Are you one of those mothers who are discouraged by relatives, friends, and doctors to breastfeed your little one because they’re thinking your breastmilk is not enough? Well then, here is my personal experience about breastfeeding.
The moment after I gave birth
When my second baby was born in September 2019, I was not able to hold him for the first three days of his life. Few hours after giving birth, I was paralyzed because I was injected with the wrong medicine. It made me lethargic for few days and it was only on the fourth day that I was able to hold my newborn and breastfeed him.
He was properly latching and after being fed, he always fell asleep. So, I believed then that I was giving him the proper nourishment. His pediatrician told us that we would know if he is getting enough milk if he is pooping twice a day and has diaper change thrice a day.
Here’s what I did to increase my breast milk supply. | Image from iStock
Upon returning home with my little one, I immediately breast pumped, and that’s when I started to doubt myself. I found out that I was only getting 5 ml at the most. I became anxious and stressed seeing the result of every breast pump session. It was a total disappointment and made me feel like a weakling.
That’s when I started to ask myself if I should continue breastfeeding my baby or just surrender to my relatives’ plea: shift to formula milk. But instead of giving up, I challenge myself.
How to increase my breast milk supply? Here’s what I did:
How to increase breast milk supply? | Image from iStock
1. Believe in Demand and Supply Law
I didn’t stop reading blogs about breastfeeding and there is one thing that all articles are saying in common– the “supply and demand law”. Simply put it this way, the more demand for milk, the more supply. It is the woman’s body that dictates whether she needs to increase her milk flow. In order to succeed, you need to convince your body that your baby needs more liquid gold.
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2. Consume Lactation Drink
Like all mothers who attempted to exclusively breastfeed their children, I was introduced to lactation foods. My twin sister invited me to join Facebook groups of breastfeeding moms. They shared the lactation drinks that worked for them. At present, I am drinking M2 Malunggay Tea Drink and some chocolate-flavored lactation drinks.
3. Drink Malunggay Capsules
Aside from lactation drinks, I do intake Malunggay capsules twice a day.
4. Eat Oatmeal
I was not a fan of oatmeal but when I learned that these are galactagogues, foods that promote or increase the flow of mother’s milk, I started to put oatmeal on my lactation drink. Believe me, it is a delicious mix.
5. Do Power pump
Since my little one is unlimitedly latching on me, I do breast pump twice or thrice a day. A session may last 20 to 30 minutes or until the last drop of my breastmilk. I do this regularly to be consistent with the demand and supply law.
6. Invest in Good Breast pump
I was using an old electric breast pump that was painful to my breasts. It didn’t drain my milk and I needed to do hand express after every pumping session just to squeeze out all the milk. So I canvassed for a good double electric breast pump that’s within my budget.
To give you a clearer picture of my milk production, I created this timeline chart.
How to increase breast milk supply?
Truly, if there is a will, there is always a way. Don’t get tired of believing that you can give enough breastmilk to your baby. To mommies who are struggling with producing milk, may your mantra be like “Everything is possible.”
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