HELPING YOUR BREASTFED BABY TO GET ALL THE MILK THEY NEED
A mother’s milk supply is established & increased by regular and effective milk removal
If you need to increase your milk supply:
1. Be sure your baby is latched on well Good attachment at the breast is key to good effective
milk removal. Signs of good attachment include: wide gape, chin indenting the breast, head
slightly tipped back. Feeding is more effective when your baby is positioned facing the breast
with its head, neck and body in line, is in close contact with mum and well supported. Feeding
should be comfortable, seek skilled support if discomfort continues.
2. Be sure that baby is actively swallowing and you should be able to hear or see this. Look
for deep, rhythmical, jaw dropping movements, with pauses, that are sustained for a period
of time.
3. Nurse frequently Your baby will usually feed 8 – 12 times in twenty four hours. The more
often the breasts are stimulated, and milk removed, the more milk they will make. Follow
baby’s feeding cues, which include tongue darting, lip smacking, head bobbing and do not
try to schedule feedings. Crying is a late hunger cue.
4. Offer both breasts at each feed this will ensure that your baby gets all the milk available and
that both breasts are stimulated frequently. Allow your baby to indicate they are finished on
the first breast, and then offer the other breast.
Some babies are sensitive to milk flow, and can lose interest in feeding when the flow slows,
but before they have had enough milk. Breast compression and Switch feeding can help your
baby to get more milk at the breast and can increase milk supply.
5. Breast compression helps to keep your baby interested in nursing and increase fat
consumption. Squeeze the breast firmly with your thumb on one side and fingers on the other
to increase milk flow. Hold the pressure & keep squeezing until your baby is no longer
actively sucking; then release. Rotate fingers around the breast and squeeze again. Squeeze
firmly but be careful not to cause injury to your breast tissue.
6. Switch feeding can help your baby actively feed for longer by taking advantage of the first
stronger milk ejection. As your baby’s jaw dropping movement slows, and before they go into
a deep sleep, switch to the second breast for as long as they actively feed, and then return to
the first again. The baby can nurse at each breast several times during one feed.
7. Sucking needs to be at the breast where your baby will be getting food and stimulating
your breasts to make milk. Try and avoid using a dummy in the first 6 weeks as it could result
in missed feeding cues and feeding opportunities.
8. Skin-to-skin is always valuable and helps support breastfeeding It stimulates your
baby’s neonatal feeding reflexes. It increases your oxytocin and is an opportunity for you and
your baby to connect. It is your baby’s natural habitat.
9. Keep your baby close. Your baby will have easy access to the smell, taste and feel of your
body and milk. This can help you be responsive to your baby’s feeding cues so they may feed
better. Some baby carriers, slings or wraps are a great ‘hands free’ way to keep your baby
close.
10. Expressing Frequent effective milk removal (8 times in 24 hours) is key to increasing and
maintaining a full milk supply If a baby is not able to do this well enough or weight gain has
not been at the expected rate, expressing milk can be an effective way to increase milk
supply. It also provides additional milk if you need to supplement.
Understanding what you might expect
Your baby may lose weight during the first three or four days and from day 5 we expect steady
weight gain. They should regain their birth weight by the time they are 21 days old or sooner. After
that, most breastfed babies gain an average 170 grams (6 ounces) per week.
By day 5 your baby will be feeding 8 -12 times in 24 hours. You can expect 5 – 6 really wet nappies
per day plus a minimum of two bowel movements of at least as big as a £2 coin. The stool should
be runny, yellow and no longer black or green. Around 6 weeks old they may poo less often and still
gain weight well but until then poo is a good way to check how much milk is going through.
Your baby’s behaviour will tell you that he is satisfied and full. He will come off the breast
spontaneously and will seem contented.
Information from B & H Breastfeeding Team; Deborah Robertson,IBCLC and West,D&Marasco, L.
The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More milk;McGraw-Hill, 2008. Updated March 2020.