From Scarcity to Abundance By Barbara Behrmann

New Year’s Greetings to all Real Savvy Mom Readers! For many of us, this is a time of year when the pace slows down after the busy holiday season and we regain our focus; a time when new resolutions are made (and often broken). But if you’re taking care of a newborn, resolutions and the outside world may well be on the periphery of your concerns. Your reality is right there in front of you, demanding your full attention.

This is especially true if you’re to build up your milk supply. In a recent post on a Real Savvy Mom’s message board, a mom wrote to find out how often to pump and how long to pump at each session in order to relactate. She had weaned her 7 ½ week-old four weeks earlier, but after seeing the impact formula was having on her son’s digestive system, she regretted her decision and wanted to know how to rebuild her milk supply.

Even if you’ve not lost your milk supply, you’re not alone if you find that you’re not producing as much milk as your baby needs. Maybe you’ve been supplementing with formula all along and now want to nurse exclusively. Maybe your baby never latched on well, failing to properly stimulate your milk production. Maybe your milk supply decreased after you went back to work. Whatever the reason, here are some suggestions to increase – or rebuild – your milk supply.

Time at the Breast

Assuming your baby is latched on properly, the more time your baby can spend at your breast, the better. And skin-to-skin is preferable to clothes-to-clothes. If your weeks are especially busy, maybe you could use the weekend for what lactation consultants refer to as “a nursing marathon” staying in bed with your baby – as minimally clothed as possible - nursing more than you ever thought you would, and drinking plenty of water. All that extra suckling time will send a message to your breasts to make more milk. And don’t worry about nursing too much. Babies nurse for many reasons besides hunger and it’s perfectly fine, in fact, recommended, to suckle your baby for comfort.

But how do you manage all that suckling time? And what if, like many moms, you can’t do a “babymoon” all weekend long? That’s ok. Just try to nurse as often as you can, ideally at least every two or three hours during the day and at least once during the night. As my own lactation consultant once so wisely told me, “nights are for survival.”

To maximize production, it’s a good idea to offer both breasts at each feeding, but don’t drive yourself crazy timing it. Simply let your baby stay on the first breast as long as he is actively sucking and swallowing. This makes it more likely that he will get the richer, fattier hindmilk and not just the less satisfying foremilk. You may also want to try breast compression toward the end of each breast to help him get a few more swallows in. An excellent handout to help you do this effectively is available at dr.jacknewman.com.

When the frequency of his sucking and swallowing slows down, offer the second breast. If your baby quickly falls asleep at your breast, however, you may want to switch breasts several times during a feeding to help keep him awake. Again, change breasts when his sucking slows down and you hear him swallowing less frequently.

Pumping Know-How

Expressing your milk does two things: it lets you gradually supplement your baby with more breastmilk and less formula, and the stimulation and milk removal sends a message to your breasts to produce more.

Lactation Consultant Diane Wiessinger suggests that pumping ten times a day is ideal if your baby isn’t nursing at all. If that’s unrealistic, she adds, as it is for most women, eight times a day is practical and six sessions a day is the bare minimum. Each session should last around 10-15 minutes. If that sounds too daunting, simply pump as often as you can manage. And remember the advice that nights are for survival. If you can manage to pump just once a night, you’re helping to boost your production without sacrificing too much sleep.

As your baby takes less of the formula and more of your milk, you can gradually cut back on the pumping. Wiessinger recommends pumping at least once a day (preferably in the morning when breasts tend to be the fullest) until your baby is no longer using formula at all.

Finally, a good pump is essential! Many of the semi-automatic and double breast pumps sold at chain stores provide too little stimulation to release the milk and may cause discomfort or pain. This includes pumps made by formula and bottle manufacturers. A hospital grade breast pump works best and you can typically find one available for rental. Medela www.medela.com and Ameda by Hollister www.ameda.com are the two leading manufactuers of pumps. Their websites also offer lists of rental locations.

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