Breastmilk Supply

Breast Milk Production

The milk production in the breasts work on the principal of supply and demand. The more breast milk your baby consumes, the more your body will need to make.

When Baby goes through a growth spurt and starts a feeding frenzy, within hours your body will produce more milk. If baby misses a feed due to your absence or beginning the weaning process, your milk supply will drop off.

Apart form the engorgement phase (within the first 72 hours of birth)when your milk comes in, everything settles down to the needs and demands of your infant. However you may have the following concerns about your milk supply.

Low Supply of Breast Milk

Almost all mothers who breast feed go through a period of questioning whether or not their supply of milk is adequate. Some mothers simply aren’t able to produce enough milk to meet the needs of her baby.

According to many experts, true insufficiencies of milk are very rare. A lot of women think their milk supply is low when it actually isn’t. Thinking this can happen if you lose the feeling of fullness in your breasts or if the milk stops leaking from your nipples.

Babies that go through growth spurts may want more milk than usual, and these more frequent feedings may leave your breasts less than full before your body adjusts to the increase of demand.

Causes

A mother’s milk supply may diminish for a brief period of time if she isn’t feeding her baby often enough due to nipple pain, or a poor latch on technique. Illnesses or birth control pills containing oestrogens may also affect the production of milk.

Treatment

The best way to handle a low supply of breast milk is through a doctor’s care. You should make sure that your baby gets frequent feedings and that nothing is wrong with your nipples or your milk ducts. Doctors are the best ones to ask, as they can run tests to see if everything is fine within your body.

A low supply of breast milk can affect your baby, although it’s more of a mental or emotional condition than anything else.

If your baby isn’t gaining any weight or if he is losing weight, you should call a doctor immediately. Improved techniques for breast feeding will normally help, although in some cases weight gain or weight loss can indicate a serious concern.

In most cases, you can still nurse with a temporary decrease in milk supply, although frequent breast feeding is the key to boosting your production of milk.

Poor Milk Supply

Almost all women don’t have a problem with producing enough milk to breast feed.

The ideal way to make sure that your baby is getting enough milk is to be sure that he’s well positioned, attached to the breast, and feed him as often as he gets hungry.

Some mothers that are breast feeding will stop before they want to, simply because they don’t think they have enough breast milk.

There are signs that might make you believe your baby isn’t getting enough milk.If your baby seems hungry or unsettled after feeding, or if he wants to feed often with short pauses between feedings, you may think he isn’t getting enough milk - which are oftentimes not the case.

There are however, two reliable signs that let you know your baby isn’t getting enough milk.

If your baby has poor or really slow weight gain, or is passing small amounts of concentrated urine, he’s not getting enough milk.

All babies will lose weight within the first few days after birth. Babies are born with supplies of fat and fluids, which will help them, keep going for the first several days. Once your baby regains birth weight, he should begin so. To get back to their birth weight, it normally takes a few weeks.

If the weight gain for your baby seems to be slow, don’t hesitate to ask your doctor or nurse to observe you breast feeding. This way, they can make sure that your technique is right and if they think your baby is breast feeding often enough.

To help you with your breast feeding, here are some ways that you can increase your supply of milk:

Be sure that your baby is positioned correctly and attached to your breast.
Let your baby feed for as long and often as he wants.
If you feel that your baby isn’t breastfeeding enough, offer him more breast feeds.
During each breast feed, make sure you feed from both breasts.
If your baby has been using a dummy (pacifier), make sure you stop him.
Some babies may be sleepy and reluctant to feed, which may be the cause of problems with milk supply.

You can also use breast compression to encourage your baby to take more milk.