Way to increase breast milk

Low Milk Supply | WIC Breastfeeding Support

Many moms worry about low milk supply, but most of the time your body makes exactly what your baby needs, even if you don't realize it. There are also ways to tell if your baby is getting enough milk. If you aren't making enough, there are ways you can build your supply. And your WIC breastfeeding staff is always there to help!

Am I Making Enough Milk?

First, look for these signs that your baby is getting enough milk. For example, pay attention to the number of wet and dirty diapers and your baby's weight gain.

Things you should NOT worry about:

• How your breasts feel. Your breasts will feel softer and less full as your milk supply adjusts to your baby's needs. This does not mean you have low supply.
• If your baby nurses for shorter periods of time, such as only 5 minutes on each breast.
• If your baby's feeds are bunched together. This is called cluster feeding and happens when your baby starts nursing more often and for longer. This can happen in the evenings or because of growth spurts.
• Not getting much milk when you express. Your baby is much more effective than a pump or hand expression at getting out milk. Find tips to help you pump.

If you are still concerned, talk to your baby's doctor about their growth.

Causes of Low Milk Supply

While most moms make plenty of milk, some do have low milk supply. This might happen if you:

• Limit your baby's breastfeeding sessions. Remember, the more you feed on demand, the more milk you make.
• Give your baby infant formula instead of breastfeeding.
• Introduce solid foods before baby is 4-6 months old.
• Take certain birth control pills or other medicine.
• Don't get enough sleep.
• Drink alcohol or smoke.
• Have had breast surgery.

Talk to your doctor if you have hepatitis B or C, herpes, or diabetes. These conditions may also affect milk supply.

Increasing Your Milk Supply

Breastfeeding frequently—especially in the first hours, days, and weeks—is the main way to increase your milk supply. Your body will make milk to meet your baby's demand.

Try these tips to help you make more milk:

• Breastfeed every time your baby is hungry. In the early weeks, your baby will eat 8-12 times every 24 hours. It's best not to put your baby on a strict feeding schedule. Follow your baby's cues, and let your baby tell you when it's time to eat.
• Make sure your baby is latching well.
• Offer both breasts at each feeding. Let your baby finish the first side, then offer the other side.
• Empty your breasts at each feeding. Hand express or pump after a feeding to draw out all the milk and signal your body to make more.
• Avoid bottles and pacifiers in the early weeks. Feed your baby from your breast whenever you can.
• Get plenty of sleep, and eat a healthy diet.
• Pump or express your milk. Pumping or expressing milk frequently between nursing sessions, and consistently when you're away from your baby, can help build your milk supply.
• Relax and massage. Relax, hold your baby skin-to-skin, and massage your breasts before feeding to encourage your milk to let down.
• Take care of yourself. Get plenty of rest, eat well, drink enough fluids, and let others help you.

Consider Charting Your Progress

Record how often your baby is breastfeeding, for how long, and on which sides. If you are supplementing with infant formula, record how much your baby is getting and decrease the infant formula as your milk supply increases. WIC breastfeeding staff can help you determine how much infant formula your baby needs.

Still Have Questions?

Contact your WIC breastfeeding expert. They can talk to you about supply concerns and give you tips to increase your supply to meet your baby's needs.

How to Increase Breast Milk: Home Remedies, Diet, Supplements

Medically reviewed by Valinda Riggins Nwadike, MD, MPH — By Adrienne Santos-Longhurst on May 7, 2018

We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Here’s our process.

Healthline only shows you brands and products that we stand behind.

Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we:

• Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm?
• Fact-check all health claims: Do they align with the current body of scientific evidence?
• Assess the brand: Does it operate with integrity and adhere to industry best practices?

We do the research so you can find trusted products for your health and wellness.

Can you increase breast milk production?

If you’re worried that you’re not producing enough breast milk for your baby, you’re not alone.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that approximately 75 percent of new mothers start off breastfeeding their babies, but many stop either partially or completely within the first few months. One of the most common reasons for this is worry about insufficient milk production.

