How to maintain your milk supply if you have to stop breastfeeding temporarily
Cordelia Uys, March 2021
Sometimes, mothers need to take a break from breastfeeding due to nipple pain and damage. Women are occasionally encouraged to power on through the pain, but it is not acceptable, nor beneficial, to have to endure bleeding and cracked nipples. If the damage gets really bad, it can take a long time for nipples to heal, and women are more prone to breast infections if they have bleeding nipples. In addition, the psychological impact on a mother of experiencing pain every time she feeds her baby can be devastating.
I have supported dozens of women who have stopped breastfeeding for a week or two due to nipple trauma, and who have gone on to have a very successful breastfeeding journey.
If you stop breastfeeding
If you decide to stop breastfeeding temporarily in order to allow your nipples to heal, there are some vital and urgent steps you need to take. In addition, you will need to watch out for any signs of blocked ducts and mastitis, such as painful lumps, general breast pain, red patches on your breasts (if you have caucasian skin) and feeling feverish. (For more details, please see the links at the bottom of this article).
These are the vital steps:
- Protect your milk supply - make sure your breasts are getting very frequent stimulation
You can maintain your milk supply by hand expressing (if you are still producing colostrum) or double pumping (if your mature milk has come in). This will allow you to feed your baby with your own milk, give your nipples a chance to heal and give you time to find out why the damage has occurred, so you can address what is going on.
- Contact an IBCLC lactation consultant or breastfeeding counsellor
I would urge you to reach out to an IBCLC lactation consultant or breastfeeding counsellor as soon as possible, to help you work out why the pain and damage have happened, and to find a solution.
Sometimes it is simply a matter of working on attachment and positioning, sometimes a baby might have some tightness in their jaw, face or neck which can be loosened with some cranial osteopathy, and sometimes damage is due to a baby having a tongue-tie. A tongue-tied baby may struggle to fully extend their tongue, resulting in the tongue pushing the nipple up against their hard palate, causing nipple compression, pain and damage. To breastfeed effectively, a baby needs to be able to lift their tongue to the midway point.
Find an IBCLC: https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/
- Feed your baby
- Do lots and lots of skin to skin with your baby
- Use moist wound healing to help your nipples heal
Protecting your milk supply
How milk production works
For the first 2 or 3 days after a baby is born, their mother will be producing colostrum (the first milk). Colostrum production is hormonally driven, meaning it is produced whether a baby is put to the breast or not. From around day 3, breastmilk production switches to being locally controlled, meaning it works on a supply and demand basis.
To establish and maintain milk production, both your breasts need to have milk removed at least 8 to 12 times in 24 hours
In order for a mother’s milk supply to be established and maintained in the early months, milk needs to be removed from both her breasts 8-12 times in 24 hours. In fact, for the majority of first time mums, 8 times is the bare minimum and UNICEF talks about an average of 10 to 14 feeds in 24 hours; many babies will want to feed more often than this.
Programming your breasts
When your baby is born, your breasts have no way of knowing if you have had one, two, or more, babies, or how big your baby is. The majority of mothers are capable of exclusively breastfeeding twins or even triplets as long as milk is removed from both breasts at least 8 times in 24 hours. If a baby is being breastfed responsively and nursing effectively, he or she will be programming their mother’s breasts to make exactly the right amount of milk for his or her individual needs.
It takes 6 weeks for the prolactin receptors in your breasts to work out how much milk your baby, or babies, require. Regular and reliable milk removal from both breasts programmes them to make the right amount of milk for your baby or babies.
The Feedback Inhibitor of Lactation (FIL)
Whenever breasts get hard and full, a negative feedback mechanism, called the Feedback Inhibitor of Lactation (FIL), kicks in, telling them to stop making milk. This means milk production slows down when breasts are full and speeds up when breasts are emptier. The more often a mother feeds her baby, or expresses, the more milk she will make.
