How do you know when your breast is 'empty'?

[Beckibee]

I keep hearing from midwives/CHNs etc about feeding on one-side until your breast is 'empty' before moving onto the other breast in a feed....

How do you know when your breast is 'empty'? I know that sounds like a funny question but I have no idea. I tend to feed Maddy until she stops suckling or goes off to sleep, then I change her and attempt to put her on the other breast.

[Fenella]

I don't think it's a funny question; it can be really hard to tell! For me, I figure if Tamsin is sucking but not swallowing then it's probably empty. I find my breast goes really soft too.

[morv]

It isn't a silly question, you have never done this before. In the early days I wanted see through breasts so I could know if I was empty. I was even a bit jealous of the girls who bottlefed because they knew exactly what their baby had drunk.

You are never completely empty but you do have a lot less milk which you can tell from having soft breasts. As you suspected, your baby knows when it has had enough. She will stop eating when you are empty.

I always found watching for the swallowing was difficult. I couldn't tell if she was or not.

[Alan]

Hi Beckibee

You can not tell if your breast is empty apart from your baby stops sucking. But you dont worry about that, what you are doing now is what I advise mum's to do.