It's all about the supply and demand theory.
The more the breast milk is being emptied, your breasts will respond by making even more milk. Emptying your breast milk can be done through directly latching the baby on or through pumping out the milk. Increasing your milk supply may take many days to happen but this will definitely happen if you are consistent in telling your breast and brain that you need more milk. Every one will have enough milk for the baby; this is the nature of life. If you keep saying that you just do not have enough milk, it's probably you are not trying hard enough.
The following will help increase your supply of breast milk:
o Breastfeed your baby frequently and regularly, even at night. Breastfeed your baby 8 to 12 times a day, or every 2 to 3 hours. Do so whenever he shows signs that he wants to be fed. Over time, your baby will learn how to breastfeed faster. Constant stimulation will increase supply. Try not to feed your baby only when he started crying. When he starts to cry, he is already hungry and trying to calm the hungry baby may not be easy. He may not even want to cooperate to stay still to suckle.
o Completely empty both breasts at each feeding session. When your baby finishes his feed on one breast, offer him your other breast as well. If your baby refuses to suckle anymore, you may also hand express or pump to completely empty your breasts after feeding your baby. It is a must to empty both the breast so that the correct signal will be sent out and that is, milk is not enough, please start to produce more for the next feed.
o If separated from your baby, express or pump on a regular schedule. Please do so regularly to help you keep your milk supply from going down. Even if you are overseas and it will not be possible to get those milk to your baby. Pump and pour away. You should empty your milk about every four hours to maintain your supply. Regular expressing or pumping can also help increase your supply. You may need to express or pump more often when trying to increase your supply.
o Get enough rest and sleep when you are breastfeeding. Rest and sleep well will help your body produce more breast milk. Try to sleep or rest when your baby is sleeping and try to get as many help as possible at the beginning of motherhood so that you do not feel too tired. Being tired or feeling stressed will decrease the supply of breast milk.
o Drink plenty of fluid. When you are breastfeeding, your body loses a lot of fluid. You will need to replenish the water lost. To increase milk supply, drink plenty of fluid, nursing tea or red dates tea. There are sayings that red dates tea helps in increasing milk supply but result varies from individuals. Some other food that were said to increase milk supply includes fishes and papaya.
o Record feeding and pumping information. You may want to record down when and how much if you express milk by hand or pump and how long the baby suckle at each breast. This will help you see how often and how well your baby is feeding. It will also let you see how much milk you are getting when you express out the milk and if there is any increase over time.
What can cause my milk supply to decrease?
o Shorter or less frequent breastfeeding or expressing sessions.
o Getting pregnant soon after having a baby.
o Not being able to latch on the baby.
o Pressure on your breasts when sleeping face down or wearing bra that is too tight.
o Stress and fatigue.
o Use of certain substances and chemicals.
o Drinking too much alcohol.
o Smoking.
o Taking certain medicines.
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