How to Boost Milk Supply After 4 Months Postpartum

How do I boost my milk supply after 4 months postpartum and fast?

Facing low milk supply after those initial postpartum hormones level out is quite common. Sometimes, your milk supply is actually not decreasing, but instead, your body is adapting to the process.

Even so, let’s jump into some great ways you can increase your milk supply after 4 or 6 months postpartum.

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Tips for Boosting Milk Supply at 4 and 6 Months Postpartum

A decrease in breast milk supply naturally seems to happen around 4 and 6 months postpartum. This is most likely due to your baby sleeping through the night and not nursing as often, as well as hormonal changes.①

In this case, your body intuitively begins to decrease milk production due to less of a supply and demand market.

With that said, how do you increase milk supply at 4 and 6 months postpartum and beyond? Let’s find out!

1. Breastfeed More Frequently

So, your little one is FINALLY sleeping through the night?! However, your milk supply has noticeably taken a hit because of it.

One of the best ways to boost breast milk supply at 4 or 6 months postpartum, or when baby starts sleeping through the night, is to increase how frequently you pump or breastfeed.

Increasing how often you remove milk from your breasts will signal to your body that the volume of breast milk produced each day needs to also increase.

If you are exclusively pumping, you would preferably want to add an extra pumping session during the night. This is because prolactin activity is highest during the middle of the night.

This will not only provide an extra bottle of breast milk per day, but it will once again turn the supply and demand switch back up.

2. Power Pump

Using the method of power pumping is a proven way to quickly and effectively boost milk supply.

In order to see results through power pumping, you should dedicate two hours per day for at least a week to this breast milk boosting strategy.

Choose two times per day when your milk supply usually seems to be the most abundant.

For most women, this tends to be early in the morning hours and very late at night. This is due to an increase in Prolactin activity.➁

This is also a good time to encourage you to be a little more proactive with your milk supply and take an online course designed to help you quickly pump up your milk supply.

Pump it Up! is a targeted online class by Milkology and it has been saving droves of moms their sanity and their milk supply by showing them simple and actionable pumping techniques proven to work.

Pssst… Enroll in Pump it Up! now and I’ll gift you a second pumping and milk supply course for FREE! Contact me here after and I’ll get you access.

How to perform power pumping:

Pump 20 min / Pause 10 min / Pump 10 min / Pause 10 min / Pump 10 min – Finish

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3. Focus on Hydration

Hydration is key to boosting milk supply! As we determined, being dehydrated can be the number one reason your milk supply has decreased.

There are plenty of drinks good for breastfeeding moms to have.

Sports drinks like Gatorade or Body Armor are good at increasing milk supply because they are superior at fast cell hydration due to their abundance in electrolytes. Likewise, coconut water is also good for breastfeeding because it too has electrolytes and minerals.

Focus also on drinking lots of water all throughout the day and also add in low sugar electrolyte drinks to further hydrate.

Drinks that Increase Milk Supply

Along with having an arsenal of lactation recipes, supplements and lactation smoothies to combat low milk supply, knowing what to drink when breastfeeding can also be beneficial.

These popular beverages may also be worth keeping on your list:

Body Armor Sports Drink
Starbucks’ Pink Drink
Ripple Milk
Oat-ly Milk

The beverages listed above have been rumored to have significant breast milk boosting effects on breastfeeding women.

The reason this sports drink, in particular, works it’s breast milk boosting magic so well is because of the addition of hydrating coconut water.

Likewise, Starbucks’ Pink Drink increases milk supply just as effectively because it too uses coconut as it’s main ingredient.

Did you know you can make your own copycat Pink Drink recipe at home for half the price!

Why is Coconut Water Good for Nursing Mothers?

We know that dehydration can drastically impede a mother’s ability to produce more milk. Which is why, a heavy dose of cell hydrating coconut milk or water is so beneficial for lactating women.

Likewise, coconut in general has many benefits on breastfeeding. Some of those being it’s antimicrobial properties which help to protect mom and baby from harmful viruses – note for flu season.

This is due to the fatty acids found in coconut oil, which are, lauric acid and capric acid.➃

If you choose to ingest coconut oil, I recommend a cold-pressed, extra virgin and organic oil, like this one I found on Amazon.

Lastly, Mother’s Milk Tea is marketed as a breast milk boosting must-have to nursing mothers, but does Mother’s Milk Tea really work to increase milk supply?

For some, yes and other’s no. Use the link above to see my full review on the tea and how it could negatively affect you and your baby.

4. Try Hands-On Pumping

Hands-on pumping is a form of breast massage that helps to promote more milk production. It is primarily used while pumping, but can also be done while nursing.

The reason it works to help boost milk supply after 4 months postpartum is because it introduces breast stimulation to help trigger more let-downs. More let-downs means that you can remove more milk from the breasts. More milk removal equals more milk production.

The technique is simple, follow these steps:

Start by massaging both breasts for at least 10 minutes. Heat may also be used to stimulate your milk let-down reflex. These warming lactation massage tools are made for this purpose.
While wearing a handsfree pumping bra (Simple Wishes at Amazon is my favorite) and a double-electric handsfree breast pump begin pumping while also massaging your breasts at the same time. Compress your breasts in a downward motion towards your nipple. Do this until no more milk is freely flowing.
Massage your breasts again using the aid of a warming lactation tool.
Finish the pumping session by hand expressing.

You can apply a similar hands-on approach while nursing your baby.

