So, you have done what you read in the books; perfect the latch and feed on demand yet your supply is still causing you issues. I hear you, WHY? How can I improve the situation?
For different reasons individual to each woman, supply can cause issues and the sooner they are addressed the better the outcome. We know that supply works on the premise: the higher demand put to the breast leads to a higher supply rate. In other words, the more milk you remove the more milk you will make… Sounds easy eh!! Not always….. For the majority of women, they will make enough milk to feed their babies but for some extra help is needed..
So here’s are my top tips:
- Ensure correct flange size: This is crucial to pumping. If too big, the breast is not compressed adequately resulting in poor output. If too small it can result in trauma to the nipple & poor output.
- Apply warm compress to Breasts before pumping. Pumping after feeds will empty your breasts more. As you know empty breasts make more milk, full breasts won’t. By taking more milk from the breast tells your body to increase supply to meet that increased demand.
- Power pumping :Essentially this is putting a huge surge on demand so it can have a big impact on supply. I’m not going to lie though, its time consuming and can be challenging for new moms to do it all. This is only a short term method used to result in a long term goal-better supply. Mornings may be better for this as your supply is generally higher. How does it work? Pump both breasts simultaneously. Pump X 20mins, rest X 10mins, pump X 10mins rest X 10mins, pump X 10 min & stop.
- Doing breast massage while pumping can also increase yield and therefore supply. Breast compressions are your best friend in the early days of breastfeeding whether pumping or feeding baby directly.