I have breastfed four babies all past 18 months, and with each baby I learned different tips and tricks to increase my breast milk production. With my first, everything was new, and I had less milk than I did with my other babies! I learned the power of nutrition to increase the amount of breast milk I let down, and how to ensure my breast milk came in strong for baby's needs. I know the first month especially can be really hard. Establishing your supply, getting on a routine, trying to eat and manage with no sleep...all of it is a lot! The good news is that I have some amazing tips that I've learned to help you increase breast milk instantly. My background is in nutrition and fitness, and I am a certified nutrition coach and Pre/Post Natal Fitness Specialist. I quickly put to test many foods and nutrients to see which ones would give the best increase in supply. Keep reading for the best tips that have actually worked for me, and hopefully they will help you get a good milk supply flowing!
Most new, breastfeeding mothers want to increase their breast milk naturally, while at home. A low milk supply is one of the most common concerns for new mothers, and sadly a large reason for ending their breastfeeding journey early! If you believe you aren't making enough breast milk, make sure you know the true signs of a dropping supply/
How to know if your milk supply is really low?
Many new moms think their supply is low, but don't really know the true signs. One of the most obvious signs your milk supply is lower than it should be is your baby's weight gain. Newborns typically lose some weight in the first week or so, as they learn to breastfeed, but overall, your new baby should be gaining the appropriate amount of weight. Your pediatrician will mention to you if your baby is not gaining enough weight. If this is happening, this could mean your supply isn't enough, but there could be many other factors involved like a tongu-tie or improper latching.
Another sign your milk supply may be low is the number of soiled or wet diapers baby has. If your baby is seeming dehydrated with very few wet diapers, they could be not getting enough milk.
It is important to understand that a lack of weight gain and soiled diapers doesn't mean that your supply is low, but it is a possible reason. If you are going back to work, or know you need to increase your supply, here's the tricks you must try.
Must-try tips to increase breast milk instantly:
1. Start your day with lactation shakes:
Lactation shakes are the best way to increase milk supply naturally. Lactation shakes or smoothies combine nutrition and powerful ingredients that allow your body to naturally produce more milk. Milk Dust is an amazing, propietary-formula of nutrients and herbs that are needed during lactation. Milk Dust was developed by working with medical professionals to ensure that the increased nutrient needs during lactation were met with the highest quality ingredients. The shakes taste amazing, and help curb sugar cravings too! You can get the free recipe book, and read 5 reasons thousands of mamas are switching to Milk Dust.
Milk Dust offers some of the most potent milk-boosting ingredients that naturally boost supply. These include:
- Fenugreek seeds
- Fennel seeds
- brewer’s yeast
- Spinach (for your leafy greens!)
- B vitamins
- Turmeric
- Milk Thistle
These ingredients naturally increase milk supply by supporting hormonal function, which is the foundation of lactation. Some have scientific studies to back them, while others have anecdotal evidence collected over centuries of use to boost milk production in women all over the world. Whether you choose to use Milk Dust or not, a lactation shake is a simple way to start your morning at home, while giving your supply a boost naturally. Lactation shakes are also so much healthier than lactation cookies. Lactation cookies can help in the short term, but they don't solve the root issue of nutrient-needs for hormonal balance. A balanced diet full of whole grains, protein, fruits and vegetables is the most natural way to increase your milk supply.
If lactation shakes don't work for you, Milk Dust has a new Super Greens powder. It is AMAZING for increasing milk supply through nutrition and superfoods.
The Super Greens tastes amazing, and you just mix it with water and drink on the go. The superfoods like spinach, spirulina, wheat grass, blueberry and raspberry provide essential nutrients and phytonutrients that can help tremendously for filling in those nutrient gaps.
Super Greens also offers a powerful mushroom blend to help increase lactation. This includes, Reishi Mushroom, Shitake Mushroom and Maitake Mushroom to help balance hormones to increase lactation.
Even better, the Super Greens has a powerful metabolism blend to help you increase your metabolism postpartum! This includes Turmeric Root, Green Tea Leaf, Cinnamon Bark, and Korean Gingseng Root. These are powerful ingredients that support your metabolism, especially when it slows down postpartum!
Fenugreek tea, lactation teas, adding brown rice to your healthy diet and other herbal supplements may help you increase milk supply as well, but it does take time to find a formula of supplements, diet and nutrition that will work. Milk Dust has done the work for you, and combined essential nutrients and herbs to boost supply. The Milk Dust formula is now patent-pending, and works for most mothers. If you are sensitive to fenugreek, which a small percentage of mothers are, we have a fenugreek-free formula as well.
