather]

When I pump there is not a lot of fat at the top of my milk, even when it's left out and seperates. So I am thinking I do not have high fat content milk, and this might be the reason my DS wants to eat so frequently!

I was wondering what I can do to increase my milk fat.
I don't do lots of dairy (no milk) but I do try to eat a bit of cheese every day. I use soy milk or rice milk in coffee.

I take 4000 iud of fish oils a day.

What can I eat, or do to make more milk fat?

[jecombs]

Your milk content is constantly changing to meet your baby's needs, so there might be nothing that you can do if you body has determined that "x" amount of fat is perfect for your LO. However, if it were me I would try eating more healthy fats, like salmon, nuts, nut butters, and avocado and see what happens. Your body is going to be able to use natural sources of fat better than supplements, so it may transfer some of them to your milk. Just an idea!

[SallyN]

ditto on increasing your intake of healthy fats. Dairy is NOT the sole source of fat (just probably the easiest, lol)

[Llyra]

I don't know that there's much you can do about it. The composition of your milk changes a lot-- it changes as baby grows, it changes throughout the course of a single day, it varies depending on how long it's been since you nursed last, and how long you pump. Are you leaving the pump on for multiple letdowns? Subsequent letdowns will be higher in fat because the milk will not have mixed with the foremilk that is stored behind the nipple between feedings. You can try to get every last drop of that hindmilk by pumping more often and leaving the pump on longer.

I do, think, however, that it's not necessary to worry about it. If you were nursing directly, you'd never know how much fat there was, right? You'd just look at baby, and if baby was thriving and growing, you'd know everything was fine, right? So it should be the same with pumping. Does baby look healthy? Is baby gaining weight appropriately for his/her body type? Does baby look content after a good long nursing session, when baby is not tired or cranky for some other reason? Then your milk is perfect.

It can't hurt to make changes to your diet, to make sure you're getting healthy fats and protein, enough calories to maintain a healthy weight, and adequate hydration. That's more for you and your own health, though. Your body will give baby what baby needs, even at your own nutritional expense.

FWIW, when I was pumping, the line of fat that would separate out was never terribly thick. Just a thin line, and some globules stuck to the side of the bottle if the milk was chilled. My kids were always fine!

[mambera]

Breasts make fattier milk when they are close to empty.
(I've read this but also noticed it in my own milk: when I pump a larger amount at one time, the line of cream on the top is thinner.)

Also you can improve emptying of the hindmilk by using breast compressions (into your LO or into your pump).

So you can maximize your babe's intake of hindmilk by using compressions and keeping your breasts very empty (ie nurse or pump frequently).

I agree on the 'good fats' in your diet - I don't think that can increase the fat content of your milk but it can improve the quality of the fat that's there. Good work on the fish oil; also consider flaxseed, nuts and nut butters, avocados, and olive oil in your diet.

[lkmiscnet]

I think you're pretty normal. I had posted a similar posting a few months ago, as I too, thought that the 1/8" thickness or less of cream that floated to the top was hardly anything and I was worried my DS was not getting enough fat in the milk. I eat tons of walnuts and almond butter, take fish oil, and eat flax seed, so it is what it is. I don't think you need to worry so long as your diet is healthy and balanced.

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by mambera

So you can maximize your babe's intake of hindmilk by using compressions and keeping your breasts very empty (ie nurse or pump frequently).

Keeping your breasts empty by nursing or pumping frequently will just ramp up production of milk, which won't really change the proportion of foremilk to hindmilk.

And a nursing mother's breasts are never truly "empty", as they are always producing milk.

Like the PPs said, frequent nursing is totally normal and you would know if baby wasn't getting enough hindmilk (green stools, slow weight gain).

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by Bokonon

Keeping your breasts empty by nursing or pumping frequently will just ramp up production of milk, which won't really change the proportion of foremilk to hindmilk.

That's not true.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fo...-hindmilk.html

Research from Peter Hartmann's group tells us that fat content of the milk is primarily determined by the emptiness of the breast -- the less milk in the breast, the higher the fat content.

A woman's breast really only makes one type of milk, the higher-fat milk that we typically think of as hindmilk. As milk is produced in the breast, the fat globules in the milk tend to stick to each other and to the walls of the alveoli (where the milk is made). Between feedings, milk collects in mom's breasts and gradually moves out toward the nipple, leaving more and more of the fat "stuck" further back in the milk ducts. The more time between feedings, the lower the fat content of the foremilk available to baby at the beginning of the feeding.

All milk produced by the breast, when it's first "let down," is full-fat milk, the milk we call hindmilk. Between letdowns, milk seeps down slowly to be stored behind the nipple. As the milk sits there, fat is reabsorbed, so that the milk that is right behind the nipple when baby starts to suckle is lower in fat. The longer it sits there, the less fatty it is. When milk "lets down," that milk mixes with the milk being stored (that seeped down between feeds) to make what we call "foremilk," or lower-fat milk.

If baby feeds frequently (and in some cultures, three to five feeds an hour is normal, and incidentally in these cultures, breastfeeding "problems" are almost unknown), then there's no stored milk behind the nipple when baby elicits a letdown, so that there's less of what is commonly called "foremilk."

So it is in fact true that frequent feeds will in fact result in baby getting on average higher-fat milk.

The breastfeeding chapter in Our Babies, Ourselves is where I first learned about this stuff.