Top Factors That Can Decrease Breast Milk Supply
By Cindy Puppos | July 10, 2023
What to avoid to keep your milk supply up.
There are many psychological benefits to breastfeeding, not just nutritional ones for your baby and yourself. When you breastfeed, your body produces the hormones, oxytocin, and prolactin. Oxytocin is well-known for being a nurturing, peace-bringing hormone that allows you to feel relaxed and thus, focus entirely on your baby.
These moments of breastfeeding build a deeper loving connection between you and your baby. But what if you are having a tough time producing breast milk? This is one of the most common breastfeeding problems but has some straightforward solutions.
Let us look at some reasons for your low milk supply and how to get it back to normal levels again.
Dehydration
As you might imagine, water is one of the biggest components of breast milk. So, if you are dehydrated and not drinking enough water, then you are going to have a tough time producing enough breast milk.
If your breast milk supply is reducing, start upping your water intake. Too many Americans (75%) are walking around in a dehydrated state in any case, so additional water will always be helpful in that regard.
Not Enough Nutrition
Being a lactating mother requires your body to use a lot of resources. If you are not receiving enough sustenance and nutrition in the form of food, then your body will go into a state of shutdown and not produce enough milk, as it tries to conserve resources.
Every mother is different in the number of calories she needs to intake, but the most important thing is to eat when you are hungry, to eat frequently, and to eat healthy nutritious food. Fast food will not cut it here.
Do not forget to take all the supplements that your medical professional has dictated for you, and up the amount of food you are eating if you are losing weight.
Stress
This is the biggest reason you might have trouble lactating or have decreased lactation. In an ideal world, all pregnant and lactating mothers would have nothing to worry about as all their financial and other needs are taken care of by the folks around them.
In the real world though, lactating mothers are dealing with lots of stresses both from the outside world and from their internal ruminations. You might even have had to go back to work as your workplace did not give you enough leave.
It might be difficult to let go of stress when you are dealing with so many different issues, but you must do so if you wish to have a proper supply of breast milk for your baby's health.
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If your baby does not get enough breast milk, they will not get proper nutrition and they will start losing weight. This is not good for their current or future health.
Start practicing meditation or mindfulness to help with all those overthinking or anxious thoughts. And if possible, ask your relatives, partner, or others around you for help with anything that is stressing you out.
You might notice that as soon as you reduce your stress levels, your breast milk supply will automatically go back up again.
Getting Sick
If you get the flu or a stomach bug or something related, then you will notice your breast milk supply might reduce due to the related symptoms of fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, or decreased appetite. You might not be receiving enough nutrition due to these additional symptoms and that might cause your body to go into conservation mode.
Make sure to stay hydrated when you are sick and eat enough food, as much as possible. Once you are healthy again and your symptoms have abated, your breast milk supply should go back up again.
Supply and Demand
The more your baby suckles at your breast and consumes breast milk, the more your body supplies breast milk. If you end up using baby formula a lot and do not pump your breasts enough or do not let your baby suckle your breasts enough, the supply will dry up.
Most lactating mothers do not realize this is one way to increase breast milk supply. One way to ensure you keep your breast milk supply high is by using a breast pump frequently throughout the day.
There are many kinds of breast pumps out there, both wireless and hands-free ones, so pick the one that works best for you. And use a breast pump throughout the day, even if your baby is not eating. This will teach your body that it needs to keep producing breast milk.
Worried about pumping breast milk at work? There are discrete breast milk pumps that can fit underneath your bra, so you can keep pumping breast milk in small bits throughout the day. This will ensure your breast milk supply doesn't dwindle even if you are at work all day away from your baby.
If you do not have a breast pump, you can get one through your insurance and receive other material wellness benefits.
Breastfeeding Problems - Do not Fret if Your Breast Milk Supply Reduces
The more you stress about decreased lactation, the less breast milk you will produce, as stress can be the biggest factor in reducing said supply. That is why calmly culling through the main reasons for breast milk reduction and finding solutions is the best way to manage the situation.
If you feel like you could do with more support, then maternity wellness services can help. Contact a lactation consultant about your breastfeeding problems. These services are covered by insurance!
About the Author
Cindy Puppos is 1 Natural Way's Customer Service Manager, so she has a good idea of all the different and wonderful questions that moms have for her team. Thankfully, as the mother of two boys (who are now grown!) and a veteran of the company and breastfeeding, Cindy is always knowledgeable about breastfeeding, pumping and all the latest and greatest pumps!
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