How do you make enough milk to feed your babe? How can you increase your milk supply? What can affect your milk supply? And other questions answered in the post on what I learned trying to breastfeed my babe! This first post is things I tried to INCREASE my supply and my FAVORITE resources! Click here to see my prior post on things I LEARNED about my milk supply!
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So I already shared the things I learned about my milk supply in general in a prior post. Make sure you take a look at that post HERE, as it is really the foundation of making milk. This post is about some of the OTHER things I tried to increase my supply. I did NOT do any true studies to see if these things were successful in increasing my milk supply. I am not going to try to sell you on "oh this thing quadrupled my milk overnight" because let's be REAL, our hydration status, caloric intake, stress levels, number of feeds/pumps and SO many other things factor into us making milk. But here's the stuff I believed in and tried to increase my supply:
I don’t love eating breakfast. I made smoothies using Milkdust protein powder to help boost my milk supply, plus it was quick and easy morning fuel. Milkdust is a plant-based protein powder from pea protein, brown rice protein, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and flax seeds. The taste took a little while to get used to. It contains red raspberry leaf, brewer’s yeast, organic fenugreek seeds and fennel seeds to aid in lactation. I did see the biggest improvement in my milk supply with this protein powder, and it was easy to fit into my day.
I definitely used some sweet treats to both help boost my milk supply and to get me to my calorie intake goal each day. I made some treats myself including plenty of galactagogues (foods/supplements that promote milk supply) and some treats I bought pre-packaged. My favorite “boobie balls” recipe is here. I tried making my own lactation brownies from a bunch of recipes online. I have to be honest, they were NEVER that great. The “Mommy Knows Best” lactation brownie mix made the BEST ones by far. Highly recommend them. I also really loved “Mommy Knows Best” oatmeal cookie mix.
I tried drinking Mother’s Milk herbal tea. I’m not sure this helped. Some things I read said you needed to drink it 3-4 times per day to be effective. I certainly didn’t have time for that! But it was a great way to relax before bed at night, so I used it intermittently and still do today.
I did take some supplements to help my milk supply when I noticed a big drop, especially with the onset of my period each month. I really loved the company Legendairy Milk and the supplements they have. I frequently used their Liquid Gold supplement to increase my milk supply supply as well as their Sunflower Lecithin supplement to prevent clogged milk ducts and improve mastitis (an inflammation or infection of breast tissue). My only downside to their products was the frequency I needed to take them, often 2-3 times per day, which was a CHALLENGE. But I did see an improvement with my milk supply from the Liquid Gold when I took it as directed.
I also focused on adding galatagogues to my diet daily such as oatmeal for breakfast sprinkled with flax seed, adding oatmeal to my smoothies, using almond milk in my smoothies or having almonds as a snack. I added brewer's yeast to smoothies and snacks as well!
Resources I Found Helpful:
Milkology Ultimate Breastfeeding Course - This was by far the MOST helpful thing I did prior to delivery. I watched this class, often in a lukewarm bath, during my third trimester trying to ensure I knew HOW to breastfeed my babe. The class is cheap (less than $20) and goes over a TON of information, including the benefits of breastfeeding, how your milk supply works, latching and positioning tips, storage of milk and more. This is my NUMBER 1 recommendation for new mamas who want to breastfeed!
For mama’s who plan to pump, I took the Pump it Up class from Milkology and found that to be very helpful as well.
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding - This book is a classic. I listened to the majority of the book as an audiobook. It did give me a lot of information, more in depth than other sources. It is from La Leche League - a nonprofit organization that serves to educate about breastfeeding.
Natural Breastfeeding - This website was recommended to me from our lactation consultant at the hospital. P and I really struggled to breastfeed in the early months (see my prior post here), and this website helped us to find a better position and consequently a better latch to make breastfeeding possible.
KellyMom blog was another resource I used ALL THE TIME. It is a great source for information on breastfeeding that was recommended to me by my lactation consultant. It was my go to source when I had a question that I needed to answer, especially during a middle of the night feed when I couldn't phone-a-friend!
I hope these tidbits help! I think I read every post claiming to double my breastmilk supply I could find. I'm not sure anything truly doubled my supply. But I'm almost to month 11 and still GOING STRONG!
❤️ & 🌈 & ☕️,
Melissa