How nice it is to feel the joy of motherhood when you put your child to your breast. At this moment I want to give the baby warmth, love and care. But, if you are breastfeeding, you need to pay special attention to breast milk. After all, the baby’s health and mood depend on it. If suddenly, after feeding, a new mother notices that her child is crying, capricious and sleeping poorly, it means that the milk is to blame, which the child simply does not get enough of. The main reason is loss of fat content. Why this happens and how to increase the fat content of breast milk - all this and much more will be discussed in the article.
Mother's milk is an important food that influences the development of infants
Breastfeeding your newborn is very important, especially in the first month of life. After all, it is this food that saturates the body with useful vitamins and macroelements, without which it is difficult to imagine proper development. A nursing mother's milk appears due to the synthesis of blood, lymph and water in the body. Human nature is designed in such a way that while a pregnant woman is carrying a baby under her breast, the milk accumulates all the beneficial substances that are needed for feeding and the proper development of the future person, which has a good effect on its benefits and fat content. This composition can be used as the main food for up to 9 months.
All mothers are probably interested in the question: “What kind of milk should be in order for the baby to become healthy, strong and strong?”
The normal calorie content of breast milk is around 280 kJ.
And the nutritional value of the product should be as in this table:
Nutritional value of the product
| Elements found in 100 g of breast milk | Content quantity |
| Calories | 70 kcal |
| Squirrels | 1g |
| Fats | 4.4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 6.9 g |
| Water | 87.5 g |
What determines the quality of breast milk? The properties of this beneficial liquid are influenced by many factors. The most common of them are hormones, heredity, the requirements of the baby’s body, the physiology and psychological health of a woman. Often, among the factors influencing the composition and consistency of the product are the season and time of day. For example, in summer milk is watery because in the heat the child’s body requires more water. At night, such food is characterized by great satiety, which helps the baby sleep sweetly. It acquires a special taste and nutritional value when the baby finishes breastfeeding. That is why it is better for a nursing mother to feed her child with only one breast.
The quality of breast milk is also affected by the nutrition of the nursing mother. Therefore, in order for milk to be truly beneficial, during the lactation period you do not need to exhaust yourself with diets; in an effort to return to its former figure, the child must receive adequate nutrition.
Proper nutrition
Women's doctors claim that proper nutrition promotes better lactation and constantly maintains the desired level of milk fat content. A nursing mother needs to receive 500 kcal more than usual every day. Moreover, what you need to eat is not chocolate and other sweets, but healthy foods. Let's try to figure out in more detail what a nursing mother needs to eat in order to have a lot of milk.
Products that should be in the diet of a breastfeeding mother:
- Broths made from meats such as chicken, rabbit or beef. If you eat hot soups every day, there will be no problems with lactation, and the body will begin to better absorb other foods.
- A nursing mother needs cereals. It can be buckwheat, rice, semolina, millet, arnautka. They are high in calories and promote better milk flow into the mammary glands.
- If the child is breastfed, the woman should definitely drink herbal infusions. For example, chamomile is soothing and does not contribute to the development of an allergic reaction in babies.
- To ensure that there is always a lot of milk, nails and teeth remain strong and white, a nursing mother should eat cottage cheese and yoghurt. But you can’t abuse cow’s milk; you should drink no more than 2 glasses a day.
- Seasonal vegetables and fruits. These are very important products that supply vitamins to the mother’s body, and then during feeding they are passed on to the baby.
Why is the fat content of milk so important?
A nursing mother needs to do everything possible to ensure that her breast milk is rich in fat. Why exactly like this? This is easy to explain: full-fat breast milk fully meets the baby’s needs, promoting its development. A well-fed baby becomes cheerful, mobile and active.
And if breast milk is poorly saturated with fats and other beneficial substances, the baby does not gain weight well. In addition to this, other signs appear that indicate that the milk is low-fat:
- after feeding, the baby cries, thus showing that he is not full;
- When expressing, the milk looks like “water” and often takes on a bluish tint.
