Tips and Tricks for Boosting Breastmilk Production
Breastfeeding is a great way to feed your baby; however, some moms are faced with low milk production or their supply suddenly plummets. Try not to stress yourself out because this could decrease your milk supply even further.
How can I tell if my milk production is decreasing?
- Baby fussing at the breast and pulling away
- Baby seems unsatisfied
- Baby isn't producing enough wet diapers (generally 6-8) a day
- Baby stops eating due to illness
- Milk produced during a pumping session suddenly decreases
If you notice any of these symptoms then you might be suffering from reduced or low milk supply. You can try the following tips and tricks to help boost your milk supply. If these tips and tricks do not help boost your milk production, seek the advice of your health care provider.
Six Ways to Help Increase Your Breast Milk Supply
Feed Your Baby More Frequently - Feeding your baby more often will trigger your body to produce more milk. This is very important in the very beginning, milk production increases as your baby demands more.
Use a Breast Pump - A breast pump can help a mom increase her supply. It's best to pump after a feeding if your working on building up a supply of milk for the freezer. At first, you probably won't pump very much milk since you just fed your baby. However, if you consistently pump after your baby eats, you will notice that your milk supply is slowly increasing. Another tip: to trick your body to produce more milk, pump for an additional five minutes after your milk slows down to a few drops. You won't necessarily see a huge increase in supply but if you keep using this method, you will slowly increase your milk production each day.
Mother's Milk Tea - Drinking mother's milk tea is a natural product that is designed to helps promote healthy lactation and is supposed to help increase milk production. This product hasn't been evaluated by the FDA. I haven't personally used this product; however, after reading a few reviews I noticed that it help some mother's produce more milk after 2 to 3 glasses of tea.
Fenugreek - Taking fenugreek can help mothers produce more milk in as little as 24 to 72 hours. These capsules contain an herb that contains a hormone precursor that helps increase milk supply. Again, I haven't personally used these supplements. I have heard that some mothers complain about the "maple syrup" smell that your body may give off while taking the pills. Once your supply has increased, you can stop taking the pills and maintain your new supply levels.
Oatmeal - Eating oatmeal for breakfast isn't only a quick and easy meal to prepare but it also thought to help boost your milk production.
Lactation Cookies - Who doesn't love to eat cookies? Now you have your chance to eat cookies that are supposed to help boast milk supply.
Try one or a combination of these 6 tips to help increase your milk production.