Medical tests and treatment

The first milk that your body produces is called colostrum. This concentrated form of human milk is designed to get the baby's digestive system working well. It lines the gut allowing other organs to get used to their new functions. For example-the kidneys of the newborn baby have not been use to handling large volumes of fluid, so dealing with the relatively small volume of colostrum enables the kidneys to gradually mature, ready to cope with the large volumes of breast milk which will follow in a few days.

Colostrum is high in protein, so it satisfies your baby's hunger. It is rich in antibodies which help protect your baby against bacterial, viral and parasitic infections. 

Weight gain patterns-
Each exclusively breast fed baby has an individual pattern of weight gain. The fat content of the hind-milk increases as the intervals between feeds decreases. A consistent pattern of 8-12 effective breast feeds every 24 hours will produce noticeable weight gains. Therefore many breast fed babies gain weight rapidly, often doubling or tripling their birthweight in the first 4-5 months of their lives. After this time, weight gain (and the frequency of breast feeding) will often slow markedly as breast fed babies have lower energy requirements for growth maintenance than babies who are fed infant formula.