Cause mothers do not have milk after giving birth and how to call for milk

The lack of milk after giving birth made many mothers worried, confused, struggling to find ways to call "milk back".

You have been in a situation where there is no milk to feed your baby right after birth and don't know the cause and how to overcome this phenomenon.

During the time when the milk is not coming down (also known as milk has not come yet), the mother can give her baby formula milk for babies or ask for breast milk from other mothers to breastfeed. Although the milk has not come in yet, you should still breastfeed your baby to boost milk production.

If you are in this difficult situation, please refer to the sharing in the following articles of aFamilyToday Health to know the causes and effective remedies for no milk postpartum. This helps your baby to receive valuable nutrients in the shortest time.

What factors trigger “milk coming in” to breastfeed your baby?

During pregnancy, a woman's body produces hormones such as prolactin, cortisol, oxytocin, and insulin. These four hormones play an important role in the production of breast milk.

Prolactin, a hormone that promotes milk production by a mother's body, increases during pregnancy. However, during pregnancy, progesterone does not produce milk due to the influence of progesterone. Progesterone is a hormone produced by the placenta that effectively inhibits the body's effective response to prolactin.

Normally, a mother's body normally produces milk only after the baby is born, the placenta has shed and the hormones secreted by the placenta have also passed out of the body. A decrease in progesterone levels is a trigger for breast milk production. As a result, within a few days of giving birth, your breasts gradually become full, your nipples oozing. These are the first signs that breastmilk has 'returned'.

In fact, during pregnancy, your breasts may also release some milk. This type of milk is called colostrum , the first nutritious milk containing the essential antibodies a mother's body begins to produce in mid-pregnancy.

Relationship between milk quantity and breast size

The amount of milk produced and stored in a mother's breast is not related to the size of the breast, but to the amount of milk-producing tissue in it. Some women may have large breasts but not have a lot of milk and vice versa. Sometimes, one breast can produce more milk than the other.

For mothers who produce a lot of milk, after their baby is full, mothers need to use a suction device to reduce excess milk. This helps to reduce the risk of tension, blockage of milk jet ...

14 reasons why mothers do not have milk after giving birth

We all know that breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies and young children. So for some mothers, the lack of milk, slow "milk coming" after giving birth or not having enough milk to feed their babies makes them very worried.

There are many reasons why you do not have breast milk after giving birth or have milk, but the amount of milk produced is very little that does not meet your baby's needs, even without milk. Here are the reasons why you don't have postpartum or slow milk, little or even no milk:

1. Stress

Busy life makes us less time for ourselves, less contact with family, friends ... This makes it less likely to express our feelings, aspirations or needs. confess so easily fall into stress.

Doctors have determined that stress is one of the main causes of numerous illnesses such as anxiety, heart disease, depression and poor breast milk production. Postpartum women experience stress that can prevent the body from producing milk, leading to no breast milk after birth.

2. Hormonal imbalances

The thyroid gland is a small endocrine gland located below the pharynx, in the shape of a butterfly, which is very important in maintaining the balance of hormones in the body. The malfunction of the mother's thyroid gland causes hormonal imbalances, resulting in less milk production, or even no milk.

Estrogen and progesterone are two hormones involved in breast development, puberty, and female fertility. Prolactin assists with milk production during pregnancy, while oxytocin helps the flow of milk through ducts. Lack of these hormones due to problems with thyroid function or any other factors hinders breast milk production.

3. Lifestyle

Mothers with sedentary lifestyles, inadequate diets, alcohol, coffee, tobacco, and addictive drugs may have problems with postpartum breast milk production.

Therefore, to ensure the source of milk for the baby, pregnant mothers need to build appropriate physical exercise habits, a healthy diet, do not use alcohol, coffee ...

4. Side effects of some medicines and herbs

The use of certain medicines and herbs before your baby is born or immediately after birth can prevent your body from producing breast milk. Health experts suggest that pregnant women taking pain relievers during labor may delay the onset of lactation. In addition, herbs like sage, oregano, parsley, and mint are known to inhibit breast milk production.

Therefore, you should consult with your doctor about prescription medications or any other medications you intend to take or have ever taken near your due date. In addition, after giving birth, you should also consult health experts or nutritionists about dairy foods to get enough milk to feed your baby.

5. Use of birth control pills

Most birth control pills work by controlling the levels of hormones in the body that inhibit ovulation. Many people believe that this can cause negative effects on the health of the user. The use of birth control pills soon after birth can be the cause of the lack of breastmilk after giving birth.

