If I had a dollar for every time a new mum asks me for breastfeeding tips and how to increase milk supply, I would be a wealthy woman indeed. The fact is, breastfeeding is hard enough without worrying about whether or not the baby is getting enough to drink. I remember searching voraciously online for anything that would help and I tried everything from lactation cookies to fenugreek and moringa pills to overnight oats to power pumping. Personally, I found what worked best for me was simple combination of drinking copious amounts of soup, eating a lot of of salmon (or other types of fatty fish) and latching the baby as often as possible. When pumping, I also used a double pump which I found most effective.
But of course, every mum is different so here at Mummyfique, we went round sourcing for some of the best breastfeeding tips and secrets from seasoned mums out there. Here are 10 of our favourites.
- “I recommend avocado milkshakes to all my friends. I mixed avocado with milk and coconut oil. It was a great milk booster and it was super yummy!” – Danielle Chow, mother to little Gabrielle.
- “Coming from a mommy who barely had milk and a baby who hated my nippies….I have to say papaya fish soup helped in getting me some milk for up to three months.” – Valerie Tan, full time working mummy with a 21 month old little girl.
- “Drink lots of soups especially green papaya soup and black chicken soup. Drink Enfamama chocolate milk plus lactation cookies. Eat chocolates!” – Stephanie Mong, mother of Walton, aged three and Wallace, nine months old.
- “I breastfed my baby till she was 16 months old. Drink lots of water or soups of any kind as it’s fluids. Rest enough especially during the first two to three months when production is getting established. I swear by fenugreek capsules as well as fish soup with GREEN papaya and wakame seaweed. Seaweed helps with production and it must be green papaya. The ripe ones are useless. I use to pump in between a feed so I can increase production. Even though it’s just 10 ml it’s the suckling motion that tells the body to produce more else the baby will just produce the volume the baby suckles which may not be a long time as baby is also learning how to latch. – Katherine Ong-Froggart, a Singaporean mother living in New Zealand with her five year old son Ethan and little toddler, Charlotte, aged two.
- “Pre-natal massage helps prep the milk supply because the masseur will massage the boobs to open up the milk ducts for production” – Serin Lee, ex-corporate executive and now a stay at home mummy to her 14 month old little bub, Avery.
- “Enough sleep (every time I work late or over work I dry up!), drink lots of water, eat oily fish, eat well-balanced nutritious meals, don’t drink alcohol or caffeine (goes back to dehydration). Early on prior to birth, prep nipples with massage to open up pores. Pork trotters with vinegar — the vinegar helps to break down the pork trotters for the bone marrow, gelatin and protein to help with milk production.” – Grace Kee, mummy to 13 month old, Hayley.
- “Drink lots of warm water or longan and red dates water. I drank a lot of tonic soups. Milo really works. Power pump. To power pump, pick one hour each day or night (eg. 7 am every morning) and use the following pumping pattern: pump for 20 minutes; rest 10 minutes pump another 10 minutes; rest for 10 minutes pump again for 10 minutes; finish. And also as long as you latch your baby, your supply will always be there.” – Ruth Chew, one of our regular mummy contributors and mummy to two beautiful girls, Isabel and Elysia Jane.
- “Most mums think that when the baby still cries after feeding it’s because the baby is still hungry or they have insufficient milk but from my own experience that’s not always the case. Often, babies want to suckle for comfort so sometimes it’s best to time your feeds because you may end up overfeeding and the baby may throw up.” – Patricia Yong, mother to Tricia.
- “Do one pump in the morning when you wake up for an extra stash of milk for a rainy day. Latch as often as you can. Don’t ever feel pressured to breastfeed if it’s causing you stress or difficulty” – Dr. Elaine Kim, mother to two young boys, Kyan and Luke.
- “For relief of engorged breasts – apply a warm compress for 20 minutes and hand express, it’s so much more effective than a pump.” – Dr. Iroshini Chua, mother of a girl and a boy, Aiyana and Jorim.
