Are you wondering why you are not producing enough breast milk for your little baby? And you are wondering how to increase breast milk supply fast so that your baby can feed well? Well, you are not alone. Most women pass through the same phase.
Breastfeeding gives lots of benefits for both you and your baby. All the nutrients that your baby needs to grow well is found in breast milk. Breast milk also provides antibodies to help defend against infection, protects from allergies, asthma, and obesity. Breastfeeding protects your baby from childhood cancer and reduces your risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Breastfeeding can also help you shed pregnancy weight more rapidly. It can also reduce stress and boost your mood.
But breastfeeding doesn’t always come easy just as creating enough breast milk can be a big problem for most women. The most common causes of a low supply of breast milk are inadequate food, low fluid intake, fatigue, high-stress levels, and feeding the baby too infrequently or for only short periods of time.
Research has shown that about 75 percent of new mothers start breastfeeding their babies, but lots of women stop breastfeeding either partially or completely within the first few months. One of the most common reasons for this is because of insufficient milk production. If you do need to increase your breast milk supply fast, there are ways to do it.
Read on to the end to learn how to increase breast milk supply fast using several effective methods and some practices mothers have sworn by for ages.
How To Increase Breast Milk Supply Fast
1. Drink Lots Of Water:
Being dehydrated will make you produce very little or no breast milk. After having a baby, you will most of the time get busy and distracted with your new baby, that is why it is adviced to always have bottles of water stashed roundabout with you. Drinking enough water helps you produce enough breast milk. You can also, try to eat foods that are naturally rich in water, such as fruits and vegetables like cucumber, oranges, watermelon, tomatoes and so much more.
2. Breastfeed Very Often:
When your baby is sucking your breast, it releases hormones that trigger your breasts to produce milk. The let-down reflex is when muscles in your breasts contract and move the milk through the ducts, and it happens shortly after your baby starts breastfeeding. The more you breastfeed, the more milk your breasts will produce. Make sure to breastfeed more often and let your baby decide when to stop feeding.
Try as much as you can to breastfeed your new baby as often as 8 to 12 times a day to help establish and maintain milk production. The more your baby sucks the more your body produces more milk.
3. Massage Your Breast While Nursing or Pumping:
Massaging your breast can help to boost the volume and fat content of your milk. When your baby is “comfort-sucking” (calming and soothing themselves more than drinking), massage your breast near the chest and then a little further toward the nipple, and wait for your baby to take a couple of swallows. Then massage another area of the same breast, and wait for more swallows. Keep repeating the same process.
4. Eat a Healthy Anti-Inflammatory Diet:
Go for a diet plan that is heavy on fruits and vegetables, whole grains like brown rice, foods rich in omega-3s like salmon and flaxseeds, and vegetable proteins. Aim for about 2,500 calories per day for high milk production. Eat lots of oatmeal, because it boosts breast milk supply so much.
5. Pump Between Feedings:
If you pump between feedings, it can also help you increase milk production. Essentially, for 3-4 days in a row, you pump after every nursing session for 10-20 minutes. This will totally empty your breasts and send signals to your body to make more milk. If you’re already exclusively pumping, you can achieve this by pumping more frequently and for longer days back to back. Warming your breasts before pumping can help make you more comfortable and pump much easier. Try pumping whenever you have milk left over after a feeding, and if your baby has missed a feeding.
6. Make Lactation Cookies:
Lactation cookies contain galactogogues (substances that help increase milk production). Common galactogogues in lactation cookies include oats, flax seed, and brewer’s yeast.Try to incorporate foods that increase milk supply into your diet. There are a numerous lactation cookie recipes, but the main key to boosting your milk production is to include galactagogues, or milk-stimulating foods, like brewer’s yeast, wheat germ, flax seed meal and whole oats or you can just buy pre-made cookies.
7. Breastfeed From Both Sides Of The Breast:
Make sure your baby feed from both sides of the breasts at each feeding. Let your baby feed from the first breast until they slow down or stop feeding before offering the second breast. The stimulation of having both breasts breastfed from can help increase milk production. Pumping milk from both breasts simultaneously has also increased milk production and resulted in a higher fat content in the milk.
Related: 17 Healthy Food For Breastfeeding Mom
8. Get More Rest And Sleep Time:
Lack of sleep is really rough on your milk production. A good night’s sleep or a great nap when the baby is sleeping can do wonders for your milk supply. Taking care of a newborn can be very time-consuming and exhausting. When you are busy throughout the day, your body gets worn out. Making sure you are as rested as possible can help your body operate at its optimum and can help boost milk production.
9. Eat and Drink More:
No matter how busy you get, find time to eat enough and also drink throughout the day as a breastfeeding mother. Try to carry with you a snack and water bottle everywhere so that you can constantly be reminded to keep eating and drinking.
10. Drink Premama Lactation Support Mix:
Another way to increase breast milk supply fast is by taking premama’s lactation supplement drink mix every day to help you boost your milk supply. This premama lactation drink gives natural lactation support because it is made with fennel seed, fenugreek and blessed thistle to help boost milk production. It includes key lactation vitamins like folic acid, vitamin D3 and calcium for added breast milk nutrition.
11. Always Ask For Help:
Ask family and friends for help with household duties so that you can focus on feeding your baby and getting more rest time.
Some Reasons For A Low Breast Milk Supply?
There are lots of different reasons why some women have a low breast milk supply. Some of the reasons are:
- Emotional factors: Anxiety, stress, and even embarrassment can interfere with breast milk production and cause you to produce less milk. Creating a private and relaxing environment for breastfeeding and making the experience enjoyable and free of stress can help increase breast milk production.
- Delays in breastfeeding after delivery or separations of mother and baby such as if the baby needs to be admitted to the Intensive care unit or if the mother is unwell after delivery.
- If the mother is unwell due to problems like mastitis, retained placental tissue or large blood loss after the baby is born.
- Medical conditions: Some medical conditions may interfere with milk production. These conditions are pregnancy-induced high blood pressure, diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
- Poor attachment to the breast, which can be caused by flat or inverted nipples, a tongue or lip tie, a sleepy baby because of jaundice, or difficult or prolonged delivery.
- Certain medications: Medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, such as sinus and allergy medications, and certain types of hormonal birth control may lower breast milk production.
- Scheduled or timed feeding, rather than feeding baby on demand.
- Smoking and Alcohol: Smoking and drinking of alcoholic drinks can lower your milk production.
- Taking an oral contraceptive pill that contains oestrogen.
- Formula feeding as well as breastfeeding.
- Previous breast surgery: Not having enough glandular tissue because of breast surgery, such as breast reduction, cyst removal, or mastectomy, can interfere with lactation. Breast surgery and nipple piercings can damage the nerves that are connected to breast milk production.
- Skipping breastfeeds and offering a supplement formula feed but not expressing breast milk at that time to ensure that supply continues to meet baby’s demand.
- Long-term use of dummies or nipple shields.
Related: 8 Bad Breastfeeding Habits That Hurts Your Baby
Conclusion
Most women go through a shortage of breast milk, especially after delivery. Eating healthy foods like oatmeals, and ogi are very good to help boost your breast milk supply. Taking lots of water, sleeping, and pumping, are some of the ways on how to increase breast milk supply fast.
