Drops of Hope Lactation & Wellness Consulting

09/12/2025

😂😂

09/12/2025

If your baby isn’t growing well on breast milk alone, it’s not because your milk is missing nutrients. Breast milk is designed to be complete nutrition for babies. It’s the gold standard. 💛

When we see slower weight gain, the issue is usually volume, not quality. Babies may not be getting enough ounces because of things like:
⏳ Limiting time at the breast: cutting feeds short can mean baby doesn’t get enough. 15 minutes a side can limit some from getting a full feeding
📅 Strict schedules: bodies don’t run on timers, and babies especially need flexibility. Babies want to eat every 1, 2, or 3 hours and not in perfect increments. They cluster feed more often during growth spurts as well
🔄 Eat/play/sleep routines: these can unintentionally space feeds too far apart. Most babies eat a breastfeeding meal when they wake up, play and socialize, and breastfeed a snack before going down to nap
🌙Sleep training or skipping night feeds: some babies still need those calories overnight. Night feedings account for 20% or more of breastfeeding baby’s total calorie intake through the first birthday! Over 80% or babies wake to feed!!

👉 The takeaway: breast milk doesn’t come in “skinny” or “fatty.” If baby needs more growth, we look at how often and how much milk they’re actually getting, not whether your milk is “good enough.”

Your milk is enough. 💪 Sometimes babies just need more access to it.

09/05/2025

09/05/2025

09/04/2025

This!

Breastfeeding >>> formula marketing lies

09/03/2025

This works on me—my melting spot in labor. Also works to help my kids fall asleep too!

09/03/2025

Love this

08/27/2025

Great tips!

08/22/2025

All babies lose some weight in the first 24 hours. If you received IV fluids during labour, your baby may lose even more, not because of feeding, but because the fluids make the birth weight look higher than it really is.

That’s why the 24-hour weight is the most accurate starting point for tracking growth.

Researchers in Canada found that using the 24-hour weight instead of the birth weight helped more babies stay exclusively breastfed in their first few days of life.

Growing well = getting enough milk. ❤️

08/20/2025

We know the composition of colostrum (the first milk) differs when babies are born term or preterm. But did you know it also differs among term babies who are born small for gestational age (SGA), large for gestational age (LGA), and appropriate for gestational age? Download this study free here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40583475/

08/18/2025

This is one of those practices that just won’t seem to go away. Putting rice cereal or oatmeal in a baby’s bottle is still recommended by some pediatricians today, even though we have decades of research showing it’s unnecessary at best and harmful at worst.

In the 1950s and 60s, formula companies and doctors began pushing solids earlier and earlier. Parents were told babies would “sleep longer” if cereal was added to bottles. It was marketed as modern and convenient. But the truth is, this was industry-driven, not evidence-based. That advice has lingered for generations, and too many parents still hear it.

Here’s what the science tells us:

🌾 Choking Risk
Thickened bottles change the flow of milk. Babies aren’t developmentally ready to coordinate swallowing thicker textures until about 6 months. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns that this increases the risk of choking and aspiration (milk going into the lungs).

🌾 Digestive System Immaturity
A baby’s gut is not ready for grains before 4–6 months. Introducing solids too early has been linked to higher risk of allergies, obesity, and gastrointestinal distress. Their tiny digestive system needs breastmilk or formula only.

🌾 Obesity and Overfeeding
Adding cereal to bottles increases calorie intake without giving babies the opportunity to regulate their own hunger cues. A study in Pediatrics (2011) showed that introducing solids before 4 months more than doubled the risk of obesity by age 3.

🌾 No Evidence It Improves Sleep
Multiple studies, including one from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (2015), show that cereal in bottles does not actually help babies sleep longer. Sleep development is neurological, not nutritional.

When a pediatrician today still tells parents to “just add cereal to the bottle,” it should raise a red flag. That advice is outdated and not aligned with current recommendations from the AAP, WHO, or CDC.

If your doctor is pushing it, it’s time to look for one who is committed to evidence-based, modern care.