Increasing Your Milk Supply

Increasing Your Milk Supply

Article Excerpt from Mother2Mother Website

INCREASING YOUR SUPPLY:

There are wonderful tips on increasing milk supply below - those that work for nursing mothers also work for mothers who exclusively pump, the biggest "difference" is that nursing mothers are encouraged to put baby to breast often, and pumping mothers are encouraged to pump often. Probably THE most important thing to remember is to pump often and pump long enough to soften (or "empty") the breast.

"Some little tips to help increase your supply if you really need it. It's nice to have these on hand just in case:

First drink plenty of water. I don't drink a ton but I make sure to stay hydrated. Check your pee when you go (I know, sounds funny!). If it is light yellow to clear, you are plenty hydrated.

Make sure you eat! While you are pumping, you will keep the weight off, I promise! It makes you hungry as a horse and it does that for a reason. You need the extra calories because you are burning so much off! When I didn't eat enough, I would get really light headed and feel like I was going to drop my baby…not good! Eventually, your hunger should taper off (mine has).

Eat REAL oatmeal, not the instant. You can eat the quick oats (the ones that cook in 1 minute) or the old fashioned oats (that cook in 5 minutes). You can also make cookies that have oatmeal in them and get oatmeal that way (I prefer this way! Ha!). The way they process the instant oatmeal, it doesn't give you the same results. No one is sure how the oatmeal works but it does!

Get some rest (yeah, I know easier said than done!) If you are exhausted and have the opportunity to take a nap (even if it pushes your pump back) do it! You will actually get more milk that way! Even if you're not sleeping, rest by sitting down a lot. Conserving energy is important.

Don't stress too much. This all depends on how you personally handle stress. I tend to be a thinker, so I think things out a lot. It has to be some MAJOR stressful situation for it to hurt my supply.

Some suggest drinking beer with, or without alcohol. Some say it's the barley in it or something, that helps to increase supply. Plus some women just swear by the relaxation it gives them! You can have 1 or 2 beers without much crossing into your milk. If you plan to get smashed, on the other hand…well…you will have to pump and dump! (Note: Most breastfeeding experts do not routinely recommend using alcohol to boost milk supply. More on alcohol and breastfeeding here.)

There is a tea called Mothers Milk Tea and it is supposed to increase your supply if you drink it.

There are herbs like Fenugreek and also prescription medications that will increase your supply if you really need it. I would use these as a last resort but they can be effective and are available!

Most importantly, good pumping habits will keep your supply up and increase it!"

PUMPING TRICKS & More Tips For Eping Moms by Eping Moms:
(aka "Tricks of the Trade" shared by Shanna)

"Go hands free! This was the best trick I learned!! I went hands free and set my pump up by my computer and read my pumping board while I pump. It keeps me from looking down into my bottles wondering how much I'm getting, being bored out of my mind, and makes time FLY by! You can use an old nursing bra and just cut slits in the flap. Then you just slide the horns through. I did this for a while but I didn't want to wear the cut up bra all day long so that meant I had to literally change bras before each pump. At 7 times a day, that was a bit much!! So, I bought a pumping bra and LOVE it! It's the Easy Expressions Bustier. I got mine here:

www.easyexpressionproducts.com

The picture isn't that big but it was the best price I found at the time ($30.00 plus $4.00 shipping). A bigger picture of it is here:

The best thing about this bustier is that it can be worn over any nursing bra. So, when it's time to pump, I put the flaps down on my nursing bra, wrap the bustier around, slide the horns through the holes, position them and zip it up. That's all!"

You can find more information on Exclusive Pumping here:

www.mother-2-mother.com/ExclusivePumping.htm#IncreasingSupply

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