Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
Many moms want to know how to make more breast milk, it is a common worry for new breastfeeding mommies. The best way to increase your breast milk supply is by feeding your baby. It is simple – your body will produce what it needs to feed your baby. The more you feed the more breast milk you will produce.
***Disclosure -The links in this post may contain affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on a link.***
Tips To Make More Breast Milk:
- Feed baby more frequently and for as long as he wants;
- Offer both breasts at every feed;
- Keep baby on the first breast as long as he is actively sucking and swallowing;
- Offer the second breast when baby slows down or stops. In this way baby should empty at least one breast meaning he will get the fatty hindmilk that he needs;
- Your baby should end the feeding. He may do this by falling asleep and detaching from the breast after about 10 to 30 minutes of active sucking and swallowing;
- Try swapping breasts constantly during feeds. Your breasts will never be completely empty as milk is continuously made, so by the time you swap over there will again be some milk for baby;
- Wear baby skin to skin in a sling. This is convenient for frequent feeding and you will also be aware of his little movements and quickly be able to get him to nurse as he makes those little feeding signs. This is also great for milk making hormones;
- Express in-between feeds for extra stimulation;
- It usually takes about 48 hours of frequent stimulation to increase supply;
- Stimulation needs to happen at least every 2 hours;
- Newborns need to feed frequently;
- Breast milk is digested in 90 minutes so wanting to suck all the time is normal and good.
Also Remember You
Find a comfortable and quiet place to breastfeed your baby. Try and rest while feeding. This will make you more relaxed and promote bonding with your baby.
Taking supplements to increase the supply will not work on their own; you have to increase stimulation, either by pumping or by baby sucking. And baby sucking is far more effective than the pump!
Take care of yourself and your body by drinking plenty of water and juices, as fluids are essential in your body’s breast milk production. Drinking excessive amounts of fluids will not increase your milk supply, however proper hydration is important.
Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, get plenty of rest and reduce stress. A strong body has more energy to produce the adequate amount of breast milk for your baby.
Increase Your Calorie Intake
While new mothers are often preoccupied with losing the baby weight and are trying to reduce calories, breast-feeding requires at least an extra 500 calories per day. Too few calories and your body will not have sufficient energy for proper milk production.
Please remember that breastfeeding does not always come naturally to all moms, if you are struggling and need help you can contact the La Leche League South Africa and they will put you in touch with a La Leche League Leader that can help you.
If you want more comprehensive information how to increase your breast milk supply I highly recommend you consider getting one of these books:
The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide To Making More Milk
This book is written by two leading experts who have been there themselves. This book is recommended by La Leche League International. It provides great up to date information about the causes of low milk supply, how our bodies make milk and how contribute to your milk production.
This is my #1 recommendation if you are looking to increase your breast milk supply. Click here to buy it from Amazon.
The Womanly Art Of Breastfeeding
This book is considered to be the leading source of breast feeding support and information and is endorsed by the La Leche League. It covers topics such as preparing for breastfeeding while pregnant, feeding cues, nursing positions, expressing and storing breast milk.
This book covers all the topics you will need to know about breast feeding, including how to increase your milk supply. Click here to buy it from Amazon.
Do you have any more great tips to make more milk? Please share them with us in the comments!
My breasts are so tender and painful at the moment, and Im only 25 weeks pregnant at the moment. I am going to try my best to breast feed, as its the healthiest and best way for myself and my baby. Im going to use a cream called Lansinoh, I hope it works.
Good luck Gillian!
I am sure everything will work out just great, check out my article on breastfeeding basics too.
I discovered the best breast pump at GAME. you wont believe it, its an electrical breast pump for only R799.00. I could not afford an electrical pump of R1200 and up so we went to game and tried it out. IT WORKED FANTASTIC!! its called “the little one”. It did not hurt me and so much milk came out quick quick.
So glad to hear it Melanie and thanks for sharing! Hopefully that will help some moms make a good choice in breast pump.
try and also get a lot of rest< what i found worked is drinking rooibos tea often and when baby sleep you sleep a well rested mommy produces more milk.
Great advice Celest, it is vital that mommy has plenty of rest!
I enjoyed this article and really like it as it gives mommies a natural approach to increase their breast milk supply. Good luck to all mommies who are breastfeeding their little ones. I use a hand pump to pump out my milk when baby doesn’t want to drink and my breast are full. Always drink a lot of water as this really helps alot, it’s good for you and baby. Xoxo
Hi Mishka
So glad you enjoyed the article and yes thanks for sharing that, staying hydrating by drinking plenty of water will help lots with breast milk supply. You are very fortunate that you have a lot of milk! Enjoy your breastfeeding journey.
Great article, just need more advice on working breasfeeding mom and how much to pump out, it is a huge challenge for me, even got nightmares.
Hi Leonie
Yes being a working mom that is breastfeeding is huge challenge, many moms have done it though.
Check out this post on how much milk your baby needs.
Great article!
I am 9months in and was blessed with loads of milk 🙂 I drank jungle juice in the beginning, because I thought that I ‘had to’ -it did increase my supply, my boobs use to explode-hehe(tmi). I used to use a snookums manual pump, but now I find hand expressing to be more effective and easier. I just love breastfeeding, not sure as to how long I should breastfeed for tho?
Hi Ilana – breastfeed for as long as you and baby are happy. There is no right and wrong, just what is right for YOU.
you are so Lucky!!! I wish I could breast feed – Keep the bonding time as long as you can. Well done Ilana!
