The color of breast milk is usually yellow, white, clear, cream, tan, or blue-tinged. However, at some point during your breastfeeding experience, you may be surprised to find that your breast milk can be other colors as well. You may notice that the color of your breast milk changes over time.
"There is a wide range of normal when it comes to color for breast milk," says Hali Shields, a certified birth and postpartum doula, national board-certified health and wellness coach, and certified lactation education counselor. "Blueish, yellow, cream, orange are all normal and safe for baby."
Colostrum is typically yellowish and mature breastmilk is typically bluish-white. However, there is a wide range of normal. Sometimes your breastmilk may change colour because of your diet, often from food dyes in foods or drinks.
Is watery breast milk good for your baby? In a word, yes. Both fatty milk and watery/less fatty milk are good for your baby, and it's important that your baby gets both. (Think about when you're eating a meal – most of the time, you want both substance to fill you up and a drink to stay hydrated.
The longer the time between feeds, the more diluted the leftover milk becomes. This 'watery' milk has a higher lactose content and less fat than the milk stored in the milk-making cells higher up in your breast. You can't tell how much fat your baby has received from the length of a feed.
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.
The Basics
To ensure you're getting enough calories, focus on nutritionally dense foods that have lots of vitamins and minerals. Focus on meals that contain high quality protein, healthy fats and fiber-rich complex carbs like whole grains, fruits and vegetables.
Your body is always making milk. That means there's no need to wait for the supply to “replenish” between feedings. In fact, waiting a long time between feeding your baby can actually reduce your milk supply. That's because your body does an amazing job of producing the right amount of milk to keep your baby happy.
This often occurs when someone hasn't fed for a longer than usual period (more than 3 hours) from the beginning of the last feed. This can cause a clear or blue color to breast milk. If your milk is coming out clear, try gentle but dynamic breast massage, and moderate warm compresses to increase circulation.
When it comes to feeding a baby, human milk is designed for human babies. As such, a mother cannot make poor quality breastmilk, especially if the alternative is milk from another species.
Often referred to as liquid gold, colostrum is rich in antibodies and beta-carotene, which gives it that yellowish-orange color. Your breast milk will also take on a yellowish hue at the end of a feed when your fattiest milk is delivered.
Aim to spend 15 to 20 minutes hooked up to the pump to net a good amount of breast milk (some women will need 30 minutes or more with the pump, especially in the early days). Pump until the milk starts slowing down and your breasts feel well-drained. Be sure to clean the breast flanges after every use.
Try not to go longer than about six hours without pumping if baby is eating during that time. That means, don't skip more than one breastfeeding without pumping. Note: If baby is sleeping longer stretches at night, you should be sleeping those stretches, too.
Pumping more often can help stimulate breasts to produce more milk. Moms can try pumping both breasts for 15 minutes every two hours for 48-72 hours. Then moms can return to their normal pumping routine. Pumping for longer than 30 minutes may not be beneficial.
However, if you are following the schedule and no milk is coming, keep going. This is an essential step in signaling to your body to create more milk. While some breastfeeding parents see a difference in just a day or two, you may find it takes several days or a week to see a significant increase in breast milk supply.
The CDC and most breast pump manufacturers recommend cleaning pump parts thoroughly after every use to help protect babies from germs.
By pumping before you breastfeed, you will remove some of the foremilk and your baby will get more of the high-calorie, high-fat hindmilk. However, if your breast milk supply is low, you should not pump before you breastfeed to try to give your baby more hindmilk.
By the time your baby is six weeks old or so, your baby will be drinking between 650 ml and 1000 ml, perhaps more. So you will likely need to drink at least that much more each day. But you do not need to drink so much water that you are uncomfortable. Excess fluid intake does not improve milk supply.