Increasing Breast Milk Supply-Power Pumping

The benefits for babies of breastfeeding have been well documented and in recent times, significant health benefits for women have also been uncovered. However despite their best efforts, many women experience issues with low supply.

Because breasts work on the principle of supply and demand, using a breast pump is often recommended. Regular pumping delivers to the brain a ‘make more milk!’ message and can be very effective in increasing supply. However despite regular pumping sessions many women do not see results as quickly or as effectively as they had hoped. Enter power pumping!

What is power pumping?

Power pumping is a technique that involves mimicking the frequent feeding of a baby experiencing a growth spurt. During these times your baby’s more vigorous, more frequent and longer suckling triggers an increased release of prolactin from the pituitary gland – the ‘make more milk!’ message.

How do I power pump?

Power pumping is not a replacement for regular breast pumping to increase supply. Instead, power pumping is intended to boost your progress by replacing one regular pumping session with a strategically designed alternative. It works by repeatedly emptying the breast, signalling the body to make more milk, more quickly.

To power pump, pick one hour each day or night (I will do at 4am) and use the following pumping pattern: For double site pump.

1.     Pump for 20 minutes; rest 10 minutes

2.     Pump another 10 minutes; rest for 10 minutes

3.     Pump again for 10 minutes; finish

This provides 40 minutes of pumping in a 60 minute period.

For those using single site pump:

1.     Pump left site 10 minutes

2.     Pump right site for 10 minutes

3.     Follow the steps for 1 hour.

While u are pumping left site, right site is on rest and vice versa.

How do I keep track of the time during power pumping?

The obvious answers would seem to be, have a clock handy or use an alarm. However both low supply and pumping can be stressful, and clock watching or fiddling with an alarm may make the experience even more so. Time keeping strategies which are not quite so accurate time-wise but might be less stressful and ultimately more effective include:

·         Watching a favourite TV program, pumping during the commercials and resting during the show

·         Watching a movie, pumping through one scene and resting during the next

·         Listening to music, pumping during two songs and resting during the next two

·         Reading a book placing your book mark four to six pages ahead – pump until you reach it and then move it ahead and rest until you reach it again

Are there any other ways to increase success?

As mentioned, pumping can be stressful and uncomfortable. Perhaps the key to making any pumping session better (power or regular) is to ensure you are as comfortable as possible. Ensure you have a comfortable place to sit and to put your feet up. Have a rug handy if the weather is cool and a fan if it is warm. Have your breast pump close at hand and ready to go, and a bottle of water handy as drinking water is essential to producing breast milk. Try to view the time as an opportunity to sit down and slow down rather than another task that must be completed.

Breastfeeding set from Shaklee can help in increasing the demand for breast milk.

 For further details contact:

Logeswary Mariappan
SMS/Whatapp: 012-3612203
Shaklee ID: 955747