The Easy Way is to Follow Your Baby’s Cues

In many ways , this finish-the-first-breast-first approach makes breastfeeding blissfully simple. You don’t need a clock. You don’t need to worry about your milk’s fat content. Just leave your baby on the first breast until she either pops off on her own and seems finished on that side or falls asleep and comes off. Then change her diaper to see if this extra stimulation makes her interested in taking the other side. (Don’t plan to change her right before a feeding, when she’s frantic. No doubt by the time she finishes the first breast, it will be good to change her anyway.)

If she wakes and is interested in taking the other breast, go ahead and give it. If not, that’s fine, too. Once your milk increases on the third or fourth day, most babies take one breast at some feedings and both breasts at others.

This strategy relies on your baby’s ability to tell you what she needs. As with us adults, some babies are fast eaters and some are slow eaters. So a clock will never tell you when your baby is done. Only your baby knows for sure when the flow on one breast has slowed down to the point where she is ready for the other side. Only she knows when she’s had the right amount of milk for that feeding.

And only your baby knows when she’s had just the right mix of the thinner foremilk and the fatter hindmilk. You have no way of knowing, and thankfully, this is one thing you don’t need to know. Your baby gets to decide-which is the first step toward healthy eating habits.

From Breastfeeding Made Simple, Mohrbacher and Kendall-Tackett, 2010.