Hi,
I have a 9-week-old daughter and I am breastfeeding. My milk use to be
close to the color of cow milk. It's been about 2 weeks now that my milk is watery
looking. My mother tells me it's because I am sick. I started out with a sore throat,
congestion and now runny nose. I have been working the whole time and am
a little tired.
Because I believe my milk is probably lacking in nutrients, I have added formula to my
breast milk. What has happened to my breast milk? Is adding formula the thing to do? What
can I take for my cold? Is my baby getting the right amount of nutrients? What should I
do? Please help.
Sabine
 Sabine,
YOUR MILK IS PERFECT!!!!!
Our milk does not look like the homogenized, pasteurized, artificially
treated/stored/cooled/warmed/vitamined fluid sold in stores.
It is natural, untreated, live, full of healthy cells that are living things which
nurture and protect our babies from infections as well as provide the perfect nourishment
for the brain, neural cells, eyes, and all the other essential parts of our babies, at the
perfect temperature with the perfect combination of vitamins, minerals, fats,
carbohydrates and sugars.
Even the moms suffering from malnutrition make excellent milk - much better for their
babies than the treated milk sold in stores as a "perfect infant food".
Please don't let the advertisements lead you astray. Don't mix your milk with
anything. The first milk you saw (and how come you saw it, as I never saw mine, the baby drank it
directly!), was colostrum, the perfect BEGINNING food for a baby's digestive system that
has not eaten anything ever. It contained antibodies against all the infections you had
been exposed to and had a laxative effect to clear out the meconium and prepare the
digestive system for the coming foods.
Then your milk slowly was transitioned, little by little becoming more like mature
mother's milk and less like colostrum. Your baby now needed more fluid, and the balance of
proteins, fats and carbohydrates changed. What you are making now is perfect for your baby
at his age now.
What is even more amazing, your milk changes from beginning to the end of feedings to
meet the fluid then the caloric needs of your baby. This is why we recommend keeping the
baby on the first breast until he lets go - then change and burp, and offer (but don't
insist) the second breast.
As your baby gets older, the milk changes and when you start solids at the age of 6
months or later, the milk changes and continues to meet the needs of the baby. Even a
child who is over a year and still breastfeeding - but eating lots of other foods -
benefits from the breastmilk "snacks" he gets full of antibodies.
The later
"weaning " milk is more like colostrum again.
So congratulations on serving the best meal a baby can ever have. And ENJOY!!!
Jeanette Panchula, BA, RN, IBCLC
Vacaville, CA
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