SNICKERS LACTATION SHAKE TO INCREASE MILK SUPPLY
2. Allow baby to feed longer at each session:
Another one of the natural ways to increase your supply at home is to allow your baby to feed longer at each feeding session. This will encourage more milk coming out, which tells your body to increase production. Basically, you want to allow baby to get your breast as empty as possible, so when you think baby is finished, encourage them to try and suck a little longer. Even if it is only 5 minutes longer on each side, it will make a difference in more milk being emptied, which can make a big difference in the amount your supply increases. This is a very simple trick that naturally increases supply at home. You can keep an eye on baby's birth weight and current weight to know for sure if this is working too. Your pediatrician will be able to guide you if baby is gaining enough weight from the feedings.
3. Add 3-5 extra feedings per day:
In addition to encouraging baby to feed longer, also encourage baby to feed more often. You may not even realize that when baby is fussy around dinner time, they may want an extra feed. Try feeding for comfort too, which is one of the fastest ways to increase your supply at home. This is very similar to cluster feeding, but instead of baby wanting to feed more frequently, you are encouraging them too to help establish that healthy milk supply you want. In the early weeks, as you connect with your pediatrician, they can provide you with medical advice as to if baby is gaining enough weight with the extra feedings. You can also power pump, where you pump every 30-60 minutes in between baby's feeds, which many moms have success with as well.
4. Wear baby skin-to-skin as much as possible:
Keeping baby close, with skin-to-skin contact an help increase your supply as well. The pheremones are really important to keeping the bond and the hormones going strong. While at home, wear baby in a wrap or carrier, and spend time just holding and rocking baby. You can also get more done when you are hands-free, so this is a great trick to help.
5. Use a hakaa or manual pump on the opposite side while feeding:
A super simple, and natural way to get more milk is to use a manual pump, or a Hakaa on the opposite side while baby is nursing. Breast compression, whether with a manual pump, hand expression, or electric breast pump on the opposite side that baby nurses can be a game-changer. The trick is to catch and encourage the let down, then nurse baby on that side after it is already emptied. This will encourage more production, and it is so simple. The next time, switch sides, so you can get more out of the other side as well.
6. Check your baby's latch:
Another important tip is to check your baby's latch, A good latch allows baby to empty the breast with less work. A lactation consultant is your best bet when it comes to help with this. They can determine how much milk baby might be getting during each feeding and let you know if you really have a low breast milk supply. A lactation expert is always worth the time, especially for moms of premature babies, who may need extra support as they learn to breastfeed.
7. Stay super hydrated (it's more than jut drinking water!):
Staying hydrated is so much more than just drinking more water. In order to hold on to your water, you need minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium to help your body hold onto hydration. Milk Dust offers some minerals, and you can add hydration drinks into your diet to ensure you get enough minerals to help increase hydration. You can read our post about Body Armour for milk supply too. Having a water bottle handy at all times is a really simple way to increase the production of breast milk completely naturally. Start with a glass of water first thing in the morning, and make sure you drink a full glass before every meal to ensure you are getting enough.
The best foods that will increase your milk supply instantly:
There really are foods that support a healthy milk supply, and when you combine these with a great nutritional supplement like Milk Dust, it is a great way to get more ounces out of every pumping session. Food is one of the easy ways to increase your supply completely naturally. These foods all have a lot of nutrients that support your body and nourish it postpartum. Some of the best include:
- Spinach (in Milk Dust!)
- Raspberries (in Milk Dust!)
- Sweet Potatoes
- Quinoa (in Milk Dust!)
- Flax seeds (in Milk Dust!)
- Chia seeds (in Milk Dust!)
- Eggs
- Salmon
- Oatmeal
Making these foods all a part of your daily routine will also help keep you nourished and help your body heal after birth. Weight loss is often a benefit when you focus more on nutrient-dense foods, which has been shown to help prevent postpartum depression.
Many times, a breastfeeding mama doesn't know why their supply is low, and buy and try everything to produce just a few more ounces. If you combine proper nutrition, with potent herbs and ingredients, you can see an increase in supply in sometimes just a few hours or days. By tracking the number of dirty diapers your baby has, you will know how much nutrition they are getting.
There you have 7 must-try tips to increase your breast milk naturally at home. All of these tips are ways that work with your body, so it can produce more milk for your baby. Don't ignore reasons your milk supply may be low. One of the main reasons women experience a low supply is a lack of nutrition and proper nourishment. With the demands of a new baby, lack of sleep, and overall stressful days, it is really hard to put diet and nutrition first. That is where Milk Dust is an amazing solution to help with proper nourishment and milk supply.
