New Delhi: Breastfeeding is essential not just to help the mother bond with her baby, but also to nourish the newborn with essential nutrients. The first six months of a baby’s life must be backed by breastfeeding and according to experts, it has many benefits for the mother as well. But talking of the duration of breastfeeding, many are still unsure of how often and how long a mother must breastfeed her baby at a time.
In an interaction with News9Live, Dr T. Vijayakumar, Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist at Prashanth Hospitals, Velachery, explained why the duration of breastfeeding is essential and how long it should last ideally.
“In the first few weeks of life babies are fed on demand, they will feed frequently every 1.5 to 2 hours sometimes even every hour. As they grew older, they suck faster and need feeds somewhere 1.5 to 3 hours, each feeding session will last for at least 10 minutes on each side, and babies require a Total of 15 to 30 minutes of sucking for adequate breastmilk and good weight gain. If babies don’t latch properly and suck for adequate time, they won’t get the necessary milk this will have an impact on their weight gain, and decreased urine output, and babies would be fussy and crying more. In the first week of life inadequate milk will exaggerate physiological weight loss and jaundice levels,” said Dr Vijayakumar.
Every newborn should be breastfed whenever they are hungry on demand with an average duration of every 1.5 hours to 2-3 hours depending on their postnatal age, gestational age, and weight as the baby starts sucking continuous supply of breastmilk will be there by hormonal reflex. Each feeding session with both breasts will be on average 15 minutes to 30 minutes or more depending on individual babies since every baby and their needs are different.
Initial few days soon after birth (0-5 days) mothers will secrete yellow colostrum, thick milk in small quantities (5-20ml). This colostrum is rich in antibodies, Immunoglobulins, and high protein, which is enough for newborn babies in the first week of life. It should not be discarded. After 5 to 7 days transitional milk will be secreted. Colostrum can be fed frequently to babies around 1-1.5 hours. Breastfeeding sessions should continue for sufficient time (15-30 minutes) as there are three variants with different compositions in each variant of breast milk Fore milk, mid milk, and hind milk which satisfy the baby’s thirst and nutrient demands.
Newborn babies should be breastfed at least 8-12 times in 1 first month, as breastmilk is easily digested and babies are hungry often. This also helps mothers to have good milk secretion in the initial weeks. When babies are older around 2 months to 6 months they need 8 to 10 feeds per day, although individual babies’ needs are different. The duration of each session of breastfeeding may vary depending on whether babies are hungry, sleepy or distracted, crying or restless for other reasons, Babys weight and gestation preterm and low birth weight babies will suck slowly and feed for a longer duration, milk supply in mother, amount of milk flow from the nipple, proper latching positions followed by mother, any illness in both baby and mother(nasal block in babies will restrict them to breastfeed for more than few minutes) and some nipple issues in mother cause pain or discomfort this may hinder duration of breastfeeding.
Every newborn should be breastfed whenever they are hungry on demand with an average duration of every 1.5 hours to 2_3 hours depending on their postnatal age, gestational age, and weight as the baby starts sucking continuous supply of breastmilk will be there by hormonal reflex. Health News Health News: Latest News from Health Care, Mental Health, Weight Loss, Disease, Nutrition, Healthcare
