Useful links about milk supply

[mrsmaggie]

Hi all

 

I haven't been about in a while, I have been distracted with being back at work after mat leave  ....still breastfeeding my now 1 year old and just started my second Whole30 on Monday 

 

I wanted to offer these bits of info around milk supply as I thought they would be useful to Mummies new to Whole30 and/or breastfeeding. I guess my main point of this is to say that once your milk comes in, it is normal for your supply to be a bit out of kilter with the demand. Your baby may go through growth spurts at around 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, give or take a week or two. During these times it may seem that your baby is not getting enough but in actual fact he/she is probably just 'placing an order', so to speak. A couple of days later, you have more milk. Clever little baby! 

 

Some women experience an abundance of milk in the early weeks up to around 3 months, this is normal. Some women don't experience this, which is also normal. When your baby gets to be a few months old, your milk supply begins to regulate to the point where it is sufficient to meet your baby's demand.

 

If you wonder where I am going with this - I thought it was relevant for women who may be doing a Whole30 that coincides with a growth spurt or coincides with this 2-3 month mark where their supply is settling down to meet demand. To be able to consider these as factors other than your diet which may expalin any change in your supply.

 

Other than that I would also say to make sure you are eating enough food to keep you going, starchy veg, squash, sweet potato, plenty fats, coconut milk, avocado etc, and drinking plenty to satisfy your thirst.

 

Below is an excerpt from a La Leche League webpage, I like it as I feel it explains the thing about the initial weeks quite well:

 

 

Prolactin receptors are an important but little-appreciated factor in the process of making milk. Every hormone has a corresponding receptor that is located on the organs that they influence. Prolactin receptors are primarily found on lactocytes, the milk-making cells of the breast gland. When a woman is neither pregnant nor nursing, she has only a "skeleton crew" of prolactin receptors in her breasts. Pregnancy causes them to multiply, but that is not the end. The ultimate determinant of the number of prolactin receptors that develop is the frequency of stimulation; the more often baby breastfeeds or mother pumps, the more prolactin receptors will be developed ("up-regulation"). The more prolactin receptors a mother has, the more milk can be made from her available glandular tissue. Experts believe that frequent feedings in the early weeks are extremely important for developing enough receptors for a strong milk supply in the long-term. Without them, milk supply is at risk once prolactin levels have reached their normal lower baseline levels around two to three months.

 

 

Here is a link to a Kellymom page which is all about milk supply:

 

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/basics/milkproduction/#supply

 

Lastly, here is a fun challenge, who can do it one handed?

 

Casserole dish - can of coconut milk - 1lb beef pieces/rump steak - an onion - a couple of tomatoes - curry powder - turmeric - sweet potato - give it a wee stir about - lid on - oven - for...a while....- Ta Da!!

 

Yum! have it with an avocado and some baby spinach leaves. 

 

On second thought you would maybe need to chop the sweet potato and onion first, not whilst holding your baby 

[Melissa Urban]

Thank you for posting this! This is great information. I am still exclusively breast-feeding Atticus, and doing the Whole30 right now. I know there is a link somewhere else in this forum to several articles that I like on breast-feeding… KellyMom and The Leaky Boob are two of my favorite sites.

There is so much more to milk supply than just food, and very often women who think their supply is dropping are actually doing just fine. Trying to gauge supplied by pumping volume, or when the baby is going through a growth spurt, or when you hit that three month mark and your body just starts producing only as much help as your baby needs, or in the beginning if you are having lunch issues… Those are not failures in supply. The two websites I referenced above both do a great job of helping new moms figure out what may be happening with supply.