How to bulk up breast milk
Tips for Increasing BREASTMILK SUPPLY | How to POWER PUMP | Foods to Produce More Milk | Birth Doula
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hey mama is one of the biggest worries
that women face when they're
breastfeeding is the question am I
making enough milk for my baby
and while the answer to that question is
most the time yes sometimes there are
challenges in producing enough milk so
in this video I'm going to be sharing
with you tips on how to increase your
milk supply if you've been to my channel
before I'm so glad that you're back for
some more videos but if you're new don't
forget to subscribe to my channel and
hit the little bell so you don't miss
any of my future videos I'm Bridget and
I'm a doula in the San Francisco Bay
Area and I love helping moms love their
birth so being a breastfeeding mom
myself and also working with lots of
different breastfeeding moms I know that
there's a big worry of whether or not
you are producing enough milk to feed
your baby I've been there before and yes
normally you are producing enough milk
and you'll be able to know whether or
not you're making this milk by science
that baby is giving you so at the
beginning some good signs that you are
giving your baby enough milk is you know
if you're nursing about 8 to 12 times in
a 24-hour period you know that way you
know that you're feeding baby often
enough to be producing a lot of milk and
nursing them often enough so that they
are removing the milk that signals the
breast to be making more when
breastfeeding is comfortable for the
majority of that nursing session it's
also another good indicator that baby is
getting enough milk if you're hearing
swallowing sounds when baby is drinking
it's a good sign that they're getting
milk out of your breast however if you
hear them clicking like um that's a sign
that baby's not latched on super well
and so you know you if you hear those
swallowing sounds that's great if you're
hearing clicking sounds and feeling a
little bit of pain that might mean that
baby's latches not very good which may
mean that they're not getting enough
milk so when baby unlatches if your
nipple looks like this the same as how
it normally does then that's a good
indicator to that baby has a good latch
and is able to remove adequate amount of
breast milk from your breast however if
they
become unlatched and you notice that
your nipple is white like they've been
you know like sucking too hard or like
oddly at it or if it's pinched or
squashed or you know it just doesn't
look the way that it normally does that
could indicate that baby has a poor
latch and you might need to work on that
because they might not be removing a
whole lot of milk from the breast if
they have a poor latch I do have a video
coming up on how to get baby on your
breast with a really good latch that's
going to set you up for a successful
breastfeeding experience so make sure
you stay tuned for that other good
evidence to show that you are making
enough milk for baby and that they are
healthy and strong from your breast milk
as if you know their wedding a lot of
diapers if they are pooping frequently
if they are gaining a lot of weight
since their birth then those are all
good indications that you're from you
are making enough milk for them and you
want their pee to be you know a light
color if it's starting to like turn like
really dark yellow or brownish and that
could mean they're dehydrated dehydrated
and might not be getting enough milk and
so that's a sign to be looking for if
you are worried that baby's not getting
enough milk so those are all signs that
baby is getting enough milk but if you
are still concerned or maybe you're
hoping to you know increase your supply
so that you can start pumping and
stashing while you're still exclusively
breastfeeding or maybe you started
pumping and you've noticed a decrease in
your supply I'm going to be sharing with
you guys right now about lots of
different ways that you can increase
your breast milk before we get started
though I do want to mention something
really fast if you are exclusively
breastfeeding so far and then are trying
to implement pumping sessions and you're
trying to gauge how much milk your baby
is getting through a pumping session I
know that your baby is able to remove
milk a lot more effectively than a pump
does and so maybe you're only getting
half an ounce for in your pump know that
baby is usually way better at getting
milk out and so is definitely getting a
lot more than what your pump is saying
so the number one thing that you can do
it to encourage an abundant milk supply
is to distress your life stress
has a huge impact on your milk supply
and so whether that's external stressors
or if it's you know stressors
specifically related to breastfeeding
that's going to have a direct impact on
your supply and so you know I know it's
easy to say like don't stress
everything's gonna be okay and still in
your mind you're like oh my gosh I'm
stressing out I have a couple ways for
you guys to be able to start distressing
and really trusting your body to know
what it what to do so the first thing
that you can do to de-stress if it's you
know your life that is stressful find
things that are going to help you you
know remove that stress if it's going on
walks or working out more or eating
healthier or you know talking to your
friends about things that are going on
do things that are going to make you
feel more at ease or things that are
going to help solve the problem that's
maybe causing you stress if
breastfeeding is the cause of your
stress I want you to practice
affirmations so affirmations is when you
are telling yourself or seeing things
that really affirm what you're doing and
your ability to do them so I talked a
lot about affirmations at birth but they
