When preparing for the arrival of your baby, you are decided to breastfeed for as long as your Little One wants. Wait, what? Well, maybe not that long, but you set a goal for 3 or 6 or even 12 months. You know this journey will have its ups and downs, and you feel ready for it. Then baby finally makes his/her entrance into this world, you think you have read all you needed for this moment, have bought all the baby must-haves, are getting used to the idea of meaning the world to someone, and feel over the moon, until you realize your baby is not getting enough milk. You feel miserable, alone, and don’t know what to do besides bawling your eyes out.
1st Good News: you are certainly not alone, many women have gone through this!
2nd Good News: many have been able to overcome this rough patch, and have continued to nurse until Happily Ever After!!
3rd Good News: We have put together real life tips and tricks from these moms, so in the future you can also look back at this struggle with a sense of “I rock!”
First things first: is your milk really not enough?
It is very common for a mom to think they do not have enough milk, when in fact your baby is doing fine. Sometimes it’s because other people convince you that your baby is “crying too much and must be hungry”. Other times it’s because YOU think something must be wrong, when baby still wants to be held only by you, after having nursed for X amounts of minutes from each side (as some uninformed doctors recommend, shame on them). Or maybe you start doubting after breast pumping, and not getting half of what other fellow moms proudly show in their social media.
To verify that your baby is getting enough milk, go through this checklist:
- By day 4, 6+ wet diapers of light yellow urine with no strong smell
- By day 4, 3+ dirty diapers of loose stools (after 2-3 months old, 1 dirty diaper per day or even every few days is normal)
- After first 5 days, average weight gain is 5-7 oz/week (142-198 grams/ week). Prior to that, up to 7% of weight loss is considered normal
- Most of the time, baby seems satisfied and is reaching milestones as expected for her age
If you ticked all of them, you can relax, and still continue reading to avoid pitfalls in the future. In case you confirmed that you need to increase your milk supply, we hope the following tips will help you continue in this journey for as long as you wish:
1. True meaning of “nursing on demand” (explained by an experienced mom)
This piece of advice is given often, but not explained in the level of detail that a first-time mom needs it. You are also told not to look at the clock, but this is not always helpful as many mamas want to keep track of absolutely every movement of their baby, at least for the first days.
“With my first baby I thought I understood what nursing on demand was. I would let baby suck for a long period (45 minutes), then I would change sides and repeat until he would let go. If he cried, I would then start looking for other causes (dirty diaper, cold or sweaty, need to sleep), because I believed he wasn’t hungry anymore. The thing is, the time I lost figuring out why he was crying and then providing a solution, was time that my body needed to be stimulated to produce milk. Needless to say, I had real supply problems (baby did not gain weight for 15 long days) and had to supplement for several weeks after that. I understood this with my second baby, when I decided to be available for my baby 24/7. My best advice: when baby cries, always offer your breast: 9 out of 10 times, they just want to be there. It really doesn’t matter if it is that they are hungry or they just need comfort, what matters is that that little warm mouth needs to do their job to stimulate your body.”
2. Understand growth spurts, and embrace them!
All of us went through growth spurts since our birth until our teenage years. As a baby, growth spurts require an increase in milk intake to satisfy body needs. Since milk production depends on the stimulation a woman’s body receives, babies nurse often during these phases to increase the quantity of milk produced by the mother. Although every baby is different, a growth spurt can be expected at 7-10 days, 17-20 days, 6-7 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year and 2 years old. It can last a couple of days, and you can recognize one if:
- Your baby wants to nurse constantly
- Cry desperately if they don’t get breast
- Fuss even when they are at the breast/ get impatient when milk doesn’t flow as quickly as they wish
“I thought that my supply problems where due to my diagnosed anemia post-partum. But one day, when I was telling my story to a friend, I realized that my supposed milk decrease happened exactly at 18 days old. Since at the time I knew nothing about growth spurts, I misunderstood the signs of my baby and thought I didn’t have enough milk. I started supplementing with formula. With my second and third, I embraced growth spurts: I took the skin-to-skin route, and spent a couple of days topless and available for my babies to nurse for as long as they wanted, with no problems with milk supply whatsoever. By the way, some growth spurts I didn’t even noticed.”
3. Keep a bottle of water and snacks near you, 24-7
The amount of water required daily by breastfeeding moms , varies considerably depending on several factors such as metabolism, weather, and physical activity. Yet several moms swear by drinking at least 3 liters (equivalent to 34 ounces or 12 glasses of water), which in general means 1 additional liter to what they were drinking pre-pregnancy.
“I keep my 32 oz bottle of water next to where I usually nurse. I recommend large bottles in case you get lazy to refill it. Drinking water before breastfeeding has become a habit, to the point that if I don’t do so, I get extremely thirsty as soon as baby nurses. Also, be sure to have healthy snacks available and foods that are quick to prepare. Specially during the first 6-8 weeks, baby is extremely demanding and it is common to forget about feeding yourself. Grapes, nuts and seeds, cheese, and bananas are some of my favorite snacks. For a quick meal, wraps with avocado, scrambled eggs, or turkey sandwich also save my day. When a close friend or relative is going to visit and asks if you need anything, don’t miss the golden opportunity and tell them to bring something yummy to eat, you deserve it!”
