Breast Milk Supply: Protocol to Increase Breastmilk Intake

Image via Wikipedia

Also Good For Overactive Letdown Reflex (“too much milk”) and Colic

by Dr. Jack Newman

Most mothers have lots of milk or could have had lots, but the problem is that the baby is not getting the milk that is available. Sometimes, mothers are told they have too much milk, and it may come out very quickly in the beginning and then the baby will fuss when the flow slow down. Thus, this is our Protocol for managing the milk intake better.

Although the following symptoms are not necessarily due to the baby’s not getting enough milk, this Protocol can be used to help resolve concerns about:

• The sleepy or “lazy” baby (babies are not lazy, they respond to milk flow and if flow is slow they tend to sleep at the breast) or baby who seems to want to “pacify” (sure, sucking feels good, but getting food while sucking feels better!)
• Frequent feedings or long feedings or babies who don’t seem to ever wake for feedings
• Jaundice (see also handout Jaundice)
• The baby who pulls or fusses at the breast
• The baby who is fussy or “colicky” (see also handout Colic in the breastfed baby)
• Mothers who feel they have an overactive let down, or their babies choke at the breast; or whose breasts don‘t seem to “drain”

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Breastfeeding Tips: Breast Compression

Breast Compression

by Dr. Jack Newman

The purpose of breast compression is to continue the flow of milk to the baby when the baby is only sucking without drinking. Drinking (“open mouth wide—pause—then close mouth” type of suck—see also the video clips at the website www.drjacknewman.com) means baby got a mouthful of milk. If baby is no longer drinking on his own, mother may use compressions to “turn sucks or nibbling into drinks”, and keep baby receiving milk. Compressions simulate a letdown or milk ejection reflex (the sudden rushing down of milk that mothers experience during the feeding or when they hear a baby cry—though many women will not “feel” their let down).

The technique may be useful for:

1. Poor weight gain in the baby
2. Colic in the breastfed baby
3. Frequent feedings and/or long feedings
4. Sore nipples in the mother
5. Recurrent blocked ducts and/or mastitis
6. Encouraging the baby who falls asleep quickly to continue drinking not just sucking
7. A “lazy” baby, or baby who seems to want to just “pacify”. Incidentally babies are not lazy, they respond to milk flow.
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Breast Milk Supply Worries

photo credit: spaceodissey

One of the most common worries of the new breastfeeding mother is having low breast milk supply. Many new Moms worry that they are not producing enough milk for their babies. This fear stems from several factors in the new mother’s environment and her own feelings of inadequacy as a mother. It is a fear that needs to be addressed because it causes many worried mothers to supplement with baby formula – which generally will not increase milk supply. On the contrary, supplementing with baby formula will cause the mother’s breast milk supply to plummet … until she is fully feeding with formula.

Causes of Breast Milk Supply Worries

Concerns about breast milk supply are triggered by:

• expecting breastmilk to begin “flowing” immediately after birth (when breastmilk actually comes in at least two days after birth)
• hospital workers and other health care givers giving a can of formula, or prescribing a brand, “just in case” (when in fact supplementing with formula will cause the mother’s breastmilk supply to decrease)
• a fussy baby (when babies fuss and cry for different reasons other than hunger)
• a baby who doesn’t sleep for long stretches (when some babies are just not good sleepers compared to others)
• a baby who wants to nurse more often than every two hours (when breastfed babies really are hungry often because breastmilk is quicker and easier to digest than formula)
• the mother not feeling “full” anymore (when in fact her body has adjusted to her baby’s demand and therefore no longer makes too much)

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