I think expressing milk when its not feeding time helps you produce more milk fast! Also (might not have anything to do with this article) If you are pumping milk and have to much, childrens hospitals greatly appreciate the donations of breast milk (they even collect) as it is better for the babies suffering from HIV/AIDS. Just a suggestion..
Nina, donating milk is wonderful! I just wish I had enough to donate when I was breastfeeding but I could only feed my child.
Thanks for sharing this point, we have written a post for Milk Matters, click here to read about donating breast milk.
I found that oats porrige also increased my milk 🙂
wow
Expressing between feeds definitely helps your milk supply.
Keeping all this in mind! Thanks for the article!
They should give this info to new moms in the hospital… realize now how little info i had… 🙁
Hi Lizelle, yes I agree. I also had very little good information when I had my first baby and I struggled.
I was told to “top up” her feeds with formula. Now I know there isn’t a worse way to go about it if you want to continue breastfeeding! My girl stopped breastfeeding at 6 months because of that.
I read while you express, look at your baby and think of motherly things , think about how much you love your little bundle and that would help to. I had loads of milk, but my baby did not want to latch.
Hi Melanie
Yes that is a great tip and if your baby is not with you then look at a pic or video of your baby while you express.
I am so sorry to hear that your baby didn’t want to latch.
I drink the MOM drink and it realy helps with my milk!! And it also have al the needed vitamins ecs in that helps with energy during breastfeeding and during the day!!
Gingerbeer helps! Where do we get fenugreek from? Our pharmacy has never heard of it! Great article
Hi Olivia
I have never bought Fenugreek before personally. You can buy the Fenugreek Capsules at Amazon.
I heard that oats porrigde and tropica juice also increases the milk supply
I just use to drink just plenty of water or bought yeast tablets for milk supply but never had a problem with it. Breast fed my 3 kids till 2 years old
Wish I knew this when I just had my little boy. Would have made life so much easier.
Sammy it is only with my 2nd child that I really figured this out! It would be nice to know what I know now when I had my 1st baby.
Great advice! I have twins and tried all of these to keep my milk up- they diffidently work. It can be very worrying trying to get enough milk into our babies but our bodies are fantastic! 🙂
Hi Elle
That must have been really tough breast feeding twins! I know I found breast feeding one baby at a time really hard. I didn’t really get it right with my first baby because I was advised to “top up” feeds with formula when I thought I didn’t have enough milk. She suddenly seemed hungry all the time and I thought it was because I didn’t have enough milk, turns out it was just a growth spurt and all I had to do was let her feed, instead I topped up 🙁
By 6 months she was off the breast and on formula.
With my second baby I had by this time learned more about breast feeding and got it right, no top ups! I breast fed him until 13 months with no problems. That is why I was inspired to write this post. As new moms we get so much advice from well meaning people, of course the advice is not always right.
Growth spurts are natures way of getting our bodies to make more milk to keep up with our baby’s growing needs.
:great article the more you take in the more milk you produce so get lots of rest and plenty to drink
Its so nice to know this now and with my 2nd child i would really like to breastfeed longer than 3months.
My story regarding breastfeeding started in the hospital…
Baby was crying and now its time for the first feed – i was so stressed out. I just wanted baby to stop crying but it was a struggle so one of the sisters came and helped me. She said i have to use nipple shields. Thankfully i had some there and yes baby started to drink. So everytime i put on the shields and baby drinks but it was uncomfortable and messy. I didnt like using them at all – but hey they told me to put them on and thats the only way so that how we carried on.
My mother decided to stay with us for 2weeks to help out cause i hac a c-section and i must say ouch! Worst pain ever.
So in the beginning your nipples are so sore and you are sooooo tired and i dont know about you but i felt like a cow….
The soon as i think – okay she’s done drinking now – she’s gonna sleep and i only need to feed later again – she wakes and we have to start again.
I stressed cause why does she want to drink so often… maybe i dont have enough milk or maybe its not enough nutriets that she needs… and the soon as i told that to my mother she stressed me out even more.
So i decided that im going to express and she will still get breasmilk but with bottle and night time she will get formula.
Thats the worst thing i couldve done.
When i started pumping my milk supply went down and 1 breast will give me 10ml and the other 75ml and soon it was less.
I drank jungle juice used pills to help as well as Brewers Yeast pills but nothing helped.
Till today i blame myself for expressing so early.
I heard you must only pump after 6 / 7 weeks so that your breasts know how much your baby needs.
I went on breastfeeding but it wasnt enough.. so she got a bottle as well.
Last week she decided by herself that she’s done drinking the little bit that i had for her.
She was screaming that she got red in the face but she didnt wanna take the breast.
Now we are only on formula and she gaining weight but the next baby will only get breastmilk.
Thanks for the tips. I will save this for next time.
Marisca I know what you mean, my first baby stopped breastfeeding at 6 months and I also found it all so hard.
Just know that with my second baby I managed to breastfeed to 13 months. I made the decision before he was born that I was going to only breastfeed him and I would stick it through. Because of everything I learned the first time around it was much easier the second time. I knew that he was feeding so often to get my milk supply up and we had hardly any problems.
These tips really helped me a lot. I am definitely taking note.
Tips for making more milk are so important for breastfeeding moms!
I have heard the jungle juice helps but it didn’t help me
Very helpful I struggled with this last time now I have all the information…..