RMC Women

How does your body make milk?
You may have wondered "Can I really make milk?" The answer is yes. Although breast come in many shapes and sizes, they are perfectly designed for their ultimate purpose: nourishing and nurturing children.

Change During Pregnancy
Your breasts will naturally change during pregnancy in preparation for nursing. Your breasts may feel tender and full. Blood flow to your breast increases, so your blood vessels may appear more pronounced through your skin. The nipple and the areola (the dark circle behind your nipple) may darken and enlarge. Some, but not all, women may leak colostrum (early milk) during the latter half of their pregnancy. Don't worry if you don't leak or are unable to express colostrum from your nipple. This in no way determines your ability to produce breastmilk.

Where Does Milk Come From?
Inside your breasts there are thousands of milk producing cells which absorb nutrients from your blood. Breastmilk is formed in these special cells, which are connected to a system of ducts and reservoirs. Droplets of milk flow from these cells, through these ducts, and collect in the reservoirs located beneath the areola. When the baby suckles the nipple and areola, milk is passed through openings in the nipple into the baby's mouth. When the reservoir becomes empty, the breasts automatically begin to manufacture more milk. The breasts are never empty and are always capable of producing more milk.

Milk Quality
Foremilk collects in the reservoirs between feedings. While the milk waits for the next feeding, its water content increases and it becomes like skim milk. The foremilk accounts for the first one third of the baby's feeding. After the baby drinks the foremilk (usually within 5-10 minutes) then he will take in the higher fat hindmilk. The hindmilk is stored higher in the ducts and is also produced during the feeding. To be sure your baby drinks foremilk and hindmilk, avoid scheduling feedings or limiting nursing time at the breasts. Allow the baby to drink at one breast until he is satisfied (15 - 30 minutes). Then offer the second breast if the baby desires.

When Your Baby Nurses
There are three actions working together to enable your baby to drink milk from your breasts. The most obvious is sucking which is negative pressure produced by the baby's mouth. This vacuum effect draws milk into the mouth like drinking from a straw. The second mechanism of milk removal is suckling. Suckling is the stripping action of the baby's tongue and gums over the milk reservoirs under the areola. Correct latch and position of the baby's mouth over the nipple and areola are essential for adequate suckling of the breasts. Finally, milk is forced out of the breasts by the milk ejection reflex, also known as the "let down" of milk. Specialized muscles surrounding the milk producing cells squeeze the milk out of the cells in response to hormone (oxytocin) stimulation. This process occurs usually one to three minutes after the baby latches and starts suckling the breasts.

Making Enough Milk
Your baby will control the amount of milk your body makes. Frequent nursing keeps the milk producing hormones, prolactin and oyxtocin, at levels needed to keep milk production going. Frequent removal of milk from the milk producing cells also signals your body to keep making milk. There is a saying, " The milk in your breasts wasn't put there to stay. To make more milk you must give some away."

What is Milk Made Of?
All mammals produce milk for their young, and each species' milk is different from that of other species. Although humans can survive on milk created for another species, they will not received the combination of nutrients that was designed particularly for our species. Human milk contains precisely the right amount of nutrients, in the right proportions, for your baby. In addition to materials which cause your baby to grow and thrive, human milk also contains special ingredients which promote brain development, and provide protection against many infectious illnesses. Human milk is the only infant nutrition that contains these ingredients in the perfect proportions for your baby.


Want To Learn More About Breastfeeding?
Regional Lactation Services Breastfeeding Class Schedule
Where: Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center
Women's & Children's Pavilion Level 3000 Classroom

Call Kim or Jennifer at (256) 235-5132 for more information.