How do I make more breast milk?

Question

I have a 3 week old and I started breast feeding him first and I notice that he was hungry. Like I wasn't satisfying his hunger. So I started bottle feeding him. I would like to breast feed him more then I bottle feed. Do I need to eat more calories? What do you think that would help me produce more milk? Thank you!

Answer 1

I found drinking more fluids helped produce more milk. Naturally eating a balanced diet is important too. While I was sitting and breastfeeding I took advantage of that down time to drink as much as possible. I do believe you can breastfeed and bottle feed...but everyone has a different belief there. Good luck and enjoy. It will get easier. It also takes a bit for your milk to come in, the way I remember it.

Answer 2

The more you nurse, the more milk you will make. Breastfeeding is a supply and demand process. The more you supplement, the less milk you will make.

He is supposed to be eating all the time at this age. There are a lot of growth spurts close together. (10 days to 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks.) These are times when it will fell like all you do is nurse for 2-4 days. He is boosting your supply to meet his new needs.

It is normal for him to need to nurse at least every 2 hours around the clock at this age. Breastmilk digests in about 90 minutes. His tummy is only the size of his fist.

You should be eating about 1800 - 2000 calories per day. But even more important is getting enough fluids. It's OK to have some caffeine, but important to remember that caffeinated beverages do not count towards your daily fluid intake.

NURSE NURSE NURSE! The more you nurse him, the more milk you'll make. Call a Lactation Consultant or a La Leche League Leader for one on one help. The LLL Leader will help you for FREE and may even visit you at home with such a young baby.

Answer 3

Bottle is generally a bad idea. By letting him nurse more that will help your body to produce more milk. You probably do not need more calories, unless you are on a drastically restricted diet. You do need a generous amount of fluid in your diet. If you are the least dehydrated your body will begin to limit milk production. You need to restrict yourself to healthy food. Eliminate Caffeine, and all other drugs as much as you can. It takes a few days for milk production to respond to feeding an infant. usually between three and four days. The weight of the baby actually drops normally for about four days in the beginning, indicating that he is getting less food. However, he gains it back once things get rolling. You need to think that for the first nine months the baby was fed differently. The whole digestive system is just beginning to function. It takes a few days, and is totally miraculous that it can happen at all (when you think of how many things have to get "on line" and "tuned up" in those first days.) Filling the tender young digestive system with foreign material to "make weight" is not really productive, or helpful.

Answer 4

Take the bottle away now if you want to breastfeed. Your baby was going through a growth spurt. It's normal for them to nurse constantly during a growth spurt.

Supply issues are the most common worry for new moms (and experienced moms too!) especially since breast aren’t see though and don’t have ounce markers on them.
You CAN'T nurse too often--you CAN nurse too little. It is normal for newborns to nurse every 45 minutes to ever 2-3 hours. They have tiny stomachs (only about the size if their little fists) and breast milk is fully digested in approximately 90 minutes!

Infants, thrive best when allowed to feed as they indicate their needs. NURSE ON DEMAND!! At the very least, this should be every two to three hours during the day and every four to five hours at night for a total of eight to 12 feedings every 24 hours. Calculate the time between feedings from the beginning of one feeding to the beginning of the next. Most feedings usually last 20 to 40 minutes, but do not watch the clock during the feeding. When your baby is a newborn nursing sessions can sometimes seem to last so long that you barely have any time to get anything done before the next session begins. This is normal and it will not last forever.

DO NOT TRY TO PUT YOUR BABY ON A FEEDING SCHEDULE. A study found “ that many women experience success in schedule feeding their breastfed babies during the first couple of months. However, these women have an unusually high rate of milk supply failure around 3-4 months”


During the 1st 6-8 weeks, he will perfect his nursing skills so that he will need less time to consume the same amount of milk. Keeping him near you at all times will help you to be aware of his early hunger cues (rooting, fussing, etc.) so that you can feed him without allowing him to work up into a hungry, stressful cry. Minimizing your baby's crying in this way will also be less stressful on you and the other members of your household.

