One of the biggest concerns breastfeeding mothers have is maintaining milk supply. Many mothers hear stories from their friends about their milk supply suddenly decreasing. Without understanding the physiological process of breast milk supply, these concerns become very real to new mothers.
As a certified breastfeeding counselor (CBC) your role is to help new mothers understand the physiology of breastfeeding. Through education, you can help alleviate concerns about maintaining milk supply. You can also help with breastfeeding management to reduce any potential supply issues.
During the holidays, many families travel, get off routine, and may experience additional stress. Being away from home or having guests can often mean less time for baby to typically feed on demand.
Here are our top tips for maintaining milk supply during the holidays:
Understand The Supply Demand Process Of Breastmilk
The most important aspect of breastfeeding is understanding the basic process of supply and demand. The more an infant is at the breast with effective suckling for milk transfer, the more milk a mother produces. Skin-to-skin also aids in increasing oxytocin levels which is beneficial in milk supply.
Maintaining feeding on demand is an important part of having an adequate milk supply. For most mother baby pairs, about two cumulative hours of feeding or pumping per 24 hours will produce an adequate supply. This is often about 8-12 feeds per 24 hours.
Some feeds may be quick, some long. Baby may go three hours between one feed, then cluster feed for a while. While feeding schedules can be implemented in older infants, feeding on demand is the safest way to ensure adequate milk supply.
The Impact Of ‘Pass The Baby’ And Milk Supply
One of the reasons women experience supply dips during the holidays is less frequent feeding on demand. When there’s a new baby in the family, many hope to have a turn playing with, snuggling, and putting baby to sleep.
It isn’t uncommon for well-meaning friends and family to settle a “fussy” baby rather than pass back to mom for a feed. The occasional held off feed isn’t enough to impact supply, but several missed feeds could cause a temporary dip.
As a CBC, you can remind your clients it is okay to establish boundaries around feeding their baby even when it means taking baby from someone. You can also support your clients in being comfortable feeding in public, excusing themselves, or otherwise finding a comfortable way to meet baby’s needs as soon as possible.
There’s no right or wrong when it comes to “pass the baby” comfort levels. However, in terms of maintaining milk supply, it’s best to avoid any missed feeds. Baby wearing is an effective and simple way to reduce passing the baby if a new mother isn’t comfortable with others holding baby just yet. It’s also excellent for milk supply as it encourages the release of oxytocin.
Supply Dips Are Temporary
Whether due to travel, pass the baby, or other reasons, milk supply dips are almost always temporary. Feeding baby frequently and on demand is often all that is needed to bring a mother’s supply back up to baby’s demand.
Prolonged milk supply dips are often created by supplementing rather than keeping baby at the breast. Offering the breast more frequently and having a “nursecation” in bed can help increase milk supply.
During a “nursecation” a mother and baby pair spend about 24-48 hours resting with frequent feeds and plenty of skin-to-skin contact.
For clients who experience a supply dip, explaining supply and demand, as well as the benefits of skin-to-skin is often all that’s needed.
Fussing And Frequent Feeds Are Not Indicators Of Low Supply
It isn’t uncommon for well-meaning friends and relatives to suggest a baby is fussing due to hunger. These suggestions can be stressful for new mothers worried about their milk supply. It is quite typical for babies to experience periods of fussing and frequent feeds.
As mentioned above, breastfeeding is a supply and demand process. Frequent feeds may occur due to growth spurts, for comfort, or for temporary supply dips. Fussing between feeds is not indicative of a supply concern.
Typically, if there’s a supply issue, baby will fuss at the breast, refuse to latch, tug and pull, etc. At that point, if it occurs for more than one feed, meeting with a CBC or IBCLC can help identify the cause. Sometimes babies fuss at the breast due to gas, fatigue, reflux, ear discomfort, teething, and more.
Babies fuss because they cannot speak. Fussing is not always or even frequently related to feeding, though feeding is often the scapegoat.
Reassuring new mothers that fussing can be typical can help her take suggestions of others with a grain of salt. The only way to assess milk intake is via output or a weighted feed with a professional. Even then, a single feed or two is not indicative of the full 24 hours of milk transfer.
There are many reasons, as mentioned above, for supply concerns around the holiday. As a CBC you can support your clients with reassuring, evidence-based information about supply and demand.