New babies can be hard, and things can become even more stressful when it comes to how to keep your infant happy and well fed.

Lactation consultant Katie Mugan from nursingmama.ie joined Lunchtime Live to give her professional advice to those struggling with breastfeeding.

One listener asked why newborns were so attached to the breast at night, and whether her baby's late appetite could be a cause of concern.

Ms Mugan said there is a number of reasons why babies might seem hungrier at night.

“I suppose Prolactin levels are highest between the hours of 12 and five, so it is very common that babies will go back, and milk supply can be higher at this time,” she said.

“I think a lot of the time as well that we’re kind of fatigued ourselves.

“During the day, we’ll probably sit up, we’ll watch the baby, the baby will feed really well, we’re a bit more conscious of what’s going on, we stimulate a lot more – but at night, we’re just so fatigued that we’ll generally let them feed away.

“They can kind of snooze on and off, and that leads to really long, prolonged feeds – it's very normal.”

Mother Care. Unrecognizable mom holding newborn baby on her lap, Alamy.

Another listener asked why there weren’t separate weight goals for breast-fed babies and formula-fed babies.

The listener said that with her first child, she had been told she was hitting all the right breast-feeding goals, but trying to constantly keep her baby in line with certain weight targets caused her so much stress that she switched to formula.

“Weight is a huge, contentious issue,” Ms Mugan said.

“Here in Ireland, we use the WHO UK percentile charts, and they are actually based on the standard of a breast fed infant.

“I think the problem with a lot of weight issues is that when we plot the baby on these centiles, although they’re gaining very well, they can come across the centile and maybe move down slightly.

“So, it can be down to the clinicians not educating parents, and they can nearly frighten or cause concern when there’s no concern present.”

According to Ms Mugan, your baby should be gaining at least 150 grams a week, and anything under that was cause for concern.

Solid foods

One mother said she was starting her six-month-old on solid foods, and wondered if there was a routine she should follow for how to reduce breastfeeds.

“No, you don’t need to do anything at all,” Ms Mugan said.

“Once solids come into play, the baby will dictate – he or she may drop a feed themselves naturally, they may space out their feeds, or they may have the same number of feeds but reduce the timing.

“We let the baby lead the way, it’s not up to us to drop.”

For more advice, you can listen back to the segment here:

Featured image: Mother breast-feeding baby girl