In the early weeks, if a mother goes longer than 3 or 4 hours without breastfeeding or expressing, the FIL will kick in, giving her breasts the message to reduce milk production, and she will also be at risk of developing blocked ducts and mastitis.
Hiring a hospital grade double pump
In order to maintain your milk supply if you aren’t able to breastfeed after your mature milk has come in, I would strongly recommend hiring a hospital grade double pump.
It is imperative to pump with a hospital grade double pump because regular pumps will not be powerful or gentle enough for 8 or more pumping sessions in 24 hours. Double pumping (removing milk from both breasts simultaneously) provides much more stimulation than single pumping and saves precious time.
Hospital grade double pumps can be hired from:
Ardo Breast Pumps:
Medela:
https://www.medela-rental.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjciF7ZeZ7gIVibTtCh1tzAhrEAAYASAAEgLAlPD_BwE
Alternatively, the Spectra S1 is a Korean-made hospital grade double pump which can be bought online. It is more affordable than most hospital grade pumps and gets excellent feedback from experienced pumpers.
Make sure the breast shields (flanges) fit you properly
Please note that a correct breast shield fit is fundamental; when breast shields don’t fit, women can experience pain and damage, and pumping will be less productive. Pumping should never hurt; if it does, it is either because the breast shields don’t fit, or because the suction/vacuum is set too high.
How to tell if your breast pump shields (flanges) fit you properly:
During a very interesting talk for the Gold Lactation conference in May 2022, Jeanette Mesite Frem stated that many people should actually be using a flange size a lot smaller than the standard sizes provided by pump manufacturers. If used with a little lubrication from some coconut oil, apparently a smaller flange size will increase milk yield quite substantially. Jeanette said lanolin or vaseline are too sticky.
She suggested measuring the diameter of the nipple and then trying sizes of that diameter, 2mm bigger and 2mm smaller and seeing what happens. This is totally different to what is suggested currently which is to measure the nipple and add 2-5mm.
(This is what pump manufacturers currently suggest: https://www.verywellfamily.com/ways-to-tell-if-your-breast-pump-flanges-fit-2758354 )
Many pump manufacturers have 21mm as their smallest size, but the following inserts can be used with Spectra and Medela pumps and come in smaller sizes:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=maymom&crid=2YUWQJ1DVODQI&sprefix=maymom%2Caps%2C89&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
Please make sure you don’t cause any damage or hurt yourself; if it doesn't feel right, stop and try another size.
Pumping plan
Ideally, you want to work with an IBCLC lactation consultant or breastfeeding counsellor who can help devise a personalised pumping plan for you. The following suggestions are only a rough guide.
While you are producing colostrum: hand expressing
Have a look at this film from Stanford Medical School which explains how to hand express:
Hand Expressing Milk | Newborn Nursery | Stanford Medicine
If you have to stop breastfeeding while you are still producing colostrum (usually until around day 3 or 4), what is really critical and time sensitive, as well as making sure your baby is getting fed, is for you to do lots of hand expressing, so that your breasts get the message that they need to start making mature milk. Colostrum comes in small volumes and therefore cannot be collected in a pump.
My suggestion would be to hand express for around 10 minutes on each breast every couple of hours during the day, and roughly every 3 hours at night. Regular removal of colostrum, and then mature milk, from your breasts is essential in order to establish and maintain your milk production.
(N.B. Please note that a recent study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34529518/ found that the volumes of colostrum new mothers are able to hand express increases in the first six hours after the baby’s birth, and after that, the volumes of colostrum decrease. The lowest volumes of colostrum occur between 12-15 hours, and volumes stay low until a sudden increase in volume at 30-33 hours postpartum.)
You can collect the drops of colostrum directly from your nipples with a syringe. Alternatively, you can hand express on to a sterilised spoon, or into a small sterilised cup, and then suck up the colostrum with the syringe.
How to feed the syringes of colostrum to your baby is explained in the ‘Feed your baby’ section below.