For many women, your milk supply is just fine. However, if you do need to increase your breast milk production, there are ways to do it.

Read on to learn how to increase your breast milk production using several evidence-based methods and some practices mothers have sworn by for centuries.

How to increase breast milk production

The following are things that you can do to increase breast milk production. How long it’ll take to boost your milk supply depends on how low your supply is to begin with and what’s contributing to your low breast milk production. Most of these methods, if they’re going to work for you, should begin working within a few days.

1. Breastfeed more often

Breastfeed often and let your baby decide when to stop feeding.

When your baby suckles your breast, hormones that trigger your breasts to produce milk are released. That’s the “let-down” reflex. The let-down reflex is when muscles in your breasts contract and move the milk through the ducts, which happens shortly after your baby begins breastfeeding. The more you breastfeed, the more milk your breasts make.

Breastfeeding your new baby 8 to 12 times a day can help establish and maintain milk production. But this doesn’t mean that more or fewer feedings indicates a problem.

2. Pump between feedings

Pumping between feedings can also help you increase milk production. Warming your breasts before pumping can help make you more comfortable and pump easier, too.

Try pumping whenever:

• You have milk left over after a feeding.
• Your baby has missed a feeding.
• Your baby gets a bottle of breast milk or formula

3. Breastfeed from both sides

Have your baby feed from both breasts at each feeding. Let your baby feed from the first breast until they slow down or stop feeding before offering the second breast. The stimulation of having both breasts breastfed from can help increase milk production. Pumping milk from both breasts simultaneously has also been found to increase milk production and result in a higher fat content in the milk.

4. Lactation cookies

You can find lactation cookies in stores and online on Amazon or you can make your own. While there’s no research available on lactation cookies specifically, some of the ingredients have been linked to an increase in breast milk. These foods and herbs contain galactagogues, which may promote lactation. More research is needed, though.

Some of these include:

• whole oats
• wheat germ
• brewer’s yeast
• flaxseed meal

Easy lactation cookie recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups white flour
• 2 cups oats
• 1 tbsp. wheat germ
• 1/4 cup brewers’ yeast
• 2 tbsp. flaxseed meal
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Mix the flaxseed meal with water in small bowl and let soak for at least 5 minutes.
3. Cream the butter and white and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks and vanilla extract. Beat on low for 30 seconds or until ingredients are combined. Stir in flaxseed meal and water.
4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, brewer’s yeast, wheat germ, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and stir just until combined. Fold in the oats.
5. Roll dough into 2-inch balls and place 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges start to golden. Let the cookies stand on the baking sheet for 1 minute. Cool on a wire rack.

You also can add dried fruit, chocolate chips, or nuts for some variety.

5. Other foods, herbs, and supplements

There are other foods and herbs that may increase breast milk production, according to the Canadian Breastfeeding Foundation. Some, such as fenugreek, have been found to take effect in as little as seven days. These foods and herbs include:

• garlic
• ginger
• fenugreek
• fennel
• brewer’s yeast
• blessed thistle
• alfalfa
• spirulina

Always talk to your doctor before taking a new supplement, especially when breastfeeding. Even natural remedies can cause side effects.

Potential causes for low milk supply

There are several factors that can interfere with the let-down reflex and cause low milk supply, including:

Emotional factors

Anxiety, stress, and even embarrassment can interfere with the let-down reflex and cause you to produce less milk. Creating a private and relaxing environment for breastfeeding and making the experience enjoyable and free of stress can help increase breast milk production. Try one of these 10 ways to relieve stress.

Medical conditions

Some medical conditions may interfere with milk production. These conditions include:

• pregnancy-induced high blood pressure
• diabetes
• polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

Certain medications

Medications that contain pseudoephedrine, such as sinus and allergy medications, and certain types of hormonal birth control may lower breast milk production.

Smoking and alcohol

Smoking and drinking moderate to heavy amounts of alcohol can lower your milk production.

Previous breast surgery

Not having enough glandular tissue because of breast surgery, such as breast reduction, cyst removal, or mastectomy, can interfere with lactation. Breast surgery and nipple piercings can damage the nerves that are connected to breast milk production.

