Milk production can be increased through frequent and efficient milk removal, physical techniques and galactagogues.

A Deeper Look:

The techniques to increasing your milk production can be divided into physical techniques and galatogogues.  However, before you spend time learning additional techniques or money on galatogogues, it is worth making sure that you are pumping properly.  Simply put, there is no substitute for good pumping habits.  Good pumping habits mean you are:

• using the correct size flanges
• using a clinical-grade pump and pump parts that are not worn
• pumping until you achieve 2-3 let-downs
• pumping for a total of at least 120 minutes a day
• pumping frequently enough that you do not slow milk production because your breasts are “full”
• thoroughly draining your breasts during each pump session

If you do not have good pumping habits, you may not notice any benefits from the suggestions provided to increase your milk supply.  

For more information on flange sizing, click here.
For more information on let-downs, click here. 
For more information on how to pump, click here.
For more information on how often to pump, click here.
For more information on how long to pump, click here.

Physical Techniques
Milk removal is typically the best—and cheapest!—way to increase your supply.  Physical techniques to assist with increasing your milk production include: 

• pump more frequently and on a schedule
• power pumping
• breast massage and compression while pumping, 
• hand expression after pumping to ensure the most milk removal
• warming the breasts just prior or during pumping with heating packs 
• Pumping for 2-5 minutes after your milk flow stops

Additionally, it is thought that milk removal from both breasts—double pumping—may encourage a higher prolactin surge and thus additional milk production. 

For more information on power pumping, click here. 
For more information on massage and compression while pumping or hand expression, click here.

Galactagogues
Galactagogues are foods, herbs, and medications that stimulate milk production.  Galactagogues are not a replacement for frequent and effective milk removal; they are most effective when used together with good pumping habits to maximize your milk production.  

If you have good pumping habits and have tried the physical techniques to increase milk production, it may be time to consider talking to your healthcare professional about what galactagogues may be appropriate for you.  Galactagogues are not an immediate fix; while some mamas may see results within forty-eight hours, some may not see results for a week or longer.

Common galactagogues include:

• Quick or old fashioned oats
• Barley
• Chickpeas
• Almonds
• Fennel
• Blessed Thistle (herb)
• Goat’s Rue (herb)
• Domperidone (medication)
• Metoclopramide (medication)

Some mothers may use a combination of galactagogues to achieve increased milk production.  As with Some mothers may use a combination of galactagogues to achieve increased milk production.  As with anything you ingest, talk with your healthcare provider.  While available without a prescription, certain herbs are known to have a negative effect on your thyroid, which may be dangerous if you already have a thyroid condition.  Other herbs, such as fenugreek, increase milk production in some mamas, but have the opposite effect on other mamas.  Some of the supplements that purport to help milk supply disclose their negative interactions prominently, others do not.  So it is always best to consult your healthcare professional before trying any galactagogues.

For information on galactagogues to ask your doctor or other professional about, click here and here.

The EP&Me Take:

The endless pursuit for more milk is exhausting and it often feels elusive.  I worried every single day about the amount of milk I was producing—a sentiment that I’m sure many of you share.  

In the beginning of my pumping journey I felt wildly unconfident in everything related to pumping.  I was largely uninformed about the ins and outs of pumping, and I constantly felt like I was teetering on the edge of not producing enough milk.  In an effort to boost milk production, I tried oatmeal, multiple brands of lactation cookies, emergency brownies, special melon and fruit punch drinks, and drops of something that tasted vaguely orange-y.  All of them were allegedly meant to increase milk production, but none of them did a darn thing.  I later learned that at the time I was trying these galactagogues, I was using the wrong size flange and was very likely not effectively removing the amount of milk from my breasts needed to signal my body to increase milk production.  I now know that without proper milk removal, no galactagogue can have a real or lasting impact on milk production because by failing to remove enough milk you are telling your body not to make more. 

Months later, when I had a better handle on how to effectively pump, I felt more confident in my ability to manage my milk production using only physical techniques and did not see the need to pointedly include galactagogues in my pumping regime.  However, when my Little began eating solids and we learned she liked oatmeal, I began eating the leftovers here and there, and I do think it had a small impact on my milk production when I consistently ate it.

Although I cannot personally attest to the efficacy of particular products I tried because I was not using them properly in conjunction with good pumping habits, I can tell you which products tasted yummy!  My favorite cookies were the Munchkin Milkmakers lactation cookie bites in Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.  I also really liked the Milky Mama Pumpin’ punch and Milky Melon drinks.

Regarding the physical techniques to increasing milk supply, I absolutely believe in all of them.  After the first month or so, I pumped on a pretty set schedule, and I swear my breasts knew it, which made the whole pumping process easier.  During every pump session I massaged and compressed, aimed for 3 let-downs, and pumped for a few minutes after my milk flow slowed followed by a short 1-2 minutes of hand expression once the flanges were off.  Any time I thought my supply was decreasing and any time I dropped a pump or was sick (which was so often with my Little in daycare!) I incorporated power pumps into my schedule and my supply always rebounded.  That is, it did until I cut down to three pumps a day when my Little was almost ten months old and then got sick right after—I lost about 5 ounces that I was never able to recover, which I believe was due to the less frequent milk removal. 

Managing your milk supply is stressful no matter where you are in your pumping journey.  I wish I could give you the quick-fix secret to bountiful milk but there isn’t one.  Increasing your milk production is time-consuming, and it can be full of frustrating trial and error scenarios.  But from one EPing mama to another, I see you.  I see you waking up to pump in the middle of the night and again in the early morning hours before the rest of your household is awake.  I see you power pumping while your dinner gets cold and while you are trying to manage a work conference call.  I see you endlessly scrolling websites containing cookies, and drinks, and eye dropper bottles full of all kinds of things.  I see all these things as a love letter to your baby, regardless of if the outcome is increased milk production.  I know that what you are trying to do isn’t easy and that you are doing your best.  I’m proud of you, and I am rooting for you.