Increasing Breast Milk

When breastfeeding, easily one of the biggest concerns is increasing breast milk supply. There are many things you can do to boost your breast milk supply, and different moms have varying success with these methods. It's a good idea to try a few until you find what works best to boost your breast milk supply.

• Pump and breastfeed often. If you want more milk, your body needs to get the message. One of the most universally effective ways of doing that is by demanding more milk. You can do this a couple ways. Right after a nursing, pump for 10-20 minutes. You can also wait about halfway between nursing sessions and pump. You should continue to pump even if you aren't producing milk, as that is precisely the way to tell your body to produce more.
• Have a breastfeeding marathon?. This is a challenging way to boost milk, but this is the most natural method. If you are not producing enough milk, don't supplement breastfeeding with formula?. For a couple days, have support of your husband, a family member or a friend, and just keep on nursing. Babies nursing are the most effective at getting milk, and this will tell your body to produce more.
• Drink lots of water. In order to produce milk, you want to be well hydrated.
• Try taking one of the well-known herbs to boost breast milk supply?. Fenugreek is a popular choice. You can also find herbal teas for breastfeeding moms?.
• Experiment with your diet. There are many foods that boost breast milk supply?, such as malt (like that found in Ovaltine) and oatmeal.
• Relax to boost breast milk supply. This can become a nasty and vicious circle. The more stressed you are, the less milk you produce, which causes you to be more stressed. Do whatever you can to break that cycle. Take yoga, meditate, get a massage. Put less pressure on yourself to breastfeed in general, and you will probably find you produce more. Maybe you can't exclusively breastfeed today, but stop killing yourself over that fact and just keep trying day by day. Remind yourself that every drop of breast milk you provide is a good thing. As a result, you'll find yourself producing more drops.
• Watch the baby, not the clock. Your baby should end the feeding session.
• Drink water to thirst and avoid caffeinated, bubbly drinks.
• Offer both breasts in each session. Allow baby to stay at the first breast as long as he is actively sucking and swallowing. Offer the second breast when baby slows down or stops. "Finish the first breast first," is a good general rule, so your baby gets plenty of hind milk.
• Try "switch nursing", switching breasts two or three times during each feeding. This method works great for sleepy babies.
• Be sure baby is latched on and positioned correctly at the breast. Have a La Leche League leader check your technique.
• All of baby's sucking (feeding or for comfort) should be at the breast. Stop using pacifiers until you resolve the problem. If you are using a breast pump, you can give the breast milk by dropper, spoon, foley cup, or with a nursing supplementer.