Breastfeeding Challenge: Low Milk Supply Although the breast are designed to make more than enough milk for a baby a mother may experience a time of low milk supply, where there isn't an ideal amount of milk in the breast at the time of the next feeding. This can usually be easily remedied with extra feedings and can be quickly remedied with the excessive nursing on top of herbal supplements and teas. If you do have low milk supply a good thing to do is to determine what caused or is causing it.

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What Causes Low Milk Supply and What Can You Do to Increase Your Milk Supply

There are many things that can cause low milk supply as are there many things that you can do to increase your milk supply. Usually your body produces more than enough milk to feed your baby and often after you have been nursing for some time and your baby's amount of eating has determined how much milk you need your milk supply may decrease, possibly too low to your comfort.

As stated before increasing the amount of time you nurse as well as how often you nurse will increase your milk supply. When this is not enough, you can take herbal supplements and teas, such as Mother's Milk, to help increase your milk supply. Having a healthy diet that is made to increase your milk supply works very well too, whole grains are good, oatmeal and brown rice are great for increasing milk supply, and be sure drink plenty of fluids, preferably water and unsweetened juices. Now while all this is good and often is all it takes to get your milk supply up sometimes you have to eliminate something before you will see a change in your milk supply.

Numerous things can affect your milk supply, and anything that can decrease it should be discontinued if you are having low milk supply issues. Smoking tobacco is one thing that lowers milk supply, as well as makes your baby more likely to be fussy, and hormonal contraceptives are another thing that can cause your milk supply to decrease. Some times the amount and how your baby nurses may be what is causing your low milk supply.

Are you exclusively breastfeeding, your milk supply could be decreasing because your baby is filling up on less healthy options, such as artificial baby milk. Anytime that you supplement a nursing session with artificial baby milk, formula, water or solids you run the risk of decreasing your milk supply. Scheduling your breastfeeding sessions or limiting them can lead to reduced milk supply too, by nursing on demand you will ensure that you baby eats when they are hungry and not when they are full. Keep in mind that if your baby is a sleepy baby that they may not wake often enough to ask to nurse, in this case you should make extra efforts to offer them the breast. Even if your baby is nursing regularly if they are not latched on properly and suckling effectively although it may appear that they are nursing enough, they may not be drawing enough milk when they nurse this way, which actually can lead to poor weight gain, and would cause your milk supply to decrease.

If your baby is latched on properly there chin and nose should be touching your breast, remember that babies breastfeed not nipple-feed, and you should be able to hear them swallowing. If you are not sure that you baby is latching on properly you can contact a lactation consultant and have them examine how your baby nurses and offer advice if anything needs to be changed.

For more information on breastfeeding problems, check out Breastfeeding Challenges and Solutions.