The experiences of young mothers about the fact that there is not enough milk in one breast are quite common. Discussions in women's forums on this issue are common. What to do and how to fix the situation? There are several reasons why one of the mammary glands produces less milk than the other.
Breast imbalances: from genetics to baby habits
Asymmetry of the mammary glands can be caused by their anatomical structure (with a slight difference within the same size, it exists in almost 70 percent of women). A more noticeable discrepancy between these parameters is much less common and is associated with genetic hypoplasia of the glandular tissue, in which the breast does not increase even during pregnancy, although it still produces a small amount of milk. In addition to congenital asymmetry, a visible difference in breast size also occurs due to the shape of the nipples. During breastfeeding, the right breast may become smaller than the left breast or, conversely, due to their uneven emptying.
An unequal request for the amount of breast milk may vary under the influence of:
- reduced patency of the excretory ducts due to their non-identical width;
- improper attachment to one of the mammary glands;
- uneven pumping;
- preferences in terms of comfort to support the baby in a more comfortable breast (for example, if the mother wears it in a sling next to her);
- night feedings on one side (at this time of day the maximum amount of milk is produced, and if the baby sucks only one breast, the other will become noticeably smaller);
- treatment of lactostasis with the help of some folk remedies (vodka, alcohol or camphor, which inhibit the production of the hormone oxytocin, which helps to get rid of stagnant phenomena simultaneously with the disappearance of lactation).
Pathological problems can also cause little milk in one breast. These are various injuries of glandular tissue, previous operations or diseases: inflammation, lactostasis, mastitis. A large role in the uniform exhaustion of breast milk is also played by the habits of the baby. For example, the baby does not fully capture the nipple, which leads to painful cracks. Due to discomfort, a woman feeds her baby with such a breast less often, milk flow is blocked and iron is reduced in size.
Prolactin reflex - what is it?
The wise mother nature has foreseen that the breast during feeding is constantly replenished with milk. Therefore, the mechanism for stimulating the nerve endings of the nipple starts every time the baby starts to absorb food. At this time, a nerve signal enters the anterior pituitary gland, which is responsible for the regulation of lactation and milk production due to the corresponding hormone. Stimulation of the nipple, causing increased secretion of the product and its entry into the glands, is called the prolactin reflex. Eating special foods and drinking plenty of fluids is just the nutritional basis for milk production. Laying the baby to the breast as often as possible and the sucking process allow you to maximize the glands of the nursing mother. The amount of milk in them also increases.
Mom's anxieties
In women for whom the appearance of the firstborn was a real event, insufficient lactation in one of the mammary glands can cause great feelings. Experts warn that you should not be upset about this. According to medical statistics, less than three percent of new mothers suffer from inability to breastfeed. This condition is caused by serious hormonal disorders. Under normal conditions, in the first months after birth (within two to three), the breast of a nursing mother undergoes a natural adaptation process.
Smaller mammary glands, as a rule, should be more often and longer subjected to stimulation. Thus, it is possible to even out requests for product development, thereby equalizing the bust in size on both sides. Specialists have long found out that the amount of food produced for a child does not depend on the size of the glands. It often happens that a large breast produces little milk, and women with the first number feed babies up to a year or more. In the reviews there are examples of hepatitis B in mothers with a small size up to one and a half years and even a year and eight months.
Causes of breast pain during feeding
Discomfort in the area of the nipples and mammary glands in general in a nursing mother during the period of normalization of the lactation process can be associated with a powerful influx of milk (in the form of light bursting) and injuries to the delicate skin of the nipples, which are not roughened sufficiently (usually it takes about two weeks). If a woman regularly in accordance with the regimen and rules applies crumbs to the glands, then the natural pain in the chest during feeding will pass very soon.
If unpleasant sensations arise not in the first days of lactation, but much later, when the feeding regimen is already balanced, then their reasons may be:
- a powerful influx of milk directly during the process;
- the formation of cracks and wounds on the nipples, infection of injuries with bacteria or fungi;
- stagnation of milk (or lactostasis);
- mastitis;
- mastopathy.
To find out what causes chest pain during feeding, and to get tips on how to avoid injuring the nipples, to establish the correct process for providing the baby with breast milk or to cure the disease, you need to visit a doctor immediately.
What causes lactostasis and how to cope with it?
Seals in the chest, which appear due to the fact that mother’s milk does not leave the clogged lobules, is a common phenomenon among young mothers who first encounter soreness in the glands. What can cause lactostasis?
It:
- too long pauses between feedings, causing stagnation of milk (tips to preserve the product so that it lasts for the evening, lead to seals!);
- a limited period of food intake, when the baby manages to drink only the front milk, and more difficult to suck, but fat and nutritious remains in the chest, clogging the ducts;
- feeding in the usual position, when the same lobules are emptied, and in others there are seals;
- prolonged sleep on one side (facing the child), leading to the occurrence of lumps in the armpit;
- tight and uncomfortable underwear;
- fatigue and chronic lack of sleep;
- repetitive homework;
- the predominance of fatty foods in the diet;
- sharp cooling (it is worth paying special attention to the prevention of lactostasis).
As a result of exposure to any of the negative factors, one of the mammary glands becomes low in milk. What to do in this case? Gynecologists advise to exclude mechanical kneading of lumps in the chest with your hands, which can do harm, exacerbating the situation. In addition, you can not limit the intake of fluid. The myth that it is forbidden to breast-feed a child affected by lactostasis is untenable. This must be done, because the baby with the help of sucking can most painlessly and efficiently free the clogged lobules from stagnation of milk. Only before breastfeeding, you need to position it so that the baby's chin is directly under the seal - this can achieve the maximum effect, because most of all the baby stimulates the gland with the help of a vacuum under the tongue during sucking. Applying crumbs in various poses, mommy can achieve a gentle emptying of all lobules. If it is difficult for the child to completely exhaust the mother’s milk, then its residues must be decanted.
Lactation crises
If the baby is anxious during feeding, then he may be short of breast milk. Such situations arise to varying degrees in every woman, thanks to jumps in malish development, when his nutritional needs increase. The first stage of milk shortage may appear on the 21-45th day after birth, subsequent fluctuations in the ratio of "supply and demand" may become noticeable at the 3rd, 7th, 11th and 12th months of breastfeeding. The duration of lactational crises is individual and may be normal from 2-3 days to a week. This does not mean that the mother has less milk, just the glands during this time manage to adapt to new requests. During this period, primiparous women, worrying that the child is not eating up, can make a mistake and start feeding with mixtures.
The result often is the reluctance of the baby to suck breast milk, especially its posterior nutrient. Therefore, pediatricians recommend applying the baby at this time as often as possible to the breast and feeding longer than usual, including during the nighttime period favorable for milk production. Advice is considered harmful to give babies a dummy, solder it with water, use bottles with nipples, doubt the availability of a sufficient amount of mother's milk and give up, without bothering with the struggle for the natural feeding of the baby.
Different amounts of milk in the mammary glands are not an excuse for weaning a baby from the breast
In the first three months after giving birth, a balance is restored between the baby's needs and the production of milk by mom. Over time, the ducts expand, the product becomes not so greasy and its amount begins to return to normal, corresponding to the needs of the child. But if more milk arrives in one breast, then the woman feels discomfort: the crowded mammary gland hurts and achs. It is often prone to lactostasis. The child is uncomfortable, grabbing the nipple, chokes and at the same time swallows portions of air, which subsequently leads to regurgitation and painful colic in the stomach. In this case, the mother also causes pain