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10 Useful Tips To Boost Your Milk Supply While Breastfeeding

Am I making enough milk? This question constantly bothers the mind of most nursing moms. If you too are a nursing mother who is worried about milk production for your baby, read on. This article gives some of the effective tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. Breastfeeding problems or less milk supply can be due to certain underlying conditions, which too need to be detected and addressed to ensure good milk supply.

10 Useful Tips To Boost Your Milk Supply While Breastfeeding

10 Useful Tips To Boost Your Milk Supply While Breastfeeding

Listed below are the 10 useful tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding:

  1. Nurse More

    Breasts function on demand, so more the baby nurses, greater is the amount of milk produced. Actually, the baby is priming the mother’s body to make enough milk to support them after the growth spurt. Frequent nursing is one of the most effective tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. Although it is a challenging task for the mother to devote most of her day to nursing, she should however remember that frequent nursing is good for her baby and her milk supply as well. It is better to avoid supplementing their breast milk with formula during the growth and development of the baby. 

  2. Pump Post Nursing

    If you are planning to resume work, it is recommended to establish a pumping routine early. This will help to make the transition smoother and also increase the milk production. This too is one of the best tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. Even for stay-at-home moms, it is best to pump after nursing, to boost the production and help them stock some milk beforehand to feed the baby when the mother is not around. 

  3. Ensure a Good Latch

    If the baby is latched on rightly, their tongue tend to stick out over their gums, their lips flare open, and the mother’s nipple and areola is in their mouth. A mother can know that the baby is latched properly if nursing does not hurt. However, it is always advisable to check. Ensuring a good latch is essential for proper breastfeeding and is one of the most important tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding.

    In case the baby’s latch is not good, take them off by slipping your little finger into the baby’s mouth next to the nipple to break the seal. Use the nipple to tickle the baby’s mouth until they open it up wide and then insert the breast, up to the areola, in the infant’s mouth. This process should be repeated until the baby latches on properly. Without a proper latch, it is not possible for the baby to fully drain the mother’s breast.

  4. Change Sides

    Changing sides is another essential tip to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. As a nursing mother, you should ensure that their baby nurses from both breasts during every nursing session. Each time when the baby begins comfort sucking, starts falling asleep or loses interest, it is best to switch sides. This helps to ensure that the baby is emptying each breast, completely. It also stimulates both breasts to produce more milk. 

  5. Say No To Pacifiers

    One of the best tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding is to avoid the use of pacifiers. The time which a baby spends sucking on a pacifier is the time lost for the mother on boosting her milk production. Although the early months of nursing can be very difficult to manage, avoiding pacifiers and breastfeeding is the ideal thing to do for the baby and the mother’s supply.

  6. Put On The Right Bra

    Wearing a bra which compresses the breasts or is extremely tight around the band can affect your milk flow and even cause plugged ducts. This is an uncomfortable condition which also indicates that no milk is being supplied from that part of the breast. Hence, one of the essential tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding is putting on the right bra. 

  7. Avoid Using Hormonal Birth Control

    It is better to avoid taking birth control pills when nursing because the hormones present in most pills can negatively affect the milk supply. However, you can ask your obstetrician for nursing friendly oral contraceptives. Limiting hormonal changes due to birth pills is an essential tip to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. Hormone-free intra-uterine device (IUDs) and condoms are better birth control options for nursing moms. 

  8. Eat Oatmeal

    One of the other effective tips to boost your milk supply is to include oats in your diet. Oats are a magical milk-making food. Although it is still not understood why oats spike up the milk production, women who consume a bowl of oats in the morning tend to have their breasts full at night. For nursing mothers who do not like oatmeal, granola, oatmeal-banana muffin and oatmeal cookies are nice alternatives to derive the same benefits.

  9. Take Some Time Off

    If nothing works, nursing mothers should leave the world aside and try spending a weekend in bed with their baby. Those uninterrupted hours of nursing will pump up the supply like nothing else. Relieving stress and relaxation works wonders and is the most essential tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. 

  10. Visit a Lactation Consultant

    Even with your best efforts, you may end up feeling that you need help about breastfeeding. So it is always recommended for nursing mothers to meet a lactation consultant. A lactation advisor specializes in helping new moms in establishing a healthy nursing relationship and troubleshooting problems as well. 

    Try these tips to boost your milk supply while breastfeeding. Seek domestic help and ask family and friends for support, so that you can relax. Take care of your health and get treatment for any medical problems. This is the most enjoyable phase of motherhood and you surely want to have good memories. 

References:

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:August 2, 2023

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