Double pumping with a hospital grade double pump once your mature milk has come in:
Have a look at this film from Stanford Medical School which explains how to maximise your milk production with hands on double pumping:
Massaging your breasts while you are pumping will make a difference to the volumes you are able to produce:
The four minutes of hand expressing on each breast, at the end of a pumping session (as described in the film) are really good at encouraging milk production.
You might also find some helpful suggestions in my article on the let-down reflex:
Pumping bra for hands-on-double pumping
You can create a pumping bra using an old exercise bra that you don’t mind sacrificing. This will allow you to have your hands free to massage your breasts while double pumping. It is also possible to buy pumping bras online. If you decide to purchase one, you will need to allow for a considerably larger size than you usually take. If a pumping bra is too tight, it will put you at risk of developing blocked ducts.
Here is a photo of a client wearing a sports bra she turned into a pumping bra.
Aim to double pump at least 8 times in 24 hours
In order to establish and maintain your milk supply, the recommendation is to double pump with a hospital grade double pump, at least 8 times in 24 hours, including once at night, which is when your prolactin (the hormone that makes milk) levels are highest. (N.B. mothers who have previously breastfed for at least 6 months might find that double pumping 6 times in 24 hours is sufficient.)
How long to pump for?
You will need to work out how long to pump for; it depends a lot on a mother’s milk supply. Usually, the recommendation is to double pump for between 15 and 30 minutes, but if you have a very generous milk supply, 5 to 10 minutes might be sufficient.
It is not a good idea to pump non-stop for longer than 30 minutes as this can cause nipple soreness.
If you need to increase your milk supply, continuing to pump for several minutes after your milk has stopped flowing will tell your breasts to make more milk. If you stop as soon as the flow stops, your breasts will not get the message to make more milk.
Getting used to producing milk by pumping
Sometimes it can take a while for a mother to get used to producing milk for a pump, rather than for her baby. A baby’s suckling stimulates the let-down reflex more effectively than a pump. This is because oxytocin, the hormone that causes the let-down reflex, is stimulated most powerfully by love, and few women love their pump.
It may take a few days of regular pumping before the volumes of milk you are able to pump start to meet all your baby’s needs.
Time of day and milk volumes
Please be aware there will be times of the day when you make less milk. Most women produce greater volumes of milk in the morning; volumes tend to be lower later in the day. This is a clever evolutionary design, because when volumes are lower, babies tend to want to feed more often, and a period of several hours a day of frequent feeding (known as ‘cluster feeding’), albeit exhausting, is great for stimulating milk supply. (In the first couple of months, it is normal for babies to be fussy, and to cluster feed, in the evenings.)
N.B. It is not unusual for one breast to produce more milk than the other
Pumping intervals
It is not necessary to pump at set times and it is fine for the time intervals between pumping sessions to vary. It’s normal for the gaps between breast feeds to be irregular, therefore it is not a problem for the gaps between pumping sessions to be irregular. If you would like to have longer gaps between some pumping sessions, you can pump hourly (or every 1.5 hours, or every 2 hours) at other times in order to ensure both your breasts are having milk removed at least 8 times in 24 hours.
Try not to go longer than 3 hours between pumping sessions during the day
If your breasts get uncomfortably full, the Feedback Inhibitor of Lactation (FIL) will kick in, telling them to reduce milk production. You will also be at risk of getting blocked ducts and mastitis.
If you are experiencing uncomfortable fullness and cannot pump, it is a good idea to hand express enough to stop that ‘bursting’ feeling.
Night feeds – prolactin
Prolactin is the hormone that makes milk; your prolactin levels are highest at night.
How long can you go without pumping at night?
At night, it is probably okay to have one 6-hour gap (but definitely no longer) between the beginning of one pumping session and the beginning of the next at night, as long as you are pumping more often at other times.
Your partner’s support at night
You could ask your partner to take charge of feeding and settling your baby during the night, so you can wake up, pump and then immediately go back to sleep. You could put the expressed milk in a cool bag by your bed rather than taking it to the fridge.