Therefore, if you want to avoid pregnancy in the early postpartum period, you should apply contraception without using drugs, such as condoms, sperm membranes ...

6. Environmental factors

Increasing air pollution, water pollution, and consumption of dirty foods can also cause negative impacts on breast milk production.

While you cannot completely protect yourself from these conditions, taking some precautions can help minimize the negative effects. Pregnant or breastfeeding women should limit to places that are too crowded, polluted, do not use food of unknown origin, rancid food, strange smell ...

7. Pregnant mothers have difficulty giving birth

Difficult delivery, cesarean or  prolonged labor , postpartum haemorrhage ... can increase stress hormones, directly affect the production of breast milk.

8. Intravenous therapy

It is widely argued that the need for an intravenous injection by a pregnant mother during childbirth may contribute to delaying the onset of lactation.

9. Too much blood loss

In case of pregnant women losing too much blood during childbirth, the pituitary gland can be damaged. The pituitary gland is an endocrine gland located in the brain that is responsible for activating lactation. The mother elected to lose more than 500ml of blood during birth is also the cause of the lack of milk after birth or slow milk coming.

10. Sick each other

After birth, if some fragments of the placenta remain in the uterus, it may trigger progesterone release. This is a hormone that prevents the initiation of lactation.

11. Preterm birth

In the case of a premature labor, the glandular tissue in the breast will not have enough time to develop. This contributes to slow "milk coming in".

12. Diabetes

One of the key hormones for the production of breast milk is insulin. Pregnant mothers with gestational diabetes cause fluctuations in insulin levels. This can contribute to delaying the onset of lactation.

13. Mother's age

The fact that a woman gives birth at an advanced age can also be a reason why the body is slow to produce milk, little milk, or even no milk.

14. Worry when there is no milk after giving birth

Delayed lactation can lead to stress, anxiety, and insecurity. This inadvertently leads to the absence of breast milk.

Tell you how to order milk to fill your baby

Normally, colostrum is available in a mother's breast for the first 40 hours after birth. Meanwhile, it takes about 2-3 days, even 5 days after birth, for new breast milk.

If your mother's milk doesn't come down a few days after your baby is born, don't be sad or depressed. This will only increase the levels of stress hormones, further complicating the situation. To quickly have breast milk, mothers should apply the following methods of calling milk:

1. Breastfeeding right after birth

You should breastfeed or express milk (in case your baby can't breastfeed) for the first few hours after birth. The baby's sucking or the suction power of the milking machine will stimulate your body to release milk. In the case of a little breast milk that does not meet the baby's needs, you should breastfeed your baby regularly to stimulate the body to increase milk production.

In addition, every 1-2 hours, you gently express milk by hand even when your breasts do not produce milk to activate your body to release milk, promoting breast milk to come back faster.

2. Massage, warm compresses breasts

Massage your breasts in a circular motion, from the inside out to the nipples. In addition, you should use a soft towel soaked in hot water, squeeze it dry and apply warm compresses to your breasts. Breast massage or using warm towels to gently wipe the breasts not only help the milk flow more easily, but also can help the baby latch on the breast properly. This helps your baby get the required amount of milk.

3. Apply skin-to-skin therapy

Skin-to-skin therapy   not only brings positive benefits to your baby, but is also very helpful in stimulating the production of milk faster.

4. Avoid taking medications

As noted above, certain drugs and herbs can adversely affect the production of breast milk in postpartum women. Therefore, you should avoid taking any medicine without your doctor's approval.

5. The baby is not breastfed properly

The fact that your baby cannot breastfeed properly, does not finish all the milk, the remaining milk in the breast will prevent the mother's body from producing milk. This leads to less breast milk secretion, even gradual loss of milk. Therefore, you need to learn how to breastfeed properly and fully breastfeed after each feed. If your baby does not finish feeding, you should use a breast pump to pump excess milk and store it for later use.

6. Please consult your doctor

If you do not have milk or too little milk a few days after giving birth, please consult your doctor. Your doctor may do tests to see if you have any factors that interfere with breast milk production.

Breastfeeding helps to bond with mother and child. Completely milklessness is extremely rare and highly unlikely. To be able to breastfeed your baby, you have to take care of yourself, both physically and mentally. Hopefully, with the above sharing, you already know the reason why you do not have breast milk after giving birth and how to effectively fix it.