What are the Best Foods to boost Breast Milk?

The Best Foods to boost Breast Milk? - Photo: DMX.

Breast milk is a liquid source of food made by a mother's breasts. A woman's body creates it in response to pregnancy and the suckling of a baby at the breast—but women who have not been pregnant can also breastfeed, with the help of hormones, medications, and stimulation such as pumping.1

Breast milk provides a child with complete nutrition, as well as protection against infections, diseases, and illnesses. Breastfeeding benefits mothers and children in a variety of ways, and many of the health benefits continue long after breastfeeding has ended.

The composition of breast milk is complex. It consists of over 200 different substances, including protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, other nutrients, enzymes, and hormones.2 This composition isn't constant. It's different from mother to mother. It even varies within the same mother, depending on the baby's needs.

Breast milk changes during each feeding, from one feeding to another throughout the day, and over time to meet the needs of a growing child. For example, if your baby has an infection, your breast milk may provide immune cells to help fight the illness

Top Best Foods to boost Breast Milk

Bone broth

When it comes to the best foods to boost breast milk which are cheap and easy to do, one of the most common ones is the bone broth. According to the parents.com, bone broth is one of the simplest yet most nutrient-dense foods that you can eat while breastfeeding.

This process draws out the collagen, gelatin and amino acids like glutamine that can help heal leaky gut, boost your immune system, reduce inflammation and improve hair, skin and nails (source). Talk about a superfood! The good thing is bone broth is super easy to make. Here a super easy method for making bone broth in your slow cooker!

Barley malt

When grains are germinated, they release malting enzymes, which converts barley into a sweet, syrupy malt, which also contains lactogenic beta-glucan. Barley malt syrup can be found at health and speciality stores, but make sure it’s 100-per cent pure—high-fructose or regular corn syrup is often added to dilute and sweeten it, Simpson writes.

How to use it: Add barley malt to sweeten chocolate milk made with unsweetened cocoa, or substitute for maple syrup in baked goods.

Photo: Healthline.com

Coconut

Coconut is an amazing superfood for breastfeeding moms and perhaps one of the best foods to eat while breastfeeding to increase milk supply. It’s super nutritious and you can see results fast.

Coconut contains medium-chain fatty acids that include lauric acid, caprylic acid and capric acid. Increased levels of lauric acid and capric acid in your breast milk helps protect your baby from bacteria and viruses (source).

Lentils

Lentils are simple food that you can add to your breastfeeding diet to increase your milk supply. Lentils are high in protein, fibre, magnesium and folate. They can help improve your digestive health and stabilize blood sugar. There are so many ways you can eat lentils! Try them in soups, stews and even on tacos.

Oats

Oats are likely the most well-known breast milk makers. “After barley,” Simpson writes, “oats have a higher concentration of dietary beta-glucan than any other food.”

How to use them: Oats are pretty easy to work into your diet—cooked and topped with fruit, in muffins, cookies or crumbles oats into your diet—but if you need a little inspiration, you’ll find everything from granola to meatloaf here.

Papaya

This sunny fruit has been used—both raw and cooked in soups—as a galactagogue in Asian cultures for centuries, though it’s only recently been studied, Simpson writes. We still don’t know exactly if, why or how papaya increases breast milk supply.

How to use it: Eat papaya raw with yoghurt, cereal and other fruit. It’s very good in Thai-inspired soups, salads and noodle dishes.

Brewer’s yeast

High in B vitamins, iron, protein, chromium and selenium, brewer’s yeast is routinely used as a nutritional supplement. But unlike beer-related barley and malt, brewer’s yeast has not yet been studied as a lactogenic food, Simpson writes. Nevertheless, it is commonly recommended as a breast milk booster and is often found in trendy lactation snacks. One caveat: As brewer’s yeast is super bitter and passes readily into breast milk, it may cause gas and fussiness in some infants.

What If I Don't Make Enough Breast Milk?

Your body begins to make breast milk in response to pregnancy and delivery of your child. But to continue to make breast milk after your baby is born, you have to breastfeed or pump your breasts. The more you breastfeed or pump, the more you'll be telling your body to make breast milk.4

Almost all mothers have the ability to make a healthy breast milk supply. If you're worried about or struggling with a low milk supply, get help from a physician, lactation consultant, or breastfeeding support group such as La Leche. Most of the time, correcting your baby's breastfeeding latch and breastfeeding more often will help.

Why Is My Breast Milk That Color?

The color of breast milk can change throughout the day, or from one day to the next. It's usually white, yellow, or bluish.5 But,depending on what you eat, it could have a green, orange, brown, or pink hue.

Occasionally, blood from rusty pipe syndrome or cracked nipples can appear in your breast milk.6

It may be scary, but it isn't dangerous. As long as your baby is not refusing the breast, it's safe to continue to breastfeed if your milk changes color.

What Does Breast Milk Taste Like?

Breast milk is described as sweet and creamy. It gets its sweetness from the milk sugar lactose, and it's creamy due to the amount of fat it contains. The foods that you eat each day as part of your breastfeeding diet will also contribute to the flavor of your breast milk.

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