When will I start producing breast milk?

During the latter stages of pregnancy, it's a good idea to start thinking about how you might like to feed your baby. Breastfeeding is ideal because it contains the perfect nutrients and antibodies your baby needs right from the start.

From around six months of pregnancy, your breasts produce a substance called colostrum, which is the early milk your body makes that is super-rich in proteins and antibodies, ready for your baby’s first drink. This milk aids the passing of meconium (the sticky, black stools that your baby expels in his first few days of life).

According to the National Childbirth Trust, feeding your baby colostrum in those early days will help your baby to avoid jaundice, as colostrum helps him to expel bilirubin (an orange pigment) out of his bowels. Colostrum is slightly yellowish in appearance and is crucial for passing on valuable nutrients and antibodies that will help kick start your baby’s immune system. This milk only lasts for three or four days after your baby is born (and there are not huge amounts so feeds will be shorter in these early days) before your full milk comes in.

It is very important to get good support at this early stage. The main reason that breastfeeding does not go well, or is abandoned, is due to bad positioning at the breast (causing chafed sore nipples, mastitis and frustration for both parties) and a lack of good support from the people who could make a real difference at this stage, i.e; the midwives and carers. If you can make it work now, your baby and you will both feel the benefits later on. See How do I breastfeed correctly?

After the colostrum has been used up, and your milk comes in – you will know because your breasts will become bigger and fuller - there are two different types of milk that your baby will be drinking. The first is called the fore milk. This is the milk that the baby drinks before receiving the benefits of the hind milk. Fore milk is thirst-quenching and more diluted than the hind milk which is thicker, full of calories and the stuff that makes your baby really grow and develop. This means that once breastfeeding is established you will need to swap breasts for your baby to feed on in order that your baby receives as much hind milk as possible.

It is important once your milk does come in that your breasts are regularly emptied in order to stimulate and ensure a good production of milk. Your baby will probably need to take anything from six to nine feeds daily at first; this will mean feeding him around every three to four hours. If he is feeding more than this, you will both become very tired and you should try to make him take bigger feeds so that he needs to be fed less frequently. See How often should I feed?

The more you feed, the higher your prolactin levels will be. The higher your prolactin levels are, the more milk you will produce. If you let your baby decide when he needs a milk feed, your body will work out how much milk is going to be enough for him. You will not run out of milk, rest assured.

Human breast milk does look different to other types of animal milk that are available to buy. This is perfectly normal so do not be surprised if its appearance is different to how you expected it to look.

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