Foods to Eat to Increase Breastmilk Supply

A family member of mine has asked me about increasing milk supply. I will probably be posting more articles on breastfeeding once I find them and for now I would like to share this photo of foods that are known to increase the milk supply. I always suggest discussing your troubles with a lactation consultant or midwife or doctor in case there are other factors. The best advice I usually give with specifics is to make sure you are drinking lots of water to stay hydrated, eat enough calories to support the food supply, skin to skin contact, and pumping between feedings. Stay tuned for more…

Advantages of Breastfeeding

This is another gem from my birthing classes that I thought I would share as good information:

Physiological:

Mom:

• Uterus returns to normal size
• controls blood loss after birth
• helps restore body to pre-pregnant weight
• encourages mom to rest often
• prolongs child spacing

Baby:

• Milk designed for human body
• rids intestines of Meconium
• prevents jaundice
• colostrum seals intestines
• provides passive immunization

Emotional:

• Hormones released during breastfeeding causes mother to bond with baby and feel love towards baby
• Bottle fed infants receive less stimulations (less stroking, rocking, eye contact, and not spoken to as often)

Practical:

• Breastfeeding is more sanitary than bottle feeding
• Costs less
• Encourages mother and baby to rest or go back to sleep (not getting up to warm a bottle)

Function:

• Breasts can produce colostrum in 5th-6th month of pregnancy

Learned skill:

• Breastfeeding takes around 24 days to master
• Support from father is essential (or loved ones)
• La Leche League is a great support or any other lactation consultants

Positioning:

• Mother comfortable and supported (use pillows – love the boppy)
• Tummy to tummy
• touch nipple to babies lips
• center nipple to baby’s mouth as baby opens mouth the widest
• Latches on – lips should not be pursed or curled under
• tongue on bottom curled around nipple

How often? How long?

• Within 1 hour after birth
• 1st week-nurse on demand, at least every 2 hours during the day
• Follow babies signs – cry, root, fussy
• Some babies need to be awakened
• some babies nurse constantly

Supply

• Milk comes in around day 3.  Mom will always have colostrum until then.

To increase milk supply (will increase in 48 hours)

• Go to bed with the baby
• skin to skin contact
• nurse every 1.5 hours
• proper nutrition for mama
• increase B-Complex vitamins or enjoy a dark stout bear (only 1 every other day)
• No supplemental bottles!
• Drink plenty of water.

Problems:

• Fussy at Breast – distracted by something ie. needs to burp, new fragrance/deodorant, room too stimulating
• Nipple confusion – No pacifiers and bottles just use your finger until 3 weeks
• Plugged ducts – call your lactation consultant or midwife or doctor immediately
• Sore Nipples – positioning or thrush

Sexuality:

• Diminished sex drive
• vaginal dryness (use coconut oil)
• sensitive breasts

Bottle Feeding:

Mom:

• Costly and time consuming (cleaning bottles, trips to the store, increase in Dr. visits)

Baby:

• Greater risk of illness, colic, allergies, diarrhea, ear infections, constipation, lower IQ function, learning disabilities, and increase in case of SIDS (this refers to formula feeding not necessarily breast milk in a bottle)
• Leads to overfeeding and obesity
• tooth decay
• malocclusion (bite)
• lack of eye stimulation

Now, I realize there may be some criticisms regarding this information however this is provided to point out the benefits of breastfeeding.  Understandably some people will choose formula over breastfeeding, however, I will continue providing information that I believe is most beneficial to mom and baby throughout this blog. 

One of the most frustrating things that I hear from women is that they do not have enough milk for their baby.  Our body is designed to produce milk for our littles and if we take proper care of ourselves then we should be able to produce milk.  I encourage all women who are concerned about their milk supply to reach out to a lactation consultant or midwife, possibly even a doctor or nurse with your concerns in order to try changing something in your life that my make a huge difference for your baby’s nutrition. 

