All women that are breastfeeding or want to breastfeed wonder about their milk supply at some point. If you’re needing a little boost in the ounces you produce look no further. Here are the easiest, trusted, and most effective strategies to increase your supply.

1. Being close to your baby is so important! It does wonders for your milk supply to be able to see your baby, smell them, hold them, and make EYE contact- hello Oxytocin!!!
   • Never underestimate the power of your baby! Their affect on you and your body is no accident. Mother nature knew what she was doing when she put the two of you together. One of the hormones that is being released right now and contributing to the love that continues to grow for your baby is Oxytocin. Oxytocin is known as one of the love hormones, but it does some other cool stuff too, including eliciting the let down reflex. When you “let down” your milk is moving toward your nipples and being released from your breasts to be able to come out. Breastmilk production is a positive feedback loop, meaning that the more that it is made and signaled the it needs to be made, the more that it will continue to be made. Oxytocin is also a positive feedback loop, so the more that it is triggered by things like looking into your baby’s eyes, the more oxytocin will be made and can signal your milk to be let down.
     • So let’s all put down our phones and stare into our baby’s beautiful eyes, breathe in that sweet, magical smell, and feel their soft, squishiness against our skin, as we get ready for the floodgates to break as that milk comes flowing out!
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2. Pumping.
   • This is not something that any of us want to hear, but my goodness, it is effective! Remember, milk production is a positive feedback loop. The more that you get out, the more your body will make. So while trying to establish milk supply, pumping every 2-3 hours will send the necessary signals to make more, more, more!
   • There are a couple of different strategies to doing this:
     • While nursing your baby, on the vacant breast you can apply a silicone manual breast pump that suctions to your breast which will further stimulate that nipple and will catch the let down from that breast. You can then apply a slight squeeze to that breast to continue milk expression. If this is too difficult to apply a squeeze while nursing, just allow it to stay suctioned to your breast (and collecting what’s dripping out) while your baby is feeding and then once they are done you can apply some gentle pressure at the top of your breast working your way down towards your nipple until you feel like your breast is no longer full.
     • Pump after feeding- Once you and baby are all done, hook up to your favorite pump for the next 20 minutes. The breast that your baby did not nurse on should produce significantly more than the side from which your baby just finished feeding. Doing this every other feeding or 2-3 times per day can do wonders to increase your supply.
     • Pump before-This can be a little risky, so I don’t recommend this to everyone. This is for a much smaller population of mamas. This could be good for women that tend to have a heavy letdown; you could pump for just five minutes prior to nursing to allow some of the pressure to be released, or this could be good for mamas and babies that are going to breast more for the nipple stimulation and biofeedback than the nourishment-for example a NICU baby when they’re first starting to nurse. (I didn’t have a NICU baby, but my twins were around 5 lbs and lost a significant amount of weight in the first few days. The size of my nipples were too big for their tiny mouths to get a good suction so they would fatigue quickly. They got a bottle of pumped milk and afterwards they would go to breast for practice and bonding, etc.
     • The power hour-This is not for the faint of heart, but it can really bring in the leche. The way it works is you pump for 10-20 minutes, take a 10 minute break and then pump again, take another break for 10 minutes and then pump again. It s meant to emulate cluster feeds. The goal is to do this twice per day for 3 days.
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3. Staying hydrated. One of the easiest and best things to do for your body and milk supply is to stay hydrated. Grab your favorite Stanley or Hydroflask and fill it up and keep it close by. Just having it around you will encourage you to drink more and makes it so easy. You want to drink around 3 liters a day so aim to refill your cup twice.
4. Consuming enough calories. I don’t know if I’ve ever been hungrier in my life than when I was lactating so you would think that it would be easy to eat, but it isn’t always. Many of us are guilty of putting everyone else’s needs before our own and often times that means doing things other than eating. So many moms I know say, “I forget to eat.” We get caught up in what we’re doing and time gets away from us and then it’s dinner time, and we realize all we’ve had today is the oatmeal our toddler didn’t finish and a couple of skittles that they shared after going to the library.
   To help combat this plan ahead. Grab plenty of your favorite healthy snacks at the grocery store and keep them handy. I also did some food prepping while I was pregnant for dinners and froze them so that I would have plenty of good food around. But sometimes it still can be hard to actually get the calories that are recommended. (This is why when we’re pregnant we build up those fat stores on the back of our arms, our thighs, butt, and back between the shoulder blades) But how many calories should we be aiming for? To establish and maintain a milk supply an additional 400-500 calories per day are needed per baby. So this could look like adding an avocado to breakfast and 2 tbs of peanut butter to your afternoon snack. We just have to remember to eat all of the other 2000 calories for the day.
5. Relaxing as much as possible. With all of the pressure of being able to breastfeed, that can be easier said than done. Fed is best. There are so many options available to choose from if they are needed. Knowing that we live in a world where your baby will be nourished is enough to help take some deep breaths. If we can’t relax, we can’t let down: So find a quiet space, excuse yourself from guests, remind yourself that the rest of the world can wait for the 20 minutes it takes to feed your baby. Trust your body’s wisdom. This will tremendously help your milk supply!

This is not meant to be medical advice.