The time has come to feed your little one and you want to start off on the right foot! They say “breast is best”, but this natural nectar may not come as easy to some. The good news is that there are practical and simple ways to increase your breast milk production, which may be especially helpful as the baby formula shortage continues.
Here are 6 natural tips and tricks to increase breast milk production:
1. Intake More Water
The more water, the more milk. This is because breast milk is made up of 90% water, and the rest is of carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
Together, these elements provide vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, hormones, antibodies, and lymphocytes.
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2. Eat Oatmeal and Spinach
By consuming oats and spinach, you are essentially taking in high levels of iron, which will produce more milk.
Iron-rich foods like red meat (especially liver), beans, chickpeas, and other leafy greens, help replenish your iron levels (especially if you had a postpartum hemorrhage or otherwise lost an abnormal amount of blood during birth, as this can affect when your milk comes in).
In general, it's important to eat a healthy diet while nursing, not only so your baby gets good nutrition but to ensure your own body is operating at a healthy level too.
3. Practice Skin-to-Skin
Shed some layers and practice laying your little one on your bare chest before feeding.
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This will allow your hormones to surge and you will literally feel the rush of milk fill your breast as soon as you do so.
Also, avoid pacifiers and nipple shields as much as possible as they can limit your skin-to-skin time with your little one, thus decreasing your milk supply.
4. Enjoy a Hot Bath or Shower
Try turning on the shower to hot and let it steam up the bathroom, or sit in a hot bath. Use this time to massage your breast to push out any milk clogs as this can happen if you’re not nursing often enough, thus limiting your milk supply.
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5. Nurse On-Demand
Give yourself a moment to forget about timed feeding schedules and feed your baby as often as he or she will eat.
This means you’ll have to eliminate pacifiers to really gauge when your baby needs to feed or even be soothed by just latching onto your breast.
The more they nurse, the more your body will produce.
6. Give Only Breast Milk
It’s important to eliminate all other supplements at this time, including formula.
Babies can sometimes get breast milk confused with other supplements and tend to limit themselves of how much they’re willing to intake of something new to them.
By giving only breast milk, you will decrease confusion and increase your nursing time.
Tia Muhammad, BS, is an award-winning freelance content & media creative, copywriter, blogger, digital designer, and marketing consultant. She owns the boutique content and digital media company, jackieGLDN|studio.