 

 

 

Storing Breastmilk~ alternatives to the plastic milk storage bags

The information I am providing today comes from my midwife: Robin Lavis of Blessings of the Womb in Rapid City, MI.  I completed her birthing classes and this is some of the information she taught us.  I thought it was pretty ingenious to use this method since I have spent what seems like an enormous amount of time pumping and storing breast milk from my first two children.    I would store it in the bottles until I got home and then I would measure certain amount of ounces depending on the baby’s age and labeling…ugh…seems ridiculous now but I thought I was doing the best I could to preserve my supply and use wisely.  So, to fill you in…this is the information below:

“If you find that you must return to work after the birth, please know that it is still possible to continue breastfeeding your baby.  Many women find they can manually express milk easily and do not need a pump.  Others still prefer using a pump.  You can either buy or rent a good breast pump for an affordable price.  I recommend the Medela Breast pumps (So do I).  Every model is excellent but the double electric is what you need if you are returning to work full-time.  Women generally have the greatest milk supply in the morning and find it is a convenient time to pump.  If you must pump while you are away from your baby, bring a photo of your baby along with you to help get the milk flowing.  One of the easiest ways to collect breast milk is while the baby is nursing you can use a ‘Milk Saver’ on the other breast. 

Using ice cube trays to freeze the milk and then immediately transferring them to a glass jar is a convenient and safe way to store your breast milk.  It keeps the milk away from freezing in plastics and every ice cube (in a 14 cube tray) is one ounce of milk.  You can store breast milk in the freezer for 6 months in a two door fridge/freezer, 2 weeks in a 1 door fridge/freezer and 1 year in a deep freeze.  Refrigerate milk if you plan to use it within 24 hours.  Remember to put a date on the stored breast milk.”

 

I love this idea!  Im planning to buy a lot of mason jars 🙂  Here is the link to what a Milk Saver is: http://www.mymilkies.com/milksaver

In support of National Breastfeeding Awareness week…

This is great!  Studies show that more moms are choosing to at least try breastfeeding than in the recent past.  I was not surprised that they found that Hospitals and Birthing Centers helped to sabotage efforts of new moms and their breastfeeding attempts.  Its hard when you first start and not the most comfortable feeling especially when you don’t know what to expect.  With my first daughter the local hospital sent me home with formula and fortunately I did not use it.  I did keep it in the cupboard “just in case” even though I had no intention of using it.  With my second daughter I went to a different hospital and they did not send me home with samples and I was thrilled to learn that they had abandoned that practice.  On a positive note, I remember both experiences where the nursing staff encouraged skin to skin contact and did not discourage my co-sleeping efforts.  Actually, I had every intention of having my first daughter sleeping on her own but after 4 hours of non-stop screaming and consoling the nurse encouraged me to snuggle my little girl and nurse her to sleep.  She even showed me how to get comfortable so I could sleep while nursing her.  Very much appreciated!  Here’s the link”

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/07/31/207285165/more-moms-are-breastfeeding-but-many-babies-still-miss-out

Breast is Best! and there’s evidence to support that

Lets start out this blog with a pro breast feeding article.  I always knew I would breastfeed my babies because my mom did with all five of her natural children.  Once I had my own, it became very important for me to research everything, and I mean EVERYTHING!  Once I read how many horrible ingredients were in formula, it was very clear that I would never use the stuff.  I totally understand why so many people use it for various reasons but it is my personal choice not to.  The thought did cross my mind, ‘What if I dont make enough milk? What if I dont make enough milk? How would I feed my baby?’ if Im not going to suppliment with formula?  Luckily I was able to nurse my oldest until she was 12 months old and Im still nursing my almost 19 month old so I never had to worry about supplimenting.  During my research I did learn there were other options than formula and I plan to share that eventually.  Until then, I found this awesome article from NBC news on the correlation between breastfeeding and intelligence indicating that breastfed babies had higher IQ’s at age 7 than babies that were fed formula.  The article is very detailed and gives great insight into the topic.  Enjoy!

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-who-were-breastfed-longer-have-higher-iqs-new-study-6C10787012