This is a very personal decision: some women get upset at the idea of being separated from their baby at night, whereas others find that a night or two of solely pumping gives them a chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Getting a bit more sleep tends to help with milk production.
Power pumping – to increase supply and/or instead of two regular pumping sessions
Some women find it convenient to replace two regular pumping sessions with one power pumping session. Power pumping can also be a very effective way of increasing milk supply.
Since power pumping involves pumping on and off for a whole hour, it is usually only possible when there is someone else around to care for your baby, or in the evening, when your baby has gone down for their first stretch of sleep.
To power pump: prepare yourself as you would for a normal pumping session, double pump for 10-20 minutes, rest 10 minutes, then double pump another 10 minutes, then rest for 10 minutes, then double pump again for 10 minutes. You do this for about an hour.
The aim of power pumping is to mimic a baby who is nursing frequently to stimulate a mother’s supply, as is common during a cluster feeding session, or during a growth spurt.
It is a good idea to keep track of the volumes you are pumping, and pumping times.
There are some excellent Apps that can help you stay on track with pumping; many are free, for example:
https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/the-best-baby-tracker/id985523028
Sterilising
If your baby is full-term and in good health, you only need to sterilise the pumping equipment once in 24 hours. After each usage, wash the pumping equipment and bottle carefully with hot water and washing up liquid, then rinse well and put to dry on some clean kitchen paper.
N.B. Bottles used to give formula need to be sterilised after each usage.
Storing breastmilk
Breastmilk is safe at room temperature for approximately 6 hours.
Here is detailed information on storing breastmilk:
https://abm.me.uk/breastfeeding-information/expressing-breast-milk/
You can add newly pumped milk to milk already stored in the fridge on the same day, but only after it has cooled down in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Never add warm milk to cold milk, as this encourages the growth of bacteria.
Breastmilk storage bags
You can store breastmilk in the fridge in bottles, but when freezing it, you might want to use storage bags, as these take up less space. Many companies make breastmilk storage bags.
Make sure to allow some space at the top of bags or bottles for the expansion that happens when milk is frozen.
Feeding your baby
While you are producing colostrum
On days 1, 2 and 3, you can hand express your colostrum and feed it to your baby via a syringe. Colostrum comes in very small quantities, but that is fine because babies’ tummies are very small in the first few days.
Finger feeding colostrum
Here’s a film showing how to finger feed a baby using a syringe:
When you are producing mature milk
Paced bottle feeding:
To protect your breastfeeding journey, it is crucially important that whoever is feeding your baby uses the paced bottle feeding method.
When a baby is held in the traditional, reclined bottle feeding position, a combination of gravity and the baby’s sucking reflex means it is easy to persuade them to drink more milk than their tummy can comfortably fit. This puts them at risk of overfeeding, and gets them used to a fast flow, which in turn means they are likely, sooner or later, to reject the breast, which usually has a much slower flow.
This film explains paced bottle feeding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGPm5SpLxXY
What type of bottle?
The type of bottle and teat you use are not as important as making sure that whoever is feeding your baby always practises paced bottle feeding. However, it is easier to practise paced bottle feeding with a bottle that is not too big or too fat. Look for a bottle that has around a 150ml maximum capacity, and one that resembles Kate Moss in shape, rather than Beyoncé. Here’s an article about which bottles to use for breastfed babies:
https://breastfeeding.support/best-bottle-breastfed-baby/
Volumes of milk
The first week
In the first week, the volumes a baby needs will increase day by day. To give you a very rough idea, on day 1, a baby’s maximum stomach capacity is circa 5ml per feed, on day 2 it is circa 10ml per feed, on day 3 it is circa 20ml to 30ml per feed, and it increases by 10ml per day until plateauing at around 60ml-80ml by day 7. The volumes a baby needs will also depend on how frequently they’re feeding and will often vary from feed to feed.
After the first week
Here is a page from the website kellymom.com with some guidance on how much expressed milk a baby might need after the first week:
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/
Please bear in mind that from 4 weeks to 6 months, your baby’s maximum stomach capacity per feed is around 120ml-150ml. If they drink more than this, there is a risk of stretching their stomach.
