The act of breastfeeding a child is one of the wonderful experiences a woman can ever go through. The feeling of feeding your child from your body is breathtaking and incredible – the fact that breast milk is equipped with a lot of nutrients that’ll aid the growth and development of a child makes breastfeeding a whole lot amazing. Even though there are some challenges during the breastfeeding stage, there’s no way you can neglect its positive impact on your baby’s growth.
However, as known that life isn’t a bed of roses, some mothers are in one way or the other unable to breastfeed their babies. They might contact an infection or have breast-related issues. Some might have mastitis or had a premature baby, so they’re unable to breastfeed. There are different reasons why some mothers can’t breastfeed their children, and it all depends on the circumstances both mother and baby may find themselves in.
One of the common reasons some mothers aren’t able to breastfeed is the inability to produce enough breast milk. Breastmilk contains important nutrients vital to a child’s development, so if mothers don’t produce enough milk, that will be a cause for concern.
Although mothers might produce milk very well shortly after the delivery of babies but as a child grows, his body tends to ask for more food, and if mothers can’t produce enough milk, they end up using formula milk for support.
Therefore, there are some things that a mother can do to replenish her breast milk. In case they cannot produce enough milk or notice a reduction in milk production, they can do any of the following to increase production.
Avoid Stress
When you stress about things, you tend to lose energy and feel lethargic. Research has shown that stress can inhibit breast milk production. Therefore, when you worry that you’re not producing enough milk, you just make the problem worse. Stress won’t solve your problem, and a good way to avoid it is to worry less about milk production. Instead of stressing about it, it’s better to look for possible solutions to tackle the issue.
When you do not produce enough breast milk, your husband needs to be responsible and make sure you don’t stress it. Ideally, he should reassure you that it’s just a phase, and it’ll pass. The reassurance can also help you to avoid stressing about it. As it is, you already have to take care of the household, and it won’t be good for you to stress about their inability to produce enough milk.
Stressing will only add to the issue and not solve anything, so it’s better not to stress about anything.
Consume Enough Fluids
Water is one of the largest components of breastmilk. Therefore, to produce enough milk, mothers need to consume enough water to replenish the milk. Additionally, regular water consumption will help sustain your body and increase the production of breastmilk.
However, most mothers find it hard to consume plenty of water since numerous drinks can be used as water alternatives. However, not all beverages are appropriate for breastfeeding mothers. In other words, if you want increased milk production, you’ll have to drink more water.
Although even if the water seems monotonous on your taste buds, you can add lemon or honey to sweeten it up. Thus, another alternative is juice. If the water seems bland, you can make fruit juice for yourself. You can get different fruits, chop them, add them to iced water, or better still, extract the juice from the fruits and drink them. All these can serve as great options if you’re not a fan of consuming a lot of water.
Also, check out some of the alternatives to the water below. You can choose any liquid in the list and drink it in place of water.
- Water enriched with fruits and ice.
- Vegetable juice
- Almond milk
- Herbal teas
- Fruit juice
- Sprite(in small amounts)
You should also be careful about what you consume in place of water, as not all drinks are suitable for a nursing mother to consume. Just make sure what you’re consuming won’t harm your baby, as what you eat or drink will reflect in the milk you feed your baby.
Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a fantastic herb/spice that’s great for breastfeeding. It helps to increase and stimulate milk production rapidly. You just need to consume a small amount for the herb to be effective. You can even see results in a few days – that’s how effective fenugreek is.
You can get Fenugreek seeds, put some in boiling water for 15 minutes, and drink two or three times daily. However, if you want something stronger than taking a Fenugreek drink, you can get the capsule. Fenugreek capsule supplements are also available to increase milk production. But you should check the capsule’s package for the dosage and procedure.
Within 24 – 72 hours of using fenugreek, you’ll see positive changes in your breast milk production.
Regular Feeding
As babies grow, they need food to sustain their growth spasm and development, so breastmilk is vital. Thus, you need to create a feeding routine for your baby so that you can sustain their body and development. Creating a breastfeeding routine will help you decide the next time to feed your baby and just how frequently you need to breastfeed. Ironically, the more you feed your baby, the more milk you produce; that is why regular feeding is part of the things you can do to increase your milk supply.
However, it is true even if it seems untrue. You need to feed your baby well to get more milk. The way your body functions is amazing, so don’t worry; your body will know the amount of milk it should produce. However, if you feed your baby according to your feeding routine, your body will get used to the routine and begin to produce milk at the right time to sustain your baby as he or she grows.
Similarly, creating a feeding routine won’t work out if you don’t abide by it. You must be determined to keep up with the routine as it’ll help you produce more milk to aid your baby’s growth and development. You should also try as much as possible to express your milk when your baby isn’t around either by hand pump or machine pump as it’ll send a message to your body system to produce more milk. It is important to know that your body will notice and produce less milk when you don’t stick to the feeding schedule, which won’t be good for your baby.
Unorthodox Alternative
Unorthodox Alternatives might be the way out for some mothers who have tried other methods of producing more breast milk without good results. Even though the method seems weird, most nursing mothers have sworn it’s effective, and you don’t have anything to lose, so why not try it? Getting an alternative treatment is even more important if you’ve tried the above remedies and they didn’t work.
Hence, whenever you notice you’re running low on breast milk, the unorthodox alternative is for you to drink a pint of dark ale. Dark ale, for example, Guinness, will help to increase milk production. The method is one of the last you need to go for, especially if other methods didn’t work out for you. In spite of this, before you go for this method, you must be aware of your limits and not get lost in the taste of the ale and consume too much because that can affect your baby.
Therefore, if you know a dark ale pint will lead you to another bottle of ale, you shouldn’t use the unorthodox method and consume water. How to increase low milk supply is important for nursing mothers to know and implement. The production of breast milk is based on how much a baby feed; if your child tends to feed every minute, then there will be rapid milk production, but if your child tends to feed less, you should expect less milk production. However, as known that breastmilk production differs according to mothers, it’s paramount you know the methods that can help you increase your milk supply.