Releasing Your Breastmilk

The Let-down Reflex is not something mothers do, it is something which happens.

Your Baby is the main stimulus for the release of oxytocin into your bloodstream, which in turn begins to eject milk out of the glands and into the ducts.

Hidden away under our brain is the pituitary gland, no bigger than a walnut but with significant influence over our bodies. It is from here that oxytocin begins to switch on the milk flow.

There is always milk in the ducts. When the let-down reflex is triggered, cells surrounding the glands which produce breastmilk contract and push more milk into the network of milk ducts within each breast. With every mouthful, the baby signals back to the breast to keep the release going. It's this removal of milk which triggers a different hormone, prolactin to make more milk. More out = more in. Over and over, around the clock, this feedback system is working.

The let-down at the beginning of a breastfeed is sometimes noticeable. But other releases throughout the feed might not be. However, watch carefully and you might notice your baby pause then suck rapidly, then pause again. Almost like tapping at the door, the baby is signalling for another let-down. The breast responds to the oxytocin release and another burst of milk follows. There can be several releases throughout the feed.

The Let-down Reflex can be stimulated by the mere thought of your baby, the hint of their cry, the familiar routine of preparing to feed or even looking at a photo of your child. Multiple senses can trigger the response and you can use these as tools if you need to express your milk. But the touch of your baby against your breast is the most powerful of all and your baby the most effective way to stimulate milk flow.

Your baby and your breast know how this works.