Responsive feeding - be guided by your baby
The beauty of paced bottle feeding is that your baby will much more easily be able to indicate when they are full. It is normal for babies to drink different amounts at each feed. It is very important not to try to coax your baby to drink more than they can comfortably fit, or their ability to self-regulate might be impacted, putting them at risk of future overweight and obesity.
Feeding frequency
It’s fine for your baby to feed more than 12 times in 24 hours, but you want to make sure that he or she is not feeding fewer than 8 times in 24 hours.
Wake your newborn baby if they’re sleeping longer than (approximately) 3 hours
A newborn baby who isn’t getting enough milk can lack the energy to wake up for feeds, so you want to wake them for a feed is they are sleeping longer than (roughly) 3 hours. Once your baby has overtaken their birth weight, and is producing plenty of wet and dirty nappies, (see the article ‘What’s in a nappy?’ below), you should be able to allow them to sleep as long as they want.
How to tell your baby is getting enough milk:
1. Nappies
Keep close track of your baby’s pees and poos as they will indicate whether your baby is drinking enough milk:
https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/media/2447/p2p-nct-whats-in-a-nappy.pdf
In the first week, it can be helpful to take photos of your baby’s poos to show to your midwife.
From day 7 up until approximately 6 weeks, you want your baby to be producing at least 6 heavy wet nappies (weighing 45g or more) and at least two good sized poos.
After 6 weeks, some breastfed babies no longer poo on a daily basis, due to a change in the ratio of whey to casein in breastmilk at that stage. As long as poos are soft and plentiful when they arrive, your baby is still producing plenty of wet nappies, and gaining an appropriate amount of weight, it is not considered a cause for concern for a baby to go a week, or possibly even 10 days, without doing a poo.
2. Weight
Your baby's weight will of course also be a good indication of whether he or she is getting enough milk.
Weight loss in the first few days is normal
When they are weighed by the midwife on day 5, it is normal for babies to have lost up to 7% of their birth weight if they were born vaginally, and up to 10% if it was a caesarean birth. It can then take 2 to 3 weeks for babies to regain their birth weight:
https://kellymom.com/bf/normal/weight-gain/
If your baby isn’t producing the expected amount of wet and dirty nappies, or their weight gain isn’t as expected, please contact your midwife, GP or health visitor.
Concerns over your milk supply
If you are worried that you aren’t producing enough milk to meet all your baby’s needs, please read the article ‘Is my baby getting enough milk?’:
https://breastfeeding.support/is-my-baby-getting-enough-milk/
It can surprise new parents that their baby will not settle after a feed unless they are being held. Many babies will refuse to sleep in their cot, especially at night. Please read this article by the psychologist Sarah Ockwell-Smith, which explains about the 4th trimester and why most babies will only settle in their parents’ arms:
Galactagogues – if you need to increase your milk supply
Please see this article for suggestions of herbs and medications that can be taken to help increase milk supply: https://breastfeeding.support/what-is-a-galactagogue/
Supplementing your baby - milk options
Your own breastmilk: if you are not able to produce all the milk your baby needs, you could try pumping more often, or for longer, or adding a power pumping session to your usual pumping routine.
Donor milk: after a mother’s own breastmilk, as a next step, the World Health Organisation recommends pasteurised donor milk.
For more information on obtaining donor milk if you are based in the London area, please contact the Hearts Milk Bank: https://heartsmilkbank.org/
Formula milk: the next step, if donor milk is not available, is to supplement with first infant formula (whey-based). If you are giving your baby formula, first milk formula is the only formula they need from 0-12 months.
Please see this First Steps Nutrition link on infant formula milks:
https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/parents-carers
The importance of skin to skin
When a baby is in skin to skin contact with their mother, it calms them both, and encourages strong mothering instincts. Oxytocin, the hormone of love, labour and lactation, will flood through the mother’s body, helping enormously with bonding and breastfeeding. Skin to skin also helps with breastmilk production.
