Can You Overfeed a Breastfed Baby?
This is a very common question - especially when mothers are looking at their roly poly babies and all mankind comments on their delicious chunkiness.
First, your chunk-a-licious baby is just fine.
Second, you cannot overfeed a breastfed baby at the breast.
Milk is made on demand. If the baby doesn’t take all of the milk in the breast, it signals to the breast not to make as much. If your baby is a milk hoover, then your breasts will make the milk needed to satiate your little vacuum.
When both Mom and Baby are healthy, regulated, and things are working as they are supposed to with breastfeeding a baby will not overeat at the breast.
It’s ultimately baby’s weight gain that would tell us if there is a concern- although a good IBCLC is always happy to help you assess if you are worried!
If my baby isn’t chunky, are they under-fed?
No. So long as your baby is maintaining their growth curve and gaining weight, that is all you need to watch. Some babies nurse like champions and are lean little string beans.
What if my baby is gaining more weight than average?
This can happen, and when it does we certainly want to have baby checked by a skilled lactation consultant. This is often a case of baby eating to soothe pain unrelated to hunger, or a baby with poor oral skills who is not regulating intake at the breast. A comprehensive evaluation allows us to identify the cause and work to help baby regain the ability to self-regulate at the breast.
What if I have an oversupply?
Your baby will stop eating when your baby is full.
If your baby has milk just gushing out the sides of your breasts, changing the feeding position can help to slow down the flow of milk into your baby’s mouth.
Side-lying, Laid-back, and Koala are all positions to help manage this, as well as unlatching during the initial letdown while letting your milk flow into a collection cup or burp rag if you’re not interested in keeping it.
Baby stomachs are very small - they can’t just say Eff-It and go for that 2nd slice of carrot cake like an adult.
If you still have a significant amount of milk, hand expressing or pumping the remaining amount will help you to create freezer milk for use later. We can also work to down-regulate the supply if you want!
But every time my breastfed baby eats, she is so stuffed she’ll projectile vomit all the milk back up???
That is likely an infant reflux issue related to aerophagia.
With aerophagia, the more air that is swallowed, the more forceful the eventual ejection.
What are some contributing factors to infant aerophagia?
Possible lip or tongue-ties are often the root of this issue. If the baby’s seal isn’t tight around the breast while latching, not only is extra air coming in, but there is inadequate milk transfer. Any human that swallows excessive air while eating is going to have some level of gastrointestinal distress.
A complete oral assessment by a lactation professional who specializes in tongue/lip ties should be your first step for receiving care.
What are the feeding cues when baby is hungry?
Babies will typically eat 8-12 times in 24 hours. Watch for wet diapers to ensure baby is getting enough.
Early Feeding Cues: Early feeding cues should be watched for, and the breast should be offered when your baby is showing these signs. Feeding a baby at this stage is most likely to allow for a calm and successful feed.
Licking lips
Making a smacking or sucking sound
Sticking Tongue Out
Sucking Things Nearby
Rooting (Turning head and opening mouth)
Hands to Mouth
Later Feeding Cues: Later feeding cues means the early cues were missed and now baby is quite hungry. Feeding may be more difficult.
Fidgeting and squirming
Fussing
Final Feeding Cues: Final feeding cues mean the baby is very hungry and is likely to struggle to coordinate themselves to feed effectively. Try to avoid letting it get that far.
Turning Red
Crying
Can I overfeed my bottle fed baby?
It is somewhat possible if you are using too fast of a nipple, but the same principals above also apply to bottle fed babies.
Using a slow flow nipple and a paced bottle feeding position (where the bottle is held more horizontal to the baby’s mouth) will help to mitigate the rush of milk inundating baby’s mouth. Dr. Brown’s Original with Preemie Nipple and Lansinoh Slow Flow Bottles are a good place to start.
Avoid bottle nipples with abrupt changes from a narrow teat flaring to a wide base. Examples would be similar to Tommee Tippee, Comotomo, Mumijumi, and Nanobebe. These may work for some babies, but they pose a high risk of poor latches and feeding challenges for many. Also avoid flat or angled nipples.
Just like with breastfed babies, look for baby’s feeding cues to indicate when your baby is hungry.
