Small Milk Storage Capacity

If you have a small breast milk storage capacity, it is no reason to worry that you may not be able to supply enough nutrition for your child.  You will have no trouble providing all the needed nutrition for your child but it will be on a different rhythm than mothers having a larger capacity.

One breast or two – Mothers with a smaller breast milk storage capacity will find that their baby will most often nurse from both breasts during feedings.

Number off feedings per day - Smaller breast milk storage capacity has a profound impact on the number of feedings your child will want during the day.  Your child will want to nurse more frequently as they are not able to take in as much breast milk.  Becareful not to “drop” feedings during the first six months.  Your child’s nutrition intake may actually decrease with each dropped feeding becauseyour child is not consuming large quantities of milk during each breastfeeding session and so nurses more frequently to compensate.  Another concern abo0ut dropping feedins is that your milk supply may decrease as a result due to your baby not consuming as much as you are producing.

Effect on sleeping patterns – a smaller breast milk storage capacity will usually mean that you will continue more frequent feedings during the night.  This is a perfectly normal situation as your baby is working to take in enough nutrition to continue healthy growth and development.

The size of your breast does not always correspond to the amount of breast milk you can store. A woman with smaller breasts can store more milk than a woman having physically larger breasts.

Continue to feed your child as long as they indicate they are hungry.  Your baby may nurse more frequently but this is just fine as long as they are healthy and growing.