After feeling extremely discouraged with the news of my baby losing almost 10% of her birth weight when we visited the pediatrician on her second day of life, I began to research how to increase my milk supply. Newborns are expected to loose 7-10% of their weight after birth but are expected to return back to their birth weight after 2 weeks of life. Thankfully, by her two week check-up, our daughter, Alana, was more than her birth weight. I’m sharing some tips on how we ensured her to get there.
Express Colostrum Prior to Birth:
About 4 days before Alana’s due date, I started collecting colostrum so we could bring some to the hospital incase my milk supply didn’t come in and prevent the possible need for formula. I used the Haakaa Colostrum Collector Kit. Using hand expression, you are able to collect small drops of colostrum into small tubes. We packed some of these into our hospital bag with an ice pack on delivery day.
Even though we did not need to use the stored, colostrum, it did help my supply increase from a from a few drops to a few teaspoons per expression prior to birth. Because we did not need to use this for feeds, we were able to use this “liquid gold” on her cuts on her face which helped heal them within hours. Having stored colostrum is also a good “insurance policy” to have because newborns will likely loose weight during the first week and it could be used as a supplement as your waiting for your m milk supply to come in.
Start Pumping:
While many lactation consultants advice to wait a couple weeks before starting to pump to establish a supply and prevent oversupply (which could cause clogged ducts, mastitis, etc.), I did try pumping after she had a drop in weight. My husband will be the first to tell you this took some convincing on my part, but it did really help. After pumping with a hand held Haakaa pump and trying the Spectra electric pump for the first time, I had milk the next day. When your supply starts coming in, it starts changing from the colostrum gold color to milky white and the volume significantly increases. When first using an electric pump, I recommend being gradual and starting on low suction.
Eat Well:
I was fortunate enough to have my mother-in-law staying with me the first week to help share her wisdom on postpartum nourishment, but you could also have some of the following recommended foods ready in your freezer. The first would be warm nourishing bone broth based stews, such as caldo de gallina vieja, that are easy to digest and contain collagen. It’s also great to have warm drinks throughout the day that are healing, nourishing and hydrating. Some I had were atole, hot chocolate with fresh ground cocoa, ginger honey tea, goji berry and jujube tea or red raspberry leaf tea. In the mornings I enjoyed high protein and calorie packed meal, such as cauliflower and dill omelet with vegan banana bread or scones.
Rest:
It’s also extremely important to stay in and rest and sleep as much as you can do your body can heal, recover and produce milk. If you do need to venture outside, it’s important to not walk too far and keep warm with extra layers or hats. You want to safe your body from working too hard so it can work hard making your milk supply.