work really well for breastfeeding as
well and an example of an affirmation
would be I trust my body to produce milk
that is going to nourish and help grow
my baby
so take different affirmations that
maybe you come up with or you find
online or use the one that I just gave
you and put them on your mirror put them
in your nursery put them anywhere that
you're going to be breastfeeding so that
you see those and you're constantly
telling yourself that you know like you
trust yourself you trust your baby that
you are you know excited for this this
bonding experience to have with your
baby and your mind will trick your body
into being able to to de-stress and
really trust the process of
breastfeeding the other way to remove
stress from your life is just positive
thinking and so you can do that in you
know other areas if it's not just with
breastfeeding that you're stressed out
about or if it is just about
breastfeeding that you're stressed out
about try to have positive thinking so
it goes beyond affirmations you know and
you know affirmations will really help
with this positive thinking but instead
of you know dreading and thinking about
your breastfeeding
experience or the next time you have to
nurse in a negative light tell your tell
yourself like oh I get to do that's not
like I have to do this or talk to
yourself about all the things you love
about your baby or and you know have
your partner be telling you telling you
things that they appreciate about you
and all of those things are going to
help you change a frame of mine and have
a positive thinking whether it's in life
or with breastfeeding specifically the
second thing that you can do to increase
your milk supply is to spend a lot of
time skin-to-skin with your baby so when
they are newborns that's always
encouraged at the beginning because you
know sometimes baby doesn't always want
to latch right away after they've been
born so nurses or doctors will say just
spend a lot of time skin-to-skin and
that's just gonna promote that you know
really deep special bonding that's going
to help with breastfeeding however this
can also stretch beyond that newborn
stage to maybe three months or six
months or nine months or you know maybe
they're having a growth spurt at you
know five months whatever whatever is
stage of life that they're in if you
feel like you have had like a decrease
in your milk supply it having
skin-to-skin
that's not forced for feeding is going
to really help with your breast milk
supply so you can do this skin-to-skin
time in the bathtub or the shower or you
can just be laying in bed in the morning
and having them close to you and so it's
not necessarily a feeding time that you
have to be skin-to-skin but just a non
stressful non feeding time to and that
is going to help promote this this like
supply of breast milk the third tip that
I have for you that's going to help with
your milk supply is to drink plenty of
water
so once you've drink two cups of water
go back to the kitchen and drink another
cup of water and when you're done with
that go get some more water your breast
milk is comprised of 98% water and so if
you are dehydrated if your body's not
getting enough water for itself it's not
going to be able to make breast milk for
your baby along with water the fourth
tip that I have for you is to make sure
that you are eating healthy foods so
that your body is getting fueled with
the right things so that it can you know
be taking care of itself and then it can
take care of your baby if you are not
fueling your body
the right things it's not going to have
enough fuel to fuel your baby so what
kind of foods should you be eating in
order for your body to be making plenty
of milk the first thing that you can be
eating are healthy carbs and so those
are gonna give you that immediate energy
that you need to like make it through
that nursing session but it's also going
to be really fueling your baby through
your breast milk sweet potatoes are a
great healthy carb that you can eat they
are chock full of beta-carotene that is
really good with helping increase your
milk supply so beets and carrots are
also full of that beta-carotene so
eating lots of those can be good quinoa
oatmeal is really good as as a healthy
carb and can also increase your milk
supply
so just sticking to whole grains and
healthy fruits and veggies as as you are
thinking about what healthy carbs to be
eating and then of course you need to be
eating plenty of protein from chicken
from red meat from fish things that are
going to really help feed and fuel your
body so that you know your body can also
give attention and nourishment to your
baby through your breast milk having
good healthy fats like from coconut oil
or avocados or healthy olive oil that
you're cooking with good fats and not
those like fast food fats that you're
going to get because those don't help
your body but good fats are going to
help fuel your body and then some other
foods that can help boost your milk
output are like lactation cookies that
you can buy so you can buy the mix or
you can buy the cookies already made and
I will throw some of the links for those
down below so make sure you check those
out but then also Brewers East you can
put those or you can put that in a lot
of different lactation cookies if you
want to make your own and that's just
really good with boosting your supply as
well if you would like to know more
about food and diet during your
postpartum period and how you can set
yourself up for a successful
breastfeeding experience through your
diet make sure you check out this video
up here that I'm linking it's a good one
on helping you understand how to fuel
your body during that postpartum period
so the fifth tip that I have for you
is to nurse or pump often I can't tell
you how many times I've heard the
misconception that like oh I'll just you