Is your supply low?

You may be worried that your milk supply is low, but low breast milk production is rare. Most women make more than one-third more milk than their babies need, according to the Mayo Clinic.

There are many reasons your baby may cry, fuss, or seem distracted while breastfeeding, but it’s unlikely to be due to your milk supply. Teething, gas pains, or even just being tired can lead to fussiness. Babies are also more easily distracted as they age. This can interfere with feedings and cause them to pull away when you’re trying to breastfeed.

Every baby’s needs are different. Most newborns need 8 to 12 feedings in 24 hours, some even more. As your baby gets older, they’ll feed more efficiently. This means that even though feedings are much shorter, they may be getting more milk in less time. Other babies like to linger and suck longer, often until the flow of milk has almost stopped. Either way is fine. Take your cue from your baby and feed until they stop.

As long as your baby is gaining weight as expected and needing regular diaper changes, then you’re probably producing enough milk.

When your baby is getting enough milk, they will:

• gain weight as expected, which is 5.5 to 8.5 ounces each week until 4 months
• have three or four stools every day by 4 days of age
• have two wet diapers over 24 hours by the 2nd day after birth, and six or more wet diapers after day 5

Regular checkups with your child’s pediatrician will help determine if your milk supply may be low or if your child is undernourished. Tracking feedings and diaper changes can also help your doctor determine whether or not your milk supply is lower than it should be.

If your milk supply is low, supplementing with formula may be an option. Speak to your doctor or a lactation specialist before supplementing feedings with formula to avoid accidental early weaning.

A lactation specialist can create a supplementation plan for you to follow so that you can increase your milk production and gradually decrease supplementation.

When to seek help

If you’re worried that your baby isn’t getting enough milk or feel that your baby isn’t thriving, speak to your doctor or consult a lactation specialist. If low milk production is the problem, correcting it may be as simple as making a few changes to your routine or feeding technique, or adjusting a medication you’re on.

If you’re supply is low or you’re having other trouble with breastfeeding, try to remember the motto “Fed is best.” As long as your baby is well-fed and getting the nourishment they need, breast milk or formula are both fine.

Last medically reviewed on May 7, 2018

• Parenthood
• Postpartum Care
• Post Delivery

How we reviewed this article:

Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We avoid using tertiary references. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

• Amount of milk. (n.d.).
  llli.org/breastfeeding-info/amount/
• Breastfeeding report card –– United States, 2010. (2010).
  cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/breastfeedingreportcard2010.pdf
• Increasing supply. (2018).
  breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/common-concerns–mum/supply
• Kent JC, et al. (2012). Principles for maintaining or increasing breast milk production. DOI:
  
• LaFleur E. (2015). What causes a low milk supply during breast-feeding?
  mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/expert-answers/low-milk-supply/faq-20058148
• Lee HC, et al. (2012). A quality improvement project to increase breast milk use in very low birth weight infants. DOI:
  10.1542/peds.2012-0547
• Newman J, et al. (2009). Herbs for increasing milk supply.
  canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org/induced/herbs.shtml
• Pitman T. (n.d.). Losing your milk: What seems like dwindling milk can actually be normal changes in baby and you.
  breastfeedingusa.org/content/article/losing-your-milk-what-seems-dwindling-milk-can-actually-be-normal-changes-baby-and-y
• Prime DK, et al. (2012). Simultaneous breast expression in breastfeeding women is more effective than sequential breast expression. DOI:
  10.1089/bfm.2011.0139
• Your guide to breastfeeding. (n.d.).
  womenshealth.gov/files/documents/your-guide-to-breastfeeding.pdf

Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

Current Version

May 7, 2018

Written By

Adrienne Santos-Longhurst

Edited By

Frank Crooks

Medically Reviewed By

Valinda Riggins Nwadike, MD, MPH

Share this article

How to increase the amount of milk for a nursing mother? - an article in the blog of the medical center Health for Children in Moscow