Breastfeeding: 2 questions

[saf]

Please advise how you know that the breast has been fully emptied?? I can never tell ;o(

Also how do you know your baby has reached the hind milk??? is this by timing how much the baby is drinking??

[momofclaire]

When I was breastfeeding I would know it was fairly empty when I couldn't manually extract any milk. 
From what I understand your body will ensure that the baby is getting hind milk.  For instance...if you switch sides your body will know to only produce enough of the three types of milk so that the baby will get to the hind milk at each breast each time.  If you only feed on one side it will adjust.  I am sure there is someone who is more of an expert than I.  I was told this info by a le leche person when I was bf.

[Samuel's mum]

The feed is finished when baby's swallowing has stopped and hopefully they will break off themselves naturally satisfied. Some babies will stay on to comfort suck but you can still tell that they have stopped swallowing as their sucking becomes lighter. Breasts can go on producing a teeny trickle of milk indefinitely (milk is made during a feed) so they might not technically ever 'empty'.

It's best not to 'time' a feed to judge its effectiveness or whether hindmilk has been reached. In the 1970s mothers were told that feeds had to last a specific time and this meant some babies were broken off before the hindmilk and others had long finished and anxious mums were forcing unhappy babies back to the breast.

The move from foremilk to hindmilk is a gradual transition but you can sense the baby's swallowing slow down as it reaches the thicker milk. The sucking becomes quite quick to stimulate letdown then becomes steadier as they begin swallowing and then slows down even more for hindmilk. As I say ideally the baby should break off themselves to end a feed.