Have you noticed your pumped breast milk looks a little thin sometimes?  Wondering if it’s okay to feed to your baby or if there’s enough fat in your breast milk?

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Good news, mamas:
Breast milk is watery sometimes, and it’s perfectly normal! (and expected) 

Why do my breasts create watery milk sometimes? 

The fat content in your milk is never static.  And there’s never really a specific time when your body only produces watery milk vs. thicker, creamier milk. 

What happens is your breast milk gradually gets fattier, and thicker throughout your breastfeeding and pumping session.

ABOUT FOREMILK

At the beginning of a nursing/pumping session, the breast milk that flows out first (the foremilk) tends to be more watery. 

Foremilk has less fat and higher levels of lactose (milk sugars).  Sometimes it’s thinner, tinged blue or seems more clear.  This early milk that comes out is super important for your baby because it helps hydrate them and the sugars help fuel their body and give them energy.

ABOUT HINDMILK

As the feeding/pumping progresses, more fat globules dislodge from the breast and start to flow out. 

The milk towards the end a nursing/pumping session is call hind milk. 

Hindmilk is thicker and creamier and gradually increases in fat. 

The breast milk that comes out at the end of a session is also important for your baby because it is good for baby’s weight gain, overall growth, and helps to satiate their appetite and keep them fuller for longer.

What happens if your baby gets too much watery milk

When your baby consumes too much of the watery foremilk and not enough hind milk overtime, they may develop something called lactose overload. (aka foremilk/hindmilk imbalance). 

This happens when the fat content of their feedings get out of balance and they have trouble digesting all the lactose in the foremilk over time.

This may happen if:

• -our baby switches sides too often before they finish one breast completely

• baby is spacing out feedings too long

• you have an oversupply of breast milk

Symptoms of lactose overload:

gassiness; green (foamy) stools; milk digestion issues

How to make sure your baby gets enough of the foremilk and hindmilk

• feed on demand and let your baby decide how to long to feed for

• allow your baby to feed on each breast until full

• empty your breasts regularly

  *As long as your baby is breastfeeding effectively, baby is most likely getting the perfect combination of foremilk and hind milk.

PRO-TIP: 

If you’d like to increase the amount of hind milk your baby gets at each feeding, incorporate breast massage and use this handy little tool.

Is watery breast milk worse than thicker, creamier milk? 

No!

Watery breast milk is absolutely safe (and necessary!) for your baby to drink! 

Breasts do not create two different kinds of milk. 

Breast milk simply transitions throughout a feed. 

Babies need breast milk both at the beginning of a feeding session and at the end of a feeding session.  They’ll get both if you breastfeed on demand and/or pump your milk for long enough.  

The more watery, foremilk helps the baby stay hydrated and the thicker, hind milk  later milk) fills them up and helps keep them satiated.

DID YOU KNOW:

The longer your space out your feeding sessions and the more full your breasts get, the less fat content your breast milk will have.

Why does breast milk appear watery in a pumped bottle?

 The different components in breast milk naturally settle and separate as it sits on the counter or is chilled.

The fat tends to rise to the top while the watery milk settles to the bottom and may look a bit translucent.  This is normal!

How to combine foremilk and hindmilk in pumped breast milk

The best way to combine it is to heat up the milk and gently swirl together. 

DID YOU KNOW:

Breast milk tends to be extra watery first thing in the morning because milk has been sitting in your breasts for awhile as you and your baby sleep at night.

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