Lactation crisis or growth spurts

Hello BABY BAYBO family!

As you know I have 2 children: Julia and Adrian, the youngest. I couldn't exclusively breastfeed Julia, even when I put all my effort into it. Now, I know it was because I didn't know this information.

When I had Adrian I put all my effort into achieving it, I informed myself about positions, foods and everything related to breastfeeding. At first everything seemed to be going very well, he latched on, ate, slept, went to the bathroom and I thought he was on the other side until I was faced with the first growth spurt, now I know, but at that moment I didn't know what was happening and in my desperate search for frustration when I saw that I was once again feeling that anguish that I felt with Julia of thinking that my production was not being enough to satisfy Adrian's hunger, I discovered this incredible article, written by Alba Padró. ALBA Breastfeeding Advisor, IBCLC.

Thanks to this information, my breastfeeding with Adrian was a success. I have shared this information with all the mothers I have met and most of them have told me that they did not know about it and knowing it had turned out to be very useful. So I couldn't stop sharing it with you.

It is well known that “Milk production is regulated by the baby's demand, the more demand, the more milk production.” Despite this, there are situations where, for various reasons, babies seem dissatisfied or even uncomfortable breastfeeding.

This behavior usually causes great distress to mothers, and if we are not aware of these episodes of changing demands and behavior of the baby, we can make the mistake of starting to supplement the baby with formula and even stop breastfeeding thinking that we are leaving him unsatisfied. .

Those situations in which the baby seems to be dissatisfied with its mother's milk production are called crises, outbreaks or growth stages . Fortunately, most babies experience these situations at a similar age, which has allowed us to understand their behavior.

At 17-20 days after birth

Babies are usually quite regular in the first days of life, they usually eat and sleep in fairly regular and predictable cycles.

By the third week of life, babies experience their first demand crisis and their behavior changes:

• They want to breastfeed continuously, which may mean not letting go of the breast or feeding every 30 minutes.
• He cries desperately if he doesn't have his breast in his mouth.
• They regurgitate milk in considerable quantities but want to continue suckling.

What's going on?

The baby needs to increase his mother's milk production, the only way to achieve this is by breastfeeding without rest for a couple or three days, thus achieving optimal milk production. Once the goal is achieved, the child will take more spaced feedings and breastfeeding will resume its calmer course of demand.

If the child has regained birth weight (under normal circumstances, it regains it before the 15th day of life), the stool indicates that the baby is eating optimally, the mother can rest assured. They are going to be very intense days in which you will need help from your partner and your family.

At 6-7 weeks

Around a month and a half of age, babies and their mothers experience the second major breastfeeding crisis. Once again, the child needs more milk and knows exactly how to get it:

• Increase in demand and number of shots.
• Altered behavior on the part of the child when he is on the breast: he becomes very nervous, sucks while shaking, cries on the breast, arches his back (with the nipple in his mouth), tenses his legs.

What's going on?

Apparently, at this time there is also a change in the composition of the milk, the taste of which varies significantly and temporally. Milk tastes saltier and some children don't like the changes. As in the 17-day crisis, once the situation normalizes (which can occur after approximately a week), children recover the breastfeeding pattern prior to the crisis.

At 3 months

The so-called “3-month crisis” is perhaps the most “delicate” and complex, since it affects the mother and the baby and the situation takes about a month to get back on track:

• The baby no longer asks for the breast as frequently, something that the mother can interpret in different ways: he is not hungry, he does not want to eat, or he rejects it.
• The child who previously enjoyed being attached to the breast for a long time now takes only a few minutes.
• The mother notices soft breasts, which she attributes to insufficient milk production.
• The baby has chaotic feedings, in which he is distracted by anything and usually bursts into tears shortly after starting to breastfeed.
• He only seems to suck nice and calm when he is asleep.
• The baby gains less weight, which is perfectly normal as he or she grows, but it can reinforce the feeling of hunger.
• Often, there is a decrease in the frequency of the baby's bowel movements (if until then he had several bowel movements a day, he may go to just one or even go several days without defecating). Since bowel movements are also often interpreted as a measure of milk intake, the mother may interpret this lower frequency of bowel movements as a sign of insufficient intake.

What's going on?

Babies at three months are experts in the art of sucking and in a few minutes they can extract all the milk they need.

Furthermore, after three months there are big changes in their brain; Neural connections multiply at full speed and this opens up a world of sensations. Until three months, their sense of sight and hearing is limited, immature and has reduced functionality. At three months, however, their vision improves noticeably and they begin to see beyond their mother's face, which is why they are distracted by anything when breastfeeding: a painting hanging behind their mother, someone sitting next to them. , a fly flying by, mom's own face, which the child looks at and smiles, the moment when dad enters the room... And the same thing happens with the sense of hearing: if someone enters the room and speaks , if the TV is loud, if an ambulance passes by on the street... the child's healthy curiosity will prompt him to stop breastfeeding to listen to what is happening around him, and mothers despair at this irregular and apparently apathetic behavior: “The baby breastfeeds in 5 minutes or less, and in that time he lets go of the breast or gets distracted a thousand times. Of course, at night he sucks fabulously and spends a lot of time on each breast, like before, without letting go or crying.”

As if that were not enough, from three months onwards children cry when they breastfeed. They start sucking, they start screaming desperately. This only increases the mother's distress, as her breasts feel extremely soft, she has the feeling that she is barely producing milk, and she may have stopped noticing the milk coming in. Another combination of factors that drives women to stop breastfeeding early and unwanted.

