Tips For Increasing Breast Milk Supply
By nature, 90% mothers will be able to supply enough breast milk for their babies.In the rare case that the mother feels she does not have enough milk for her baby and wants to increase the milk produciton, here are some useful tips.
First and foremost, the beauty of nature is that breast milk supply is a demand-and-supply process.The higher the demand, the more the brain is stimulated to produce breast milk and so the higher the supply.Demand is triggered with a baby sucking the milk directly or when the mother pumps milk out manually.Thus you should allow the baby to nurse as long as he likes, or pump milk until there is enough milk.
Secondly, breastmilk production will inevitably draw nutrients and energy from the mother.Thus, the mother should take rest whenever possible.
But if you have exhausted the above and yet need or want to increase breast milk production, read the following list of food that are believed to be able to stimulate the supply:
Fish soup: this is a traditional Chinese recipe that is widely believed to be able to help a new mother recover and also stimulate breast milk production.The method is simple: in a Chinese wok, fry a small piece of ginger.Then fry a piece of fish, use whatever fish available in your area.Fry until both sides are golden brown.Pour in about 1 Litre of water.Put in 2 tomatoes and 1 potato.Boil on medium-high fire until the soup turns white.This takes about half to an hour.Add salt to taste.If papaya is available, use it in place of tomato and potato.Papaya performs better in terms of stimulating breast milk production.
Milk and soya milk: to increase milk production, the intake of milk is very important.This is easily available from supermarkets!
Organic mother’s milk herbal tea: this is also widely available in the form of herbal tea bags.Just brew it the way you would brew a tea bag.Hence this is also a very convenient way for stimulating milk supply.However the taste may not suit everyone and also the effectiveness varies from people to people.
Any other drinks such as fruit juice and water: breast milk contains 80% water.Thus you could imagine how important it is to replenish the water used to produce milk.Use simple mathematics: a normal person requires 8 cups or 2 liters of water everyday.If the baby is fed 6 times a day, with each time taking 150ml of milk, then the daily breast milk production is (150ml * 6 = ) 900ml.Add this (900ml * 80% = ) 720ml of extra milk requirement from your body which is approximately equal to 3 additional cups of beverage every day.
On the contrary, there is some food that is will reduce milk production.These include pig liver, baby pigeon, and malted beverages such as Horlicks.Again, the effect varies with different people.But if you are already short of supply, it is advised not to take these food.
The final piece of advice is that the mother should feel relaxed and be confident, and enjoy the process of breastfeeding.This is one of the closest moments you will have with your baby in his whole life!