Breast compression is a tool which is useful when you need to improve milk removal by your baby or a breast pump. External pressure can increase the flow of milk. 

Lactating breasts naturally release milk when a baby or pump triggers the let-down reflex. A well-attached baby doesn't need additional help removing milk. However there are circumstances where babies benefit from the technique.

By the late 1980s, mothers were no longer advised to limit feeds by the clock. The descriptors Foremilk and Hindmilk were intended to describe how the milk glands released milk high in fat during the let-down and breastmilk becomes increasingly richer as a feed progresses. Advice to mothers changed from offering both breasts equally at each feed to allowing babies to “finish the first breast first” so they could get this richer hind-milk.

When it comes to milk production problems, low supply gets all of the attention. Identifying the cause and resolving it, supplementing the breastmilk intake and supporting the mother emotionally.

The mother who appears to have far more breastmilk than her baby needs almost seems to be mocking those who have too little. Talking about their frustration or their baby’s symptoms in groups can attract nasty comments and mothers learn who to share their feelings around. However for some women, too much breastmilk has a significant impact on their daily life and that of their infant.

Hyperlactation or hypergalactia occurs naturally in some women and is self-induced in others. Physical causes can include thyroid or pituitary disorders. Prolactin is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland which has a key role in milk production. High levels of prolactin can be responsible for hyperlactation. Where oversupply is having a significant impact on either mother or baby it is worth having your doctor run some tests to rule out any medical cause. However, in the majority of cases, there is no underlying medical condition.

Has anyone ever told you their milk dried up overnight? Or they lost their supply after six weeks? Twelve weeks? Or somewhere in between?

Someone should have explained to them what was really happening.

Perceived low milk supply is so common, it is actually listed as one of the top reasons mothers stop breastfeeding or begin supplementing with formula. Perceived - not actual - low milk production. There is a difference.

Throughout human history, people have lived in tight-knit communities and shared the responsibilities of raising children. Mothers have always worked and young infants typically stay within reach of the breasts in arms or a baby carrier while they go about their day. Older babies and toddlers however might be gathered together to be cared for as a group - what we know as a creche - to allow women to focus without constantly supervising groups of children. Often older girls and even grandfathers would be responsible for supervising smaller children. And a lactating member of the community would make her breast available to any babies and toddlers whose own mother was busy elsewhere.

Often we will describe babies as having an unsettled or “fussy” period in their day or during periods of rapid development. But what does that mean?

Some babies are pretty chilled and its easy to spot when they are feeling a bit overwhelmed. But other babies seem to feel this way most of the time! Sometimes we describe them as “high needs babies”.

Many people expect a breastfeeding mother to lose her milk. They believe milk supply can dry up suddenly. It is a case of when, not if, that a mother will need to begin supplementing with formula. In fact, some family, friends or even health professionals have so little faith in breastfeeding being successful, they suggest parents keep formula on hand at home, just in case.

Humans and other mammals have relied on breastfeeding to keep infants alive for thousands of years. Breastfeeding is designed to sustain a baby completely until they start to eat family foods after six months and is then part of the natural diet for at least two to four years of age! Surely it can’t suddenly have become unreliable?

If you give birth without intervention and have uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact with your baby for at least one hour after birth and your baby attached and breastfed, you can expect changes to begin around 30-40 hours after the placenta is expelled.

You might begin to see signs of your milk “coming in” over the following days however what you will definitely experience is signs of your baby taking it out!

It is normal for babies around the second to fourth days to be fussy, unsettled and feeding constantly around the clock. This is one of the most demanding stages of breastfeeding.

It is typical for babies to bring up some milk after feeds. The immature digestive system might not be quite up to the task of keeping milk in the stomach and sometimes it comes back out again! Babies might look surprised, relieved or not react at all. If they just fed, the milk might look much like it did on the way in but the longer it sits in the stomach, the more digested it will look when it reappears. Some babies will just spit up a little while others might projectile vomit an impressive volume of milk. Babies whose mothers have a strong let-down reflex of fast flow of milk might regularly vomit early in the feed to release the pressure before going back on to continue the feed.

“Happy Chuckers” is a nickname for babies who bring up milk without signs of pain or discomfort. Milk which has sat in the stomach a while might have them screw up their face at the sour taste but they are otherwise unbothered.

When a baby can feed at the breast but is not able to fully meet their needs, supplemental expressed breastmilk, donor milk or infant formula might be added as a short or long-term strategy. A Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) is a way of doing so without separating feeding from the breast.

Some babies have a temporary or permanent barrier to effectively removing milk from the breast to fully satisfy their hunger. This can be due to pre-term birth, oral variations like tongue ties or clefts of lip or palate, or injury during birth affecting the nerves associated with sucking.

For mothers whose breast development is atypical (Insufficient Glandular Tissue or IGT, for example), surgery or injury has damaged the breast or nipple function or rare medical conditions prevent optimal lactation, fully meeting their babies needs with their own breastmilk might not be possible. However, breastfeeding is much more than breastmilk.

Relactation is the process of stimulating milk production after a period of not removing milk regularly by direct feeding or expressing. This is usually weeks or months down the track. The human breast is a complex system and its flexibility is surprising. Even if you have only small signs of lactation, like being able to squeeze a trace of milk from the breast, you can boost production to once again meet some or all of your baby’s daily needs! In fact, women who have never been pregnant or breastfed can establish a breastfeeding relationship with adopted babies!

One of the biggest barriers to successfully establishing breastfeeding is the use of routines or schedules.

From the innocent-sounding “feed, play, sleep” to the extreme regimes favoured by some sleep training advocates, using the clock to structure babies feeding patterns is not compatible with the natural relationship between baby and breasts.

It's almost routinely suggested by midwives and child health nurses if a baby isn't gaining weight according to their expectations or even appears to have lost weight beyond that normally expected in the first week of life. Yet what is commonly known as Triple Feeding can lead to women completely giving up on breastfeeding, deciding to exclusively pump their milk or to mixed feed with infant formula until they cease all breastmilk feeding weeks or months later.

Nearly all breastfeeding problems can be fixed. But you need to find the right help when you need it and that can be hard. . It can feel like your calendar is filled with appointments with your child health nurse, local doctor, IBCLC lactation consultant and breastfeeding counsellor. Each will have different opinions and strategies for you to try. And then there are friends and family members whose own experience of breastfeeding might be limited. They might be more comfortable talking to you about formula feeding and seem unsupportive.

Nature designed a perfect system: keep the baby within reach of the breast day and night. Create subtle feeding cues easily noted by their mother long before the desperate crying which will alert predators. Allow the mother to quickly move the baby to the breast from their position on her chest. When baby falls asleep at the breast, continue to keep them close. In the learning days, lean in to staying close. Contact naps lead naturally into baby-led attachment. Nappy changing can nearly always wait until a break between breasts or even longer. Aim to move baby from chest to breast with minimal delay in the early days.