Week Seven
Breastfeeding mothers might notice a significant shift in how their breasts produce milk over the coming weeks.
In the first weeks of breastfeeding, breasts fill with milk between feeds, becoming fuller and firmer until the release of the next feed, when this filling cycle begins again. This stage of lactation probably has some protective factor while breastfeeding is being established in the early weeks, protecting the supply while your baby masters effective attachment and removal of milk.
Between 6-12 weeks, this system transitions into an “on demand” process where the complex network of glandular tissue within the breasts produces the milk exactly as the baby requires it. Your breasts will no longer feel hard and full as time passes after a feed. How you experience the let-down reflex might also change: some people who hadn’t felt it previously might start to feel sensations in the breast while other experience less sensory signs.
If you have been occasionally pumping milk to build a freezer stash, you will probably notice a significant drop in volume. This is normal and to be expected. Mothers with an over-supply might still pump significant volumes of excess milk but the typical breast will release around 20-50ml. Its time to move to the Piggy Bank Method of expressing to store milk just in case or for a planned separation from your baby.
This change is a natural shift in hormones as you come out of the immediate postnatal period. Softer breasts and less milk available to express are NOT indicators of low milk supply and are NOT cause for concern.
Unfortunately the timing of this change coincides with some typical developmental surges in babies. Typical infant crying tends to peak around 6-12 weeks. “Colic” is also most common around this stage and babies often experience growth spurts and significant brain development around now. Night feeding will increase and babies often need more support to settle into sleep during the day and night. Smiling typically appears around 6 weeks, with laughing following around 3-4 months. This is the age your baby will begin making intentional sounds rather than the reflexive noises of the early weeks. There are Wonder Weeks around 5 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks, with babies heightened sensitivity to stimulus like touch, sight and sound appearing. Your baby is halfway through the 4th Trimester and moving out of that fetal-like state. The outside world is intruding and they are adjusting.