5. Consume More of the Right Calories

Your body needs adequate amounts of fuel in order to put sufficient energy into making more milk. Sometimes simply eating more will help to quickly boost milk supply.

A nursing mother needs to remember her nutrition is a very important component of her body’s ability to abundantly produce a healthy breast milk supply.

Our bodies use food as fuel to do just about everything that is required of them, and making milk is a lot of work!

If you need help curating a breastfeeding meal plan, look no further than this postpartum breastfeeding cookbook! It’s loaded with easy-to-prepare meals that have been carefully selected to be good for milk supply.

Foods That Boost Milk Supply

One of the easiest ways to boost milk supply is with food. These foods that help increase milk supply are called galactagogues. They are generally any food, herb or medication that induce lactation.⑤

I suggest incorporating some of the galactagogues listed below into your breastfeeding diet. You can use these breast milk boosting foods in many different lactation recipes.

Foods:

Yams
Papaya
Coconut
Oats
Brewer’s Yeast
Goats Rue
Flax

Herbals:

Blessed Thistle
Fenugreek
Fennel
Milk Thistle
Red Raspberry Leaf
Alfalfa
Moringa

Supplements That Increase Milk Supply

Additionally, you can also boost your milk supply with more concentrated amounts of galactagogues in the form of lactation supplements.

However, a lactating woman should always consult with her doctor or lactation consultant before incorporating any supplemental routines into her breastfeeding diet.

Some popular lactation supplements can be found in the form of edible treats like cookies or as powered drink mixes, liquid supplements, pills and more.

When it comes to breast milk boosting products, the market lacks no option. Even with the many choices, it can be hard to decide where to invest your money and your hope.

If I may, let me point you towards Milk Dust. They have the highest quality and best tasting lactation bars and protein lactation powders.

Boosting Milk Supply with Fenugreek

Fenugreek is often suggested as the first lactation supplement to give a go when milk stops flowing. However, is taking Fenugreek really the best way to boost milk supply?

My experience with it was not so impressive. In fact, I found it to be a breast milk boosting bust! Even so, the evidence has been stacked in favor of using Fenugreek to increase milk supply for many other breastfeeding moms.

If you do choose to take any supplements while breastfeeding, it is always safe to consult with your doctor before doing so.

You should also be aware that Fenugreek has some interesting side effects you may be surprised to discover.

One of those side effects being a maple syrup smell both you and your baby give off, which is according to some moms a sure tell sign that it is indeed working it’s magic!

You can find Fenugreek at Amazon if you’re willing to smell like iHop all day! Then again, what won’t we do for our little ones, right mama?!

6. Change Pumping Parts

If you spend a lot of time pumping, you may need to do a thorough examination of your breast pump and pumping parts.

Parts such as tubing, valves, membranes and flange sizes should all be analyzed to ensure they are in proper working order.

If it has been a while since you’ve done a sizing test, you may be making the common pumping mistake of using the wrong size flanges. See the image below to give you a rough idea on how they should fit.

A wrong fitting flange could drastically effect your milk output!

Summary for Boosting Milk Supply After 4 Months:

Breastfeed your baby more often, at least 8-12 times per day.
Include more skin to skin.
If exclusively pumping, pump at least 8-12 times per day for 20 minutes per session.
Use lactation massage tools and lots of breast tissue stimulation.
Avoid anti-lactation foods that could cause your milk supply to decrease.
Avoid artificial nipples that could cause nipple confusion.
Eat more galactagogue foods to help increase milk supply.
Add in an extra pumping session.

How to Boost Milk Supply Before Returning to Work

I mentioned in the first paragraph of this article how some moms need to increase their milk supply because of inevitability returning back to work.

This leaves many new moms worrying about building a freezer stash for their babies while they are away from them throughout the day.

You may be reading this and thinking, that’s me. Well mama, you’re not alone and that is exactly why The Ultimate Back to Work Pumping Class exists.

This online course was created to teach and show you the methods and strategies you need in order to build a freezer stash, transition back to work while breastfeeding and protect your milk supply while working all day.

You’re invited to take the next step toward successfully pumping at work. You’ll be joining the thousands of other working mamas who have already done so with great success!

How to Boost Milk Supply in a Slacker Boob

So you have one breast producing less milk than the other? This is a very frustrating and annoying breastfeeding problem to have, but you’re not alone, as it is a very common occurrence!

Many lactating women report to having a “slacker boob” or “lazy boob” that no matter what they seem to do, it never catches up in milk production to it’s sister.

There are thankfully, some methods and products to help boost milk supply in a slacker breast. Some of those being, vibration, massage and power pumping.

Lactation tools like these from LaVie are must-have breast pumping accessories when it comes to increasing milk supply in just one breast.

My favorite way to tackle this problem is by using a single wearable breast pump on the slacker boob. Increasing the amount of milk removal is always the best way to signal a positive supply and demand response.

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Final Thoughts for Increasing Milk Supply After 4 Months Postpartum

Alright mama, you made it through these many tips to help you boost your milk supply after 4 months postpartum. Hopefully you feel like you can take away some informed and actionable tactics to get that milk flowing again!

You learned how to use food for breastfeeding in the form of galactagogues, lactation smoothies, supplements and breast milk boosting beverages.

You also were shown how to power pump to boost milk supply quickly and effectively. If there is a topic you would like to read again, simply scroll down to the back to top link for the index.

Please remember, this resource is always here to refer back to, simply share to your favorite social media platforms to save it for later.