Therefore, if the child has not eaten enough and is capricious, then it is necessary to take some measures to increase the fat content of breast milk. But there is no need to rush in this matter. After all, if the percentage of fat in milk is high, then the baby may experience gastrointestinal disorders.
4% fat is considered optimal. Before increasing the fat content of milk, it is advisable to first consult with your pediatrician. Dr. Komarovsky gives very good advice, recommending that mothers focus on drinking liquids (compotes, herbal teas, juices), fruits and vegetables, which are so necessary to improve the quality of breast milk.
Why does a baby need fat milk?
To ensure the normal course of physiological processes in the body, to compensate for energy costs and to grow and develop normally, a newborn child needs 120-130 kilocalories per 1 kg of body weight per day, that is, a 4-kilogram baby should receive 480-520 kcal. By the age of one year, the calorie requirement drops to 100 kcal; a child weighing 10 kg needs 1,000 kcal per day.
- Read: How much should a newborn baby eat?
Breast milk has a calorie content of 70 kcal/100 g. It consists almost entirely of water, carbohydrates account for 7%, fats - 4%, proteins - 1%, and fats, due to their high energy value, provide more calories than proteins and carbohydrates combined. In addition, fats are necessary for the absorption of a number of vitamins, the timely development of the nervous system, and the formation of immunity.
Thus, sufficient fat content in breast milk is a prerequisite for the normal development of the child.
Checking milk for fat content
Before you learn how to make breast milk more filling, you need to check the fat content of the liquid. Every woman's body is structured differently. But, regardless of this, each mother’s breast milk is conventionally divided into two parts: front and back. The former consists of 90% water, while the latter is oilier. First, the baby sucks out the front fluid, thereby quenching thirst, and at the end of feeding, the back fluid, saturating its body with useful substances.
If you need to find out the real picture regarding the fat content of breast milk, then you can do this at home using a special test:
- take a clean transparent test tube or glass, mark a line on the container with a marker (10 cm from the bottom);
- Express the milk into the container up to the mark and set it aside for 6 hours. This time is enough for milk to separate into liquid and fats;
- after 6 hours, take a ruler and use it to measure the thickness of the layer of collected cream. As a rule, 1 mm = 1% fat content. If breast milk has normal fat content, then the figure will be 4%. If this figure is lower, then it needs to be brought back to normal.
It is important to know:
This fat content analysis is not always accurate. In most cases it shows approximate results. This is due to the fact that the composition of breast milk changes during feeding in a nursing mother. Therefore, not even every modern laboratory can fully test milk and find out what its exact fat content is. Therefore, it is worth taking a close look at parameters such as the baby’s weight, mood and well-being.
Knowing what the fat content of breast milk depends on, you can begin to improve its quality. This is done in many ways. But which one should you choose? How to make milk not only nutritious, but also tasty?
The most effective method is a special diet, which we will talk about below.
Diet
In order to bring the fat content of breast milk back to normal, you need to pay special attention to your diet. The female body must receive vitamins, minerals, proteins and many other useful substances. Therefore, nutrition must be correct. Your daily diet should include foods that contain the following:
- carbohydrates (7 g);
- fats (4.2 g);
- proteins (1.3 g).
During the lactation period, a new mother should not constantly go on a diet, nor should she overeat. After all, all this has a bad effect on the nutritional value of breast milk. A woman who is breastfeeding her baby needs to eat portions, preferably in small portions. It is very important that the diet be varied. It is better if it includes all the important substances and elements that support and increase lactation.
What should you eat during the lactation period?
The main reason for low-quality milk is the mother’s body not receiving the necessary substances. That is why it is imperative to eat foods that increase the fat content of breast milk. Many mothers neglect this rule and use absolutely the wrong thing. What foods increase the fat content of breast milk? This biological fluid is saturated with nutritional value and usefulness through the use of:
- sour cream;
- butter;
- milk cream;
- hard cheese;
- fatty fish;
- cauliflower;
- porridge and muesli with milk;
- red meat (pork, lamb, beef);
- sunflower seeds;
- hazelnuts and walnuts.
