Generally speaking, the term demand feeding means adapting to the baby’s needs and breastfeeding whenever he/she asks for it.
With demand feeding, the first few days the baby often does not suckle very much. This is often the case because the baby’s sucking strength is low at the beginning and it is a great effort for him. For this reason, newborns need many feedings per day, each of them for a short period of time.
At this time, the milk is very concentrated and of small volume. In this infant period it is known as colostrum. As the baby grows and sucks better, feedings are increased and spaced out. The milk, for its part, will adapt in composition and volume to this new situation. Eventually, the baby may even be able to feed only 4 times a day.
On the other hand, not all babies are the same, which is why some mothers despair when they have the feeling that their child is eating all day long, without letting them rest. In any case, breastfeeding on demand can be taught. Your pediatrician can guide you on how to do it.
Some keys to successful breastfeeding
Moms need to be informed and aware of the benefits of breastfeeding, as the first days are very hard. The physical situation of the mother must be taken into account, since she has had a few months of very important body changes during pregnancy. This situation, besides being very beautiful, is also very hard, just like childbirth or cesarean section.
Taking into account that some newborns do not know how to suckle and latch on correctly, and the inexperience of new mothers, it is important to give good information about breastfeeding and to help the mother and her baby in these first days. It should not be forgotten that milk let-down, as we know it, occurs between the second and third day and that the baby experiences a physiological weight loss during these days. All these factors together make that, in these first days, many mothers give up breastfeeding their babies.
It is therefore essential that mothers and their babies go to the pediatrician to help them with the correct position of the newborn at the time of breastfeeding, to give them support and to solve the doubts associated with breastfeeding.