Breastfeeding - Increase milk production
Generality
Breast milk, produced and secreted by the mammary glands, is essential to ensure the right nourishment for the newborn.
Already during the last trimester of pregnancy, several pregnant women notice that an aqueous and yellowish liquid comes out of their breasts by squeezing. This is colostrum, the first milk that the baby will drink in the course of life; a milk that is relatively low in fat. and sugars, but particularly rich in mineral salts and gamma globulins (antibodies), which once absorbed in the intestine will guarantee the baby a certain immunity from diseases, at least until his immune defenses are adequately prepared.
How it is produced
The production of milk is entrusted to the two breasts, each of which contains a mammary gland made up of several milk-secreting lobules and surrounded by contractile cells, important for favoring their emptying.
Already during the first months of pregnancy, these glands develop under the action of various hormones, basically estrogen (already important during puberty in determining breast enlargement). The ability to secrete is instead conferred by the increased levels of progesterone.
After childbirth - following the drop in estrogen and progesterone levels - the mammary gland begins to produce large quantities of milk, thanks to the "increased release of prolactin. Circulating levels of this hormone rise in response to the baby's sucking. benefiting from the mechanical stimulus produced by his mouth. This is why, in the presence of hypogalease (insufficiency of milk secretion) of non-pathological origin, it is advisable to attach the baby to the breast at every meal rather than at alternate meals. Even complete emptying of the breast, in fact, it stimulates milk secretion, on the contrary, the prolonged stagnation of milk inside the lobules tends to inhibit it. The fear of many mothers that attacking the baby often leads to rapid exhaustion of milk is therefore unjustified.
(*) When prolactin levels rise above normal outside postpartum (hyperprolactinaemia), galactorrhea, i.e. the spontaneous release of a milky, colostrum-like discharge from the nipple is common.
Types of milk
Already after 3-4 days, the colostrum is gradually replaced with so-called "mature" milk, richer in lactose and lipids.
The real milk rise occurs only a few days after delivery, often coinciding with the discharge of the woman from the hospital and her return home. It will be important that the mother has been adequately prepared and informed on the management of breastfeeding. (and of the milk itself) in order to be able to administer it correctly even independently.
The lactation initially appears as a real breast edema, characterized by turgor, redness and pain of the breast. The milk does not come out immediately and the inadequately informed woman risks accumulating further anxiety. Then follows a phase of hyper-production of milk that exceeds the requests of the newborn but which must still be managed (for example with massages and breast pumps) to avoid the onset of traffic jams and mastitis. Finally, we will have the regularization of this process with a balance between production and consumption The baby latches on, sucks and empties the breast, automatically stimulating the milk to reproduce.
Oxytocin
In addition to prolactin, in order for the milk to come out of the breast, the presence of another hormone, called oxytocin, also secreted by the anterior pituitary and stimulated by sucking, is important. In fact, oxytocin acts by promoting the contraction of the smooth muscles of the breast and uterus. However, its release depends not only on mechanical factors - such as sucking - but also on psychological stimuli, such as thinking about your baby or hearing his cry.
Once started, milk production normally continues for several months, reaching a peak of secretion around the 6th - 7th month and then gradually decreasing until it stops between the 9th and 12th months. The volume of milk produced is independent of the shape and size of the breast.