How old is your baby? They go through 2-3 growth spurts in the 1st 6 weeks! During growth spurts baby will nurse constantly. Breast milk is a system of supply and demand. Baby suckles more so you will produce more milk to meet his growing needs. This is normal and does not mean you don't have enough milk. Do not supplement, as this can be detrimental to the delicate balance of the supply and demand system.


Do not supplement with formula-this will make mom produce less milk!!
Don’t use a pacifier -a study has documented that pacifier use is associated with a shorter duration of breastfeeding, while another study found that mothers who utilize pacifiers for their infants frequently exercise a higher degree of behavioral control while breastfeeding, often leading again to shorter duration of breastfeeding overall.



Also, if he is comfort nursing there is nothing wrong with that, that is part of breastfeeding, bonding and comforting your child. Babies also require nearly constant human contact for proper development. A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and the security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three. - Dr. Grantly Dick-Read

Under 6 weeks you are still building your supply, the non-nutritive sucking helps to make sure you have enough milk. Breastmilk is all about supply and demand. If you don’t let your newborn suck at the breast during the 2-3 growth spurts they have by the agr of 6 weeks, you will have problems with supply, a fussy baby, a frazzled mom and it will all lead to early weaning.

Newborns simply love to be touched and cuddled. The skin to skin touch helps you and your baby bond, comforts your baby when she is upset or uneasy with gas or colic problems. Hence, touch is a critical part of growth and development

DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS
Get plenty of rest
Eating oatmeal daily works for some woman
Fenugreek supplement 3 capsules 3 times per day

The time between feedings will eventually stretch out and feedings will become part of life rather than your whole life! ;) Your baby will establish more of a feeding pattern, which will make life more predictable. The patterns that he establishes, however, will be his patterns and will be appropriate to his unique emotional and physiological needs. And these patterns will change as he grows.

Answer 5

First, the more you nurse (or pump) the more milk you will produce. Second, Make sure you drink lots of water, the more hydrated you are the better your milk supply.Third, You only need to take in 500 extra calories a day when you breastfeed to keep yourself healthy and keep a good supply of milk for baby.
Good luck and congrats!!!

Answer 6

Frequent feedings help keep the milk supply up. If you plan on breastfeeding for quite some time try not to use the bottle with formula. Pump your milk when you get a good amount of milk going and you can use it when you are away from baby. You have to eat properly as if you were pregnant for milk to be nutritious. Don't give up, keep trying.

Answer 7

You don't need to drink milk to make breastmilk, but you should check with your doctor to see what you're eating and drinking and why you're not producing enough milk for your son. If you breastfeed him more and only supplement one or two bottles a day, you should make more milk that way too. Good luck.

Answer 8

The best way to increase your milk supply is to nurse on demand. That means that whenever your baby seems even the slightest bit hungry, nurse him. You may end up nursing him every hour, but that's normal and healthy for you and your baby.

You might need to get in touch with a Lactation Consultant to further help you in your efforts to build your supply. Eating oatmeal, taking fenugreek seed, drinking lots of water, and avoiding hormonal birth control are also helpful in building milk supply, but the most important thing is to NURSE ON DEMAND.

Answer 9

I am a nutritionist

what you eat has nothing to do with your milk supply

its controlled by how often you nurse your baby

if you cut out the bottles and nurse more your milk supply will grow to meet your babys needs (and your baby will nurse less often)

Answer 10

first off get rid of the bottle and all soothers, let him use you. nurse nurse nurse nurse. and pump in between. at first this may mean nursing every 30-60 mins. increase your water intake. like 3-4 liters a day.
you can get a SNS, supplemental nursing system. that way the baby sucking will provide stmulation while getting milk.
oatmeal can increase supply, eating it 3-4 times a day.
try contacting La Leche League, they will be able to give more ideas and great support.
good luck