know save this breast milk for the next
feeding so I'll have twice as much that
isn't the case that might be the case
for one or two feedings but after that
your body you've told your body that you
don't need to produce as much because
baby's not sucking that out or you're
not pumping that milk out either way
it's not being expressed out of the
breast and so your body is reading okay
we don't need to make as much so that
might work for a couple feedings like I
said but overall that's not going to
help you in the long run you are going
to want to make sure you are pumping or
nursing at least every two to four hours
depending on the age of your baby to
make sure that you are expressing enough
milk so your body is being signaled to
make more milk if you are saying but
Bridget my baby is sleeping through the
night so what do I do about pumping in
the middle of the night so at the
beginning if baby is start sleeping
longer stretches you know maybe you have
to get up to pump in the middle of the
night but maybe you're thinking I don't
want to keep doing that so what I
recommend doing in order to you know
keep your milk supply up at least at the
beginning is to pump before you go to
bed and then pump in the morning and if
you want to kind of phase those out and
you can do that as well as your baby
gets a little bit older and isn't as
drinking as much your body is really
adaptable but again if you are
experienced like experiencing a decrease
in your milk supply add in those you
know that late-night pump before you go
to bed and that morning pump after a
baby is has eaten or nursed and that's
going to help increase your milk supply
so the sixth tip that I have for you is
to try power pumping now if you've been
exclusively breastfeeding you can do
this or if you have been pumping all
along and you noticed a drop in your
supply you can also do this so it
doesn't matter if you've been nursing or
if you've been pumping you can do this
either/or and basically how you power
pump is that you pick an hour of your
day to devote to pumping you're going to
spend twenty minutes
thumping and then you're going to take a
10 minute break and remember while you
are pumping you're going to want to make
sure that you're massaging your breasts
and that you are using compression so
that you have a more effective
expression of milk and if you want some
more tips on how to use a pump I will
link this video up above here and you
should definitely check that out but
back to power pumping so you're going to
pump for 20 minutes rest for 10 then
you're gonna go back to pumping for 10
minutes rest for 10 and then after that
10 minutes of rest you're going to pump
for 10 minutes and then you're done
and basically what that stimulating is
it's stimulating a situation where baby
is cluster feeding which we often
experience when baby is going through a
growth spurt or when they're newborns
and basically it's just telling your
body like oh my gosh baby means a lot
more milk than we're giving them and so
we are going to produce a lot more some
women only need to do this for one day
and the next day they notice a increase
in their supply other women will do this
for a week so an hour each day of the
week and they'll notice that their milk
is really picking up so you kind of have
to gauge your own body and decide to do
whatever works for you and the seventh
tip that I have for you to help increase
your milk supply is to use herbs that
are found in supplements or teas so a
big one that you might have heard of
before is Senna Greek and Senna Greek is
really great for most women in helping
increase their milk supply but it has
been shown that some women do not
respond well to fenugreek I mean
actually drops their supply even more so
you know like I said for most women a
fenugreek works fine it works really
well but if you're noticing like hey
nice fly seems to be going down even
more it's not really helping that I
would recommend stopping using fenugreek
some other ones are Moringa nettle
fennel go through and go through is
actually really cool because it has been
shown to actually like grow mammary
tissue which means you know like women
who have maybe had breast reductions and
some that mammary tissue has been taken
out and so not a whole lot of milk is
able to be
reduce that can actually grow mammary
tissue not um you know a ton but it can
help with increasing your milk supply if
you you know are in that kind of
circumstance so most of these herbs that
I have mentioned are found in teas one
that I really like it's Mother's tea and
I think it's by traditional medicinal so
I hope that's right but I will link the
one down below that I really like so you
can check that out but if you're looking
for a stronger more potent you know way
of getting those those herbs
I really recommend taking legendary milk
supplements and I will link them down
below they're like gold I really believe
in their products and then the other one
is is majka and I will link that down
below as well they have great
supplements that help thousands of women
to produce and increase their milk
supply so I hope if you are feeling
doubtful or worrisome over the supply
that you have and if you're able to feed
your baby first thing that I want to
encourage you is mama trust yourself and
trust your baby through trusting
yourself through giving you you those
affirmations and those positive thoughts
I really do believe it's going to you
know help provide a good experience for
breastfeeding and if you are still
worried and still uncertain after that
then try some of these tips I really
think that they're gonna help you if you
have any questions please comment them
below I would love to hear back from you
guys thanks for watching this video and
I will see you in the next one bye mamas
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