Understanding Breastmilk Production
This blog post was written by Dr. Jan Ooi, a Family Physician and Low Risk Obstetrics Provider. (2min read)
Dr. Ooi loves supporting her patients on their infant feeding journeys. The information in this blog post is advice that she frequently gives to her pregnant and freshly postpartum patients as they prepare for, and learn to feed, their newborn. Along with this blog post, she has compiled a list of online infant feeding resources, including multiple video links, to help parents learn about breastfeeding their newborn. In response to the difficulties that Dr. Ooi has seen her patients work through in establishing breastfeeding with their newborns, she has developed the Newborn Group Support Program to provide families with a safe place to learn from expert physician and nurse lactation consultants, while building community with other new parents.
As they head home from hospital with their newborn, many new mothers worry about their ability to produce breastmilk to feed their baby. Understanding the process of how your body produces milk can be reassuring as you navigate the early days of learning to breastfeed your newborn.
COLOSTRUM IS LIQUID GOLD
During pregnancy and for the first few days after your baby is born, your body produces colostrum. Colostrum is a dense, sometimes sticky liquid, that is not watery and runny like the milk that you image pouring for yourself to drink. Colostrum is a powerhouse substance that contains all of the nutrients, calories and antibodies that your baby requires in a small package. At birth, your baby's stomach is about the size of a dried chickpea, it doesn't take much colostrum to fill it up.
Some women start leaking colostrum during pregnancy, while others do not - whether or not this happens is not an indication of how much breastmilk you can produce to feed your baby.
THE TRANSITION FROM COLOSTRUM TO BREASTMILK
After your baby's arrival, your body will continue producing colostrum. It's primarily through the stimulation of your breasts in the initial days following delivery that your breastmilk production will increase. This stimulation prompts the release of hormones, leading to an increase in breastmilk volume. Essentially, your body dilutes the colostrum with water, so your baby is still getting all of the nutrients, calories and antibodies, but in a larger volume.
TIPS FOR STIMULATING BREASTMILK PRODUCTION
It's important to stimulate your body's hormones during the first few days so that your body gets the message to increase breastmilk production. This helps to set the stage for ongoing breastmilk production over the weeks and months to come. Here are some ways to stimulate breastmilk production:
Get breastmilk out of your breasts. This may be by latching your baby to feed at the breast, or it may be by hand expression or pumping.
Physical stimulation of your breasts. Massage and hand expression stimulate your body’s hormone production.
Spend time with your baby in skin-to-skin contact. While your baby will be happiest skin-to-skin with any loving caregiver, prioritizing skin-to-skin with mom in the first few days of life has the added benefit of stimulating mom’s breastmilk production hormones.
A WORD ABOUT HAND EXPRESSION
Some women will have success using a breastpump to express colostrum in the first few days. However, because colostrum is often a dense and sticky liquid, hand expression may be a more effective way to express the small volumes of colostrum that your baby needs. An analogy that I use to describe it is that colostrum is like toothpaste in a tube - it often works better to squeeze it out, rather than trying to suck it out.
You may have practiced hand expression while you were pregnant. In the first few days of your baby's life hand expression is a very effective way to:
get colostrum out of the breasts to feed your baby, as well as
to stimulate your hormones that will increase your milk production as it transitions from colostrum to mature breastmilk
It’s important to note that many online videos demonstrate women expressing mature milk, which can be disheartening for new mothers who may not achieve the same volume or flow during hand expression. A good video to watch is found on the Global Health Media website. This video shows women expressing colostrum and does a great job of explaining the technique.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE - SEEK OUT SUPPORT
Other resources for expecting and new parents include our post about Tips for Establishing Breastfeeding with your Newborn, as well as the Newborn Group Support Programs offered at Ensemble - click here to learn about the program, and here to read about our team of expert lactation consultants who facilitate these sessions.