What happens to babies during skin to skin?
It stabilises their body temperature. A mother’s chest has the ability to warm up by 2°C if the baby is too cold, and to cool down by 2°C if the baby is too hot.
It stabilises their heart rate and breathing: the baby’s heart will start to synchronise with their mother’s.
It stabilises their hormone levels, releasing hormones in that promote bonding and breastfeeding.
It stabilises their blood sugars, thereby stimulating their digestion and an interest in feeding.
Skin to skin is incredibly valuable for all new mothers and babies, but even more so when a baby isn’t breastfeeding, as it keeps the breast a happy place for the baby and provides the physical closeness that would usually happen when a baby is breastfeeding.
It is impossible to do too much skin to skin with your baby.
Skin to skin with partners
Skin to skin with partners is also very valuable and will help with bonding.
Moist wound healing for nipples
Here is an examination of studies into how to treat cracked nipples:
https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/moist-wound-healing/
Although there is not enough research into this topic, anecdotally, many women report that moist wound healing works well for them. Please see the BfN link (above) for detailed information.
Here are some options mothers I’ve supported have found helpful:
As a first step, it’s worth applying some expressed breastmilk to your nipples after feeds. Expressed breastmilk has no risk of allergy, contains antibodies and epidermal grown factor which may promote the growth and repair of skin cells.
Jelonet is available from pharmacies and consists of gauze squares soaked in yellow soft paraffin. It has been used as a wound dressing for years and many women find it works well for helping nipples heal. Folding the gauze into a double layer helps prevent it from drying out. Jelonet also helps prevent damaged nipples from sticking to bras or breast pads. A fresh piece should be applied after each feed.
Hydrogel dressing pads: although a study into these was halted due to increased infections in the group using the hydrogel dressings, this might be because the pads were not being changed often enough. Several women have told me they found hydrogel pads helpful for healing damaged nipples.
Please be aware that there is no evidence that purified lanolin (e.g. Lansinoh) works better than Vaseline. Purified lanolin is more expensive, and people are more likely to be allergic to lanolin than to Vaseline.
Ask your GP to swab your nipples if they don’t start to heal quickly
If your nipples don’t start to heal within a few days of stopping breastfeeding, it’s worth asking for them to be swabbed. A Staph Aureus infection can prevent nipples from healing.
N.B. If you are continuing to experience pain and/or damage, please double check that your breast shields (flanges) are the correct fit and that you aren’t turning the vacuum up too high on your pump.
In conclusion
Double pumping a minimum of 8 times in 24 hours requires an awful lot of hard work and dedication, but if you are able to work out what was causing the damage and address the issue, it is likely that you will be able to go back to direct breastfeeding within a week or two, and that you will then be able to achieve pain-free nursing. Many mothers say it was worth the effort.
Good luck!
Hanna describes her experience of temporarily stopping breastfeeding in order to allow her nipples to heal:
On Day 4 of my first baby’s life, I spent the morning in tears desperately trying to find an IBCLC lactation consultant who would come to my house to help. I was in agony. My nipples were bruised and cracked. The baby kept crying, clearly because he wasn’t getting what he needed, it seemed. I was convinced this was the end of our breastfeeding journey. After a two-hour in person session with Ali Monaghan, (the IBCLC I had found) trying every possible latch configuration with little luck as it all hurt, Ali suggested that I pump and feed expressed milk in a bottle to give my nipples time to heal. I was so relieved. My confidence was so low, and I was so distressed by the whole experience that this idea took a huge weight off my shoulders. I was still committed to breastfeeding from the breast, but I just needed some respite.
My husband jumped on his bike to go and hire a hospital grade double pump, and the pumping journey began! I pumped every two hours without fail, day and night, to ensure my supply got to where it needed to be. Pumping is tiring and I was sad not to share that initial time with the baby, as I pumped while he was being fed by my husband. However, it was also lovely to see the whole family get in on the action (with strict pace bottle feeding of course!)
