Breast milk is perfectly designed for your baby. Even from the very beginning, your body will provide everything your baby needs, starting with colostrum.
To you and I, the tiny amounts of colostrum seem far too little to satisfy the needs of a new baby. However, the composition and volume are perfectly suited to your baby’s needs and will begin to change as your baby’s needs change.
Why should your baby have tiny droplets of colostrum rather than a full bottle of formula after birth?
Here are three reasons to consider
- Your baby has a tiny tummy.
As adults we forget how small a baby’s tummy is. Our idea of what a ‘good size feed is’ is often a lot more than our baby needs. When your baby is born his stomach capacity is only 4ml – 7ml, about the size of a marble or hazelnut. It is helpful to bear this in mind in when you first start nursing your little one. - Colostrum is perfectly designed to meet your baby’s needs.
Even just a tiny amount of colostrum is packed with everything your baby needs and is designed with your baby’s anatomy in mind. It is so concentrate and packed with goodness that your baby will receive anti-infective properties, growth promoting components, enzymes designed for an immature needed for digestion and so much more in a feed of only 2ml -20ml in the early days. - Your baby’s systems are still very new and immature.
Your baby’s digestive system and kidneys aren’t designed or ready to cope with large volumes of fluid until later on. For the first three days of your baby’s life, he may only need between 2ml – 30ml at each feed and this is in line with the growth of his tummy capacity.
Mother’s milk is perfect for your baby. It changes in volume and composition as your baby grows to meet your baby’s growing needs. As your milk is so bio-available and readily absorbed, you will find that even small feeds satisfy your baby’s nutritional needs.
