Check out this super breastfeeding advice from Enfamil

[Ammaarah]

Well, it's no shocker, of course. But yowza.

How to know that your baby is full when breastfeeding

If you're breastfeeding, you can't see the amount that your baby takes in. So it becomes a question of how long you spend nursing. If she's hungry and sucking hard, your little one can get most of the milk from your breast in four to five minutes. After ten minutes, there will be just a trickle left. So if you allow her to spend 15 minutes on each breast, you can be sure that she will have more than enough time to get what she needs. Of course, if you both enjoy nursing for longer, that's perfectly fine.

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Here's the website where I found this gem. Hit "Skip this video" and check out the fabu virtual baby shower. :

[alegna]

sigh....

-Angela

[babymakesthree]

[jessjgh1]

Gee, I'm sooooo glad my almost 3 year old doesn't nurse for 15 minutes at a time.

Wait a minute, I think he stopped nursing that long back when he was 4 or 5 months. Wonder if he got enough???

LOL!

Jessica

[Progressive_Mom]

Not surprised

[intorainbowz]

Ok, I'm not trying to play dumb here, but what is the problem with this advice? I don't get the problem.

[sebarnes]

Originally Posted by intorainbowz

Ok, I'm not trying to play dumb here, but what is the problem with this advice? I don't get the problem.

A lot of babies take longer than 15 minutes to drain the breast, so if you start taking your baby off at 15 minutes because of this advice your supply will plummet, your baby can start losing weight, and *bam*, here comes enfamil to save the day! The bottom line is babies are all completely different, so while one child may drain the breast in 10 minutes, another child (like my dd) took AT LEAST 30 minutes to drain each side. This is information specially designed to lead you down the golden formula path... Breastfeeding is not meant to be timed or scheduled.

[intorainbowz]

That is what I thought was the problem, but I wanted to make sure...

Thanks!

[Equuskia]

It also doesn't take into consideration the fact that women's breasts have different storage capacities, and that one baby can drain the breast in 10 mins, and eat again in 2 hours because of small breast capacity, and another baby takes longer because there is more breast capacity and may eat again in 4 hours. I love advice from special interest groups! :

[eldadeedlit]

that whole "15 mins at each breast" thing *totally* confused me w/ my first. It took all of like, maybe 3 minutes at ONE breast for him to be satisfied, but because I thought KI was supoposed to nurse for 30 mins total, i kept trying to make him nurse when he was done, waking him up and such. I am glad i decided to just do what made sense for us, because the 3 min nursing thing has been true for all of my kids so far.

[hunnybumm]

Originally Posted by eldadeedlit

that whole "15 mins at each breast" thing *totally* confused me w/ my first. It took all of like, maybe 3 minutes at ONE breast for him to be satisfied, but because I thought KI was supoposed to nurse for 30 mins total, i kept trying to make him nurse when he was done, waking him up and such. I am glad i decided to just do what made sense for us, because the 3 min nursing thing has been true for all of my kids so far.

Ditto. I had heard from various people to nurse on one side for 15min, then the second side for 15 min, then the first again for 5 (if they still seem hungry), then the second again for 5. After the first 5 min they were done and I thought I was doing something wrong, maybe they weren't getting enough to eat. Till I finally realized that they weren't hungry, they were gaining weight, happy, etc. That just how my body works. DS#2 does stay latched on for 10-15 min sometimes, but after the first 5 he is just comfort nursing.

[Ammaarah]

The part that bugged me the most was that

After ten minutes, there will be just a trickle left.

Yeah, just a trickle, of that worthless, lousy hindmilk that has no importance!

[snowbunny]

Ahh ... but aren't they nice even mentioning breastfeeding? :

I wish there was some sort of recourse for this kind of erroneous "advice."

[OwensMa]

Such poor advice. When DS falls asleep at the breat (like now), his fluttering suckling will stimulate at least one more letdown, if not two, during his catnap. It's no "trickle", and we all know it's the richest part of breastmilk.

[orangefoot]

: Tha'ts happening right now which is why I'm sitting here surfing!

[jessjgh1]

The other problem is that some women think 15 minutes per side (and the first few weeks it usually is taking 30-45 minutes or longer), is soooooo long and when they think about breastfeeding for 6 months, thinking it might take that long every time for the next 6 months or longer, they feel very overwhelmed and discouraged.

I remember thinking, thank goodness this is getting easier after the first months (and faster, too) and make sure to pass that info on to my friends that are nursing.

Jessica

[justplainbecky]

Egh, I got into a huge argument with my SIL about this a few months ago. She was talking about a friend of hers who had to supplement because baby wasn't getting enough or gaining, and she said 'well I gave her the best advice they gave me at childrens hospital, only 10 mintues tops on each breast, then switch, and don't let your baby nurse more than 20 minutes total. IF he's still hungry, offer a bottle to fill him up'. My jaw dropped and I was like 'uh, no, he needs to nurse until he empties the breast or he'l not get the fatty hindmilk and he will be hungry, and he won't gain weight.' she actually argued with me, and it was at a b-day party so my grandma, great grandma and a couple of my aunts who breastfed backed me up saying baby needs that fatty hindmilk and to let him nurse at one breast until he is done, and then offer the other if he is still hungry. She was so adamant about her point being right. And yes, that baby is now on ofrmula because of course mom just couldn't produce enough even with SIL's stellar advice. grrr.

[ckhagen]

My kids both started as newborns wanting to nurse for 30 minutes at a time at each breast. But, once they got over the newborn sleepy stage, they because 3 minute, one-breast, power nursers. I certainly don't worry about this one not getting enough... he's 7 months, 25 pounds, and doesn't eat solids!

[Penelope]

Their advice totally doesn't take supply and demand into account. It's exactly what I'd expect from a formula company: give bottle-feeding-oriented breastfeeding advice that depends on arbitrary measurements like ounces (oh, wait) or minutes. Not cues from the baby, which are so much more important.

[Attached2Elijah]

I just want to say.... reading this post made me so incredibly HAPPY! Not because of the 1st post but because so many people said that their baby was satisfied after only nursing for maybe 5 minutes on each breast.... I just had my daughter 4 months ago (I didn't BF my son but pumped with him...long story,not enough education) and back when she was first born, she nursed AT MOST for 10 minutes and that was with me forcing her back on because I was told she had to nurse for ATLEAST 15 minutes on each breast by everyone I encountered, including the Lactation consultant. I simply hated breastfeeding her because I thought that she wasn't getting enough (she's small too) and in the last couple months she started nursing at most 5 minutes on each breast... I was worried to death but have just recently started listening to her instead of everyone else and sure enough, our breastfeeding relationship is SOOOOO much better now. I actually enjoy it now because it's not ended by screaming anymore, it's ended with a happy, satisfied baby... but seeing that my baby is not the only one that is a very fast nurser makes me feel so much better. She's small and she's a fast nurser but she is definitely healthy!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!