How to increase the amount of milk with breastfeeding

how to increase the amount of breast milk“Little” milk?

"What should I do (drink, eat) to increase the amount of milk?" "The child is constantly at the chest, I am always afraid that he does not have enough milk ..."

"I give the child two breasts in one feeding, but this is not enough, it is necessary to supplement the mixture. How to increase the amount of milk? "

"If the milk is gone, can it be returned?"

Very often mothers turn to us with similar questions. Why there is not enough milk, how to increase its quantity and what to do in order not to face this problem - all of this will be discussed in our article.

 

Indeed, today the main reason for transferring children to artificial feeding is hypogalactia - a lack of milk in mothers. But in reality, only a small part of those who are concerned about the lack of milk really experience it - this is confirmed by the extensive statistics of women advising on lactation. And true hypogalactia (the inability to produce milk in the amount needed by the baby) occurs, according to WHO, in only 2-3% of cases. So most mothers who feed their children with a mixture just lack knowledge, support and self-confidence.

 

What leads to a real lack of milk in nursing mothers:

  • Feeding by mode. Attempts to establish feeding in strictly set hours lead to insufficient stimulation of the breast. In the first months of life, applying to the breast should be at least 12 per day, and it is desirable that daytime breaks for sleep do not exceed 2 hours, and 1 night break - 4 hours
  • Short application, limitation of the time of the child's stay at the breast. The child in this case does not suck out all the milk necessary for him.
  • Inconvenient position. The stress of the mother during feeding affects the separation of milk
  • Dopaivaniya. In infants, the centers of satiety and thirst in the brain are very close, therefore, after drinking water, the child feels satiety and does not suck out the amount of milk necessary from him
  • Use of pacifiers, bottles. Satisfying the need for sucking at the expense of breast substitutes, the baby stimulates the breast less, which affects the production of milk
  • Frequent change of breast. If the mother offers the child a second breast before he has emptied the first (usually it takes several applications for 1,5-2 hours), then the next milking will not be enough to saturate the child
  • Attempts to "store" milk for the next feeding. The breast works according to the "supply-demand" principle, i.e. The more milk from the breast came out (the child sucked, mum said), the more milk will come next time. If the milk in the chest "accumulates", then the body receives a signal that it is not necessary to produce milk. Gradually, the production of milk is reduced.
  • Incorrect application. If the child sucks the breast incorrectly, then the breast is not fully emptied, there is not enough stimulation, the production of milk is reduced.
  • Medical interventions in the delivery process.
  • Exchange hormonal disorders. Insufficient or excessive production in the body of the mother of various hormones, affects the formation and allocation of milk from the chest.
  • Separation of mother and child, separation after childbirth. Lack of stimulation of the breast, stress in the mother block the production and allocation of milk.
  • Reception of combined contraceptives or diuretics. The hormonal regulation of lactation is disturbed.

 

Do not affect the amount of milk in the mother:

  • Age of mother
  • Intensity of sexual activity
  • The presence or absence of menstruation
  • Age of child
  • Mom's exit to work or study
  • Delivery by caesarean section
  • Premature birth
  • Many children
  • Normal food

 

Most women produce more milk than a child can suck, but often it seems to mom that she does not have enough milk. How can I check if the milk is enough for the baby?

 

There are two reliable ways:

1. The fastest way is to count the number of urination during the day. If a child wets diapers 10 and more times a day, while urine is colorless or pale yellow, then breast milk is enough. Diapers are counted for 24 hours, for example, from 9 in the morning of one day to 9 the next morning. If disposable diapers (pampers) are used, then for this test for a day you must abandon them and go to diapers. This method is indicative only if the child is not dopaivayut, and he does not receive drugs in the amount of more than 10 ml per day.

 

2. Weighing. A healthy child with sufficient nutrition adds in weight from 0,5 to 2 kg per month or a minimum of 120 g every week. Weighing the child makes sense not more than once a month, and if something bothers, then weekly. More frequent weighing, called "control", - once a day or before and after feeding - does not provide objective information about the nutritional status of the baby: in one feeding, it can suck 10 g, and in another - 100. But the control weighings disturb mother and child, as a result of which lactation is often impaired. If the child has frequent urination (more than 6 once a day), and while he adds little or even loses weight, it means that he gets enough milk, and the reason for a bad gain in weight should be found in something else.

 

Not indicative of a lack of milk:

  • Frequent crying of a child
  • Dissatisfaction of the child after breast sucking
  • Very frequent feeding
  • Very long feeding
  • Breast rejection
  • A small amount or lack of milk when decanting

 

If the tests performed-urine counting and / or weighing-showed that the child does receive an insufficient amount of milk, in most cases the situation can be corrected. What to do in order for a child to get the amount of milk needed from his breast:

  • To learn how to apply the baby to the breast correctly (if before applying was wrong)
  • Apply the baby to the chest often (at least 1 times 1,5-2 hours in the afternoon and at least 4 times at night)
  • Do not take the baby from the chest until he releases it, even if he continues to suckle the chest in a dream
  • Do not give extra drink
  • Do not use a dummy
  • If supplementation is necessary, give it not from a bottle, but in any other convenient way-from a cup, a spoon, a syringe without a needle, a supplementary system at the breast
  • The amount of supplementary feeding is gradually reduced, controlling the sufficiency of food by the number of urination
  • Increase physical contact with the skin-to-skin baby-wear a lot on your hands or in a sling, sleep together

 

 

If, with a decrease in the number of supplements, the number of urinations decreases, additional measures can be taken - use lactogonics. These include: walnuts, fatty varieties of fish, feta cheese, lingonberries, beef, royal jelly, ginger, nettle infusion, infusions of cereal spices - dill, caraway seeds, coriander, fennel, zira, fenugreek. Remember that no lactic drugs will bring results if the basic rules described above are not followed. The most important thing is to believe in yourself!

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