4. Don’t settle for intense pain or bruised nipples – check the latch
More often than not, nipple creams make part of the must-have newborn checklist. What most moms do not know is that damaged nipples can be avoided, and if they happen, it is a sign to check and correct the latch of your baby.
“It wasn’t until I belonged to a breastfeeding group, that I realized that cracked nipples should not be part of a “normal” nursing experience. I just thought I had gotten lucky, since I didn’t have to open any of the 3 nipple creams I received as gifts for my babyshower. Two months after baby was born, when I thought I had mastered breastfeeding, I suddenly started feeling strong disconfort. Someone in my group recommended a video on Deep Latch Technique and it saved me!”
Besides an improper latch, there are other reasons why nipples get hurt, such as lip-tie or tongue-tie in your baby, or flat or inverted nipples. Don’t hesitate to ask help from a Lactation Consultant in these cases, as there is a solution to make nursing easier. You can seek for a consultant that belongs to La Leche League (http://www.llli.org), a non-profit group that helps mothers worldwide to breastfeed.
5. Do not supplement without pumping, if it’s not truly necessary
Breastmilk is produced at the moment when the milk is removed from your breast, either by your baby or with a breast pump. Everytime your baby is given formula, or water, or any other liquid, your body will be prevented from receiving the signal that it must produce a determined amount of milk.
“I was exhausted, I hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours per day for more than a week, and really thought I couldn’t take it anymore. My husband was kind of scared to deal with the “real not-so-nice-when-tired me”. He then offered to take care of the midnight feed by giving our baby a bottle of formula, so I could at least have 5 straight hours of sleep. I thought that had been his greatest act of love, and accepted his offer in a blink. Little did I knew that those few extra hours of sleep would afterwards turn into several days of hard work to raise again my production… A couple of days after he took over the midnight feeding shift, our baby started to behave fuzzy at other feedings. We then gave her a little bit of formula after the feeding to see if she would stop fuzzing, and she did. Two weeks after, I realized I was already supplementing with formula several times a day. It was a domino effect. If you have already gotten to this point, don’t be discouraged. It is possible to revert from supplementing to exclusively breastfeed. Try to slowly reduce, day by the day, the amount of formula or water you are giving to your baby. Leave him or her at your breast as much as you can, they will do their work! It took me month and a half to stop supplementing, and we nursed for 18 months total.”
6. Don’t fall for the temptation of using pacifiers, at least until production regulates
It takes 6 weeks for your supply to establish. If possible, avoid introducing pacifiers or bottles during this period, as this inhibits exposing your nipple to the stimulation it must receive during this period, so your body understands how much milk your baby requires. If mom has to go back to work before this period, the bottle will be necessary and she just has to make sure to breastfeed as much as possible when baby is with her.
“I know that is tiring to have a baby glued to you all the time. Specially when you recall your relaxed friend chatting with you, while her baby was suckling on a binky with the same enthusiasm as Maggie from The Simpsons. I know it is extremely tempting, but hang in there at least for the first month and a half. I was frustrated that my body was failing to produce enough milk, until I followed my friend’s advice of eliminating the paci and nursing baby every time he showed signs of hunger or suckling. With my two other babies, not only did I had no supply problems, I also freed myself from having to convince a toddler to forget about his binky. It’s a true win/win situation.”
7. Pumping tricks – there are plenty of them!
For those pumping moms who need a boost in their supply, here are some of the best tricks shared by our expert moms:
“Your body works by the clock. If you always pump at the exact same time, your body will start producing more milk each day . Try blocking in your agenda your pumping hours, so your coworkers will also respect them and not schedule meetings during this time of the day. If you have to miss one pumping session at work, better to miss the last one than the first one. Morning sessions are normally more productive.”
“When I was desperate about not leaving enough milk for the next day, I had to wake up when my baby was sleeping, so I could thrown an extra pump in my schedule. 2:00 a.m. was the magic number. I then read something that explained why: prolactine, the “breastfeeding” hormone, peaks when you are sleeping.”
“Pumping 5 minutes is better than nothing. I discovered this one time that I was going to skip a pumping session, but I had forgotten my washable nursing pads and I was afraid I would leak during a meeting. So I excused myself and went for a quick session, to realize that I almost pumped the same as I would in my 10-15 minute sessions. Since then, I prefer to do short pumping pauses rather than skipping them.”
“If you haven’t been able to be consistent with your pumping schedule, try out power pumping sessions: pump for 10 minutes, rest 10, pump again for 10 minutes, rest again, and finally pump one third time for 10 minutes. If you do this at the same time for several days, it will give you better results.”
“I remember once when I saw my production decline, I was losing hope that I could meet my 12 month goal. Then, one day, a friend suggested to change the parts of my pump. I couldn’t believe it was such a simple fix!”
“I know it’s not easy to relax while pumping at work, specially when you know your boss is waiting for you to come back ASAP. The thing is, if you relax and connect with your baby even when you are apart, milk will flow faster, and your pumping sessions will take less time. I figured that looking at videos of my baby, worked better than just photos. I put on my earbuds, and watch 5 minutes of cute clips of my little peanut. “
We hope our moms’ tips will do the trick for you. In case you are concerned for your baby’s health, do not hesitate to contact a lactation consultant.