What's in the Milk Dust Lactation Blend?
The Milk Dust lactation blend consists of these specific ingredients that increase milk supply:
Milk thistle:
Milk thistle is widely used as a galactagogue, and there is a great study that reports a 32% increase in milk supply after mothers used it for 63 days. "Results:Women orally treated for 63 days with Silymarin showed a clear galactagogue role for the product with an increase of 85.94% of the daily milk production (placebo: +32.09%). No drop out, nor unwanted effects were reported in both groups. Compliance and tolerability were also very good…" This is great news, and shows the power of milk thistle for lactation. This is one of the main ingredients in the lactation blend.
Organic Red Raspberry Leaf:
Red raspberry leaf doesn't have as much clinical backing on its own for milk supply specifically, but it is amazing in supporting overall hormonal health in women. In addition. red raspberry leaf when combined with other ingredients like fenugreek are shown to increase milk supply in this study. In addition to the lactation benefits, Vitamin B6, found in red raspberry leaves, is a fighter of all things PMS, including mood changes and irritability. In addition, B6 binds to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, helping regulate these steroid hormones, reducing your risk of cancer. Lactation is a very hormonal-dependent process, so any ingredient that helps balance this process is going to benefit lactation.
Brewer's Yeast:
Brewer's yeast is one of the ingredients that has been used for centuries to increase lactation. This means that there are hundreds of years of anecdotal evidence to support its use. The studies illustrate that it is actually the nutritional enhancement brewer's yeast provides that increases milk supply. This is where Milk Dust differs than other lactation drinks, which I will go into, but Milk Dust also targets nutrients that help increase and support lactation as well. This study states, "Although studies in ruminants indicate that brewer's yeast might increase milk supply, the effect is attributed to improved nutrition (increases in vitamin B and chromium) rather than any specific effect on lactation." Overall, with the centuries of use and amazing nutrient qualities, it is an important part of the Milk Dust lactation protein blend.
Fenugreek seeds:
Fenugreek has both anecdotal and evidence-based studies. This means that subjects reported an increase in milk supply based on their own experience when using fenugreek to increase milk supply. "In a US survey, of 122 mothers who used fenugreek as a galactogogue 43% thought it increased milk supply and 5% thought it decreased their milk supply" (study). In addition, fenugreek was included in an overall study of various herbs to increase lactation. "Shatavari, torbangun, fenugreek, milk thistle, and a Japanese herbal medication were the 5 herbal preparations studied. Five trials found an increase in breast milk production. "(study). My favorite study is this one, that shows fenugreek alone increased milk supply against a placebo. Any studies using a placebo are very helpful becuase the comparison shows the power of the product itself. "The NMA results of 4 studies indicated that consumption of fenugreek significantly increased amount of the produced breast milk [11.11, CI 95% 6.77, 15.46] versus placebo. " This is 4 studies, which shows the power of fenugreek alone, and why it is an essential part of the Milk Dust lactation blend.
Fennel seeds:
Fennel seed is very similar to fenugreek, and it too has been shown to increase milk supply both anecdotally and in scientific studies. The International Journal of Pediatrics reports that, "Ten studies were included into review. Five studies showed the fennel alone or in herbal tea can increase breast milk and neonatal anthropometry." 10 studies is a lot, and those studies focused on fennel, showing the power of the ingredient by itself to increase lactation.
THE POWER OF THE MILK DUST LACTATION BLEND:
By blending all of these ingredients together, you can harness the power of each of them in slightly smaller doses. This helps mitigate any of the possible side effects, and allows all of them to work together. This is why Milk Dust is so successful in increasing milk supply. It offers the best, most researched ingredients in one blend to really support healthy lactation. Lactation consultants use this, and Milk Dust has been used to help mothers relactate!
"I am constantly looking for supplements and tools to help my ladies. I ordered your sample pack and tested it for 6 days. I can honestly tell you I loved it, I was really impressed with the smell and taste, your lactation blend is great, the product overall exceed my expectations."
- Michele Hodges Lactation Consultant + Lactation Sation Podcast
I've found that the best way for me to increase my supply is to focus on eating clean and nutrients. Protein powder really helped me add in more protein to my diet, especially when I am someone that doesn't love to eat a lot of meat or eggs. I tend to like carbs and sweet foods, so the best food for me was a sweet and delicious protein shake or smoothie! The good news is that Milk Dust also targets sugar cravings, so it can help you in your weight loss efforts too! The simple diet lifestyle changes had a huge affect on me, and below are some additional foods you need to add to your diet. From there, I have a few more tips that will help you increase your milk supply naturally at home, so you know you have enough breastmilk for baby.
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