Pumping gave my nipples time to heal (along with Jelonet, which is the stuff of miracles!) but crucially, when my confidence was so low and I was fearful of doing it wrong in case it was painful again, it meant I could engage in stress-free sessions of practising latching with the baby from about 5 days later, when my nipples were back in good shape. This was so helpful to me. It meant even if the latch didn’t quite work, there was a back-up. It allowed me freedom to get the latching wrong. These were exactly the conditions I needed to learn with the baby. I would bring baby to a room every now and then, when I was relaxed, and have a go at latching. And one day it just worked! Baby came to the breast and I did everything I was meant to do, and it was a pain-free latch! So exciting! I then continued to do this, and more often than not, it worked. It got to the point at around two weeks where I would feed all day from the breast and also before bed. I would then pump through the night to feed baby from the bottle (as he never seemed able to open wide enough at night as he has a small mouth and it still hurt a little).
By about week 6 I was breastfeeding both day and night which, while it has its own challenges (!) was so great! I only pumped occasionally so that I could pop to the shower and no one would panic. From about 3 months I stopped pumping completely as it is fairly time consuming. While that has freed up my time, created wonderful space for connection, and we now also bedshare at night so I’m able to get more sleep than ever, it has meant that the couple of bags of milk I had stored now will likely go to waste as we recently tried to feed baby from the bottle and he has turned his nose up at it!
Pumping, while tiring and a true commitment, saved our breastfeeding journey, and I’m pretty sure without it we wouldn’t be at almost seven months and going strong.
Links:
Blocked ducts: https://breastfeeding.support/blocked-milk-duct/
Mastitis: https://breastfeeding.support/mastitis-symptoms-and-treatment/
Find an IBCLC: https://lcgb.org/find-an-ibclc/
Who’s who in the world of lactation: https://lcgb.org/why-ibclc/whos-who-in-breastfeeding-support-and-lactation-in-the-uk/
The efficacy of osteopathic treatment: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28027445/
Hand expressing video: https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/breastfeeding/hand-expressing-milk.html
Double pumping video: https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/breastfeeding/maximizing-milk-production.html
My article on the let-down reflex: THE LET-DOWN REFLEX by Cordelia Uys | Ardo Breast Pumps
Breastmilk storage: https://abm.me.uk/breastfeeding-information/expressing-breast-milk/
How to finger feed: Kathryn Stagg IBCLC on Instagram: “Finger feeding with a syringe. Finger feeding is a wonderful way of giving small volume top ups in the early days of establishing…”
Paced bottle feeding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGPm5SpLxXY
Best bottle for breastfed baby: Best Bottle for a Breastfed Baby? - Breastfeeding Support
Storing breastmilk: https://abm.me.uk/breastfeeding-information/expressing-breast-milk/
What’s in a nappy: https://www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/media/2447/p2p-nct-whats-in-a-nappy.pdf
Normal weight gain: Average Weight Gain for Breastfed Babies • KellyMom.com
Is My Baby Getting Enough Milk?: https://breastfeeding.support/is-my-baby-getting-enough-milk/
The Fourth Trimester: https://sarahockwell-smith.com/2012/11/04/the-fourth trimester-aka-why-your-newborn-baby-is-only-happy-in-your-arms/
Galactagogues: https://breastfeeding.support/what-is-a-galactagogue/
Hearts Milk Bank: https://heartsmilkbank.org/
Supplementing with formula: https://breastfeeding.support/supplementing-with-formula/
First Steps Nutrition information on infant formula milks: https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/parents-carers
Breastfeeding support lines:
National Breastfeeding Helpline: 0300 100 0212 (9.30am to 9.30pm daily).
NCT feeding line: 0300 330 0700 (option 1). The line is open from 8am to midnight, including bank holidays.
Association of Breastfeeding Mothers: 0300 330 5453 (9.30am to 10.30pm).
La Leche League: 0345 120 2918 (8am to 11pm 365 days a year).