Get Your Milk Supply Off To A Good Start

First Hour

When possible, you should begin soon after birth. Newborns seem to get more colostrum during this “golden” time. Separating the infant from the mom during this crucial alert period misses his first opportunity to begin breastfeeding using his instinctual abilities.

As long as the baby is healthy, don’t be afraid to tell anyone who might suggest he needs to be bathed, measured or anything else. These things can be done later. *If you and baby are separated or baby is unable to feed, try to hand express or pump within the first hour after birth and at least every three hours until baby is able to begin nursing⠀
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Skin to skin

Has been showed to help increase milk volume. Baby is more likely to nurse when he is smelling your milk. ⠀
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Delay Bath

Baby May show more interest when you delay bathing. Babies who are placed on their moms chest with their hands-free after birth, add amniotic fluids into the breast as they use their hands and face to find them. Later, The smell of the fluid seems to draw them to the breast. ⠀
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Visitor Syndrome

Feel free to reclaim your motherhood by assertively asking for the time and space you need to concentrate on caring for your baby. ⠀
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Optimal Latch

If your baby doesn’t latch properly, he cannot remove milk well from your breast. It’s normal to feel some tenderness in the early days, but if it actually hurts, he is probably latched too shallowly. Seek help from an IBCLC if needed. ⠀
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Breast Massage/Compression

One of the difficulties of low milk supply is that milk ejection is often less effective when it has less volume to work with. To get the most milk out, massage your breast both before, and during feeding (or pumping). ⠀
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Don’t skip nighttime feedings

The temptation may loom large to have someone else feed the baby while you sleep. Prolactin levels aren’t higher at night. Milk flows more easily then because the mother is sleepy and relaxed. This winning combination will go far in maximizing your milk production. ⠀
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Frequent and thorough drainage of breasts from birth onward will get your milk production off to a good start.

Originally posted 2021-02-27 15:43:41.