The situation has a logical explanation, and of course, the mother has enough milk and the ability to do everything the child needs at any given time. But the maternal body is very wise and modifies the milk production system to optimize the process. Now the mammary gland is ready to produce milk when the child requires it, and it takes only 2.2 minutes for the body to activate the ejection reflex and provide the child with all the milk it needs. The truth, however, is that children are often upset by this change. They were used to finding the amount of milk they wanted as soon as they were put to the breast, but now they have to suck, wait a few minutes and nurse again.

Here is a simile that can help understand the process: until the moment of the crisis, the children ate at a buffet with 24-hour service, and as soon as they sat down at the table the food was ready. When the crisis begins, the poor restaurant is transformed into a luxury one, they have to wait for the waiter, they have to read the menu and wait to be served, which translates into 2.2 minutes of waiting, which makes them feel very bad during the month and little bit to learn that they have to wait 2 minutes to eat. The amount of milk they drink is exactly what they need, there are no problems with lack of milk.

As a consequence of all of the above, the three-month crisis is usually the moment in which supplementation with artificial milk begins and the gradual abandonment of breastfeeding. The feeling of rejection and lack of milk takes over the mother, although in reality what is happening is perfectly surmountable if she understands herself and handles herself properly.

All the factors that intervene in the three-month crisis make it very complex, and if the mechanisms by which it occurs are not known, the result is an early abandonment of breastfeeding with the mistaken sensation of lack of milk or rejection due to part of the baby

One year old

Reaching one year of breastfeeding is a success and in many cases it is not easy, since mothers are usually subject to constant pressure from society and sometimes from medical personnel; those who consider that the baby is too big to continue breastfeeding and think that breastfeeding interferes with their relationship with food and erroneously suggest that if they stop breastfeeding, they will eat more, but this is not the case, when they turn one year old and regularly:

• Babies stop showing interest in food or eat small amounts of certain foods.
• Increase demand on the chest.

What's going on?

Babies reduce their growth rate after one year of life, which results in a decrease in food intake, although this does not mean that they reduce their demand for the breast or stop breastfeeding.

Eliminating breastfeeding to try to get them to eat more only causes the child to receive less food, since despite what is believed, breast milk is still nutritious and suitable for children from one year old.

When the rate of growth increases again, around 15-18 months, babies begin to eat with greater interest, instinctively adapting to their needs.

At two years

Government recommendations related to the protection and promotion of breastfeeding encourage all mothers to continue breastfeeding with food for a minimum of two years.

More and more mothers reach this stage of breastfeeding and, surprisingly, at two years of age, the last major breastfeeding crisis awaits them:

• Children demand the breast continuously, with demands and intensity similar to those of a newborn.
• They demand the breast in a nervous and sometimes inquisitive way.
• If the mother refuses to breastfeed or tries to postpone breastfeeding, the baby does not take it well at all.

What's going on?

Babies are considered to experience a stage of development similar to that of adolescents at two years of age, a stage focused on no and self-affirmation.

They are capable of doing many things by themselves and they handle everyday situations with ease, but at the same time this independence causes them many insecurities and the best way to know that everything is going well is to breastfeed, and to ask for the breast at all times. .

It usually lasts a few months, until the baby gains more self-confidence, then the demand becomes normalized and reduced.

False crisis: 4 months and 8 months

When the baby is more demanding or wakes up more at night, breastfeeding is usually declared guilty. And this is exactly what happens at 4 and 8 months:

• 4 months: Babies begin to wake up more at night, if they slept for several hours at night in a row, the demand for breast feeding increases and they ask for every two hours at night.
• 8 months: They wake up distressed, crying in the middle of the night, they demand the breast and calm down quickly when breastfeeding.

What's going on?

Neither of these two are related to milk production or breastfeeding, in fact, the breast serves to help the baby overcome the distressing moments it experiences.

At 4 months, babies incorporate sleep phases that they did not have at birth. This causes their awakenings to increase as they remain in a light sleep stage for longer. This process is confused with hunger and the mother tends to think that the baby demands more breast for that reason.

At 8 months, babies begin the stage called “separation anxiety” where they begin to understand that they are an independent being from their mother, which causes them terrible discomfort and they believe that they will “lose” her if they lose sight of her. . At night they wake up crying and nervously want to have the breast in their mouth all the time to prevent their mother from disappearing.

Both situations require time and maturation on the part of the baby, stopping breastfeeding or starting supplementation with artificial milk does not solve the problem.

Tips to overcome crises

• Never, under any circumstances, should you force a child to breastfeed or insist too much on him taking the breast, since the result can be quite the opposite and cause genuine rejection where until then there was only a temporary crisis.
• When a child is in crisis, it can be very useful to breastfeed in the dark and in silence, since the fewer external stimuli there are, the calmer the feeding will be.
• Don't wait until your baby is crying to put him to the breast, as his anxiety may turn into despair by then.
• Patience a lot of patience. As it has arrived, the crisis will go away.”

I recommend that you take these dates into account and even plan your outings, in my case they happened exactly on the dates mentioned above. So I planned in advance not to go out and stay home physically and emotionally prepared to receive the crisis.

I made my husband share this information so that he would also be informed and in addition to assisting me, we were both calm knowing that it was a normal and natural process so there was no insistence or pressure to suggest complementary feeding.

Be sure to share it with every new mom, no matter what number of children it is, many women do not know this information. I hope with all my heart it has been useful to you.