If you are interested in how to make breast milk fattier and more satisfying, you need your own approach to preparing dishes from the above products. For example, meat and fish dishes can only be stewed, baked or steamed. A mother who wants to increase lactation and fat content should absolutely not eat anything fried or smoked, including sausages. Otherwise, such food will only do harm. The same goes for chicken meat, which can cause allergies.
Cauliflower can also increase the nutritional value of milk. It must be boiled or added to vegetable salad. By the way, it is better to dress salads with sour cream, and not with mayonnaise or sunflower oil, which is absolutely forbidden to do if you want to make breast milk fattier.
If you are still wondering how to improve the fat content of milk, walnuts are just right. They are very useful because they give strength and vigor. But these products often provoke an allergic reaction in a newborn. Therefore, mother needs to eat 3 fruits a day, no more. The same goes for almonds.
Women, not knowing how to increase lactation correctly, often use a spread instead of butter. And this is wrong, because the substitutes do not contain the beneficial substances that are found in natural oil. Therefore, it is better to give your preference to butter. It can be used to season both milk porridges and various soups. Sandwiches made with butter and hard cheese are also perfect for increasing the fat content of milk. This snack is best eaten with green tea with milk or cream.
Also, nursing mothers, wondering what to eat during lactation, probably ask the question: “Can I eat sweets?” Yes, you can, but only in small quantities, otherwise there will be a high probability of flatulence and colic in the baby.
Another method to increase the fat content of breast milk is to eat seeds, both sunflower and pumpkin. It is better to eat them roasted, a small handful every day.
Dairy and fermented milk products, for the production of which cow and goat milk are used, also perfectly increase the fat content of the nutrient liquid. Particular attention should be paid to the consumption of cottage cheese, whole milk, kefir, cream, and sour cream.
How to increase lactation with folk remedies
Herbal remedies - leaves, fruits and seeds of medicinal plants - help to enhance milk production. Here are 5 proven remedies:
- Cocktail with sesame seeds. For it, mix a glass of milk, 2 tbsp. spoons of black sesame, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 0.5 tsp. cinnamon powder. Drink once a day, preferably in the morning.
- Caraway infusion. Rich in iron, calcium and phosphorus, cumin grains accelerate metabolic processes. For infusion 2 tbsp. spoons of seeds are brewed with a glass of boiling water, poured into a thermos and left overnight. The strained infusion is drunk 6 times a day, 2 tbsp. spoons.
- Raspberry leaf tea. Raspberry leaf contains high levels of iron and vitamin C, which accelerate the synthesis of lactogenic hormones. 2 tbsp. spoons of fresh or dry leaves are brewed with a glass of boiling water. Leave for 15 minutes, drink 0.5 cups 3-5 times a day.
- Nut smoothie. It is prepared from 200 g of chopped walnuts and 0.5 liters of boiling milk. The ingredients are combined in a thermos and left for 4 hours. The finished smoothie is filtered through cheesecloth and drunk half an hour before each feeding.
- Fenugreek decoction. The seeds of this plant contain a lot of phytoestrogens that stimulate lactation. To obtain a healing remedy, pour 2 teaspoons of grains into a glass of cold water, leave for 3 hours, then boil for 10 minutes in a water bath. Drink a third of a glass 3 times a day along with seeds.
Common culinary dishes also help improve lactation - chicken soup with barley, beet salad, oatmeal with dried fruits.
Some important tips
In addition to the products necessary to increase the usefulness of biological breast fluid, there are also important nuances regarding how to make breast milk fatty and nutritious:
- if you often put your child to your breast and allow him to suck every drop, then lactation will work like clockwork, and the fat percentage will stabilize;
- in order for the baby to suck the entire breast, including the fatty part, it is necessary to express a little foremilk;
- if you need your breast milk to be full-fat, feed your baby on one breast, and the next time on the other;
- factors that increase the usefulness of milk are proper sleep and peace of mind. It is very important for a nursing mother to sleep at least 8 hours and not succumb to nervous disorders.
As you can see, there are many answers to the question of how to increase the fat content of milk while breastfeeding. The main thing is to monitor your diet, health and emotional state. And then your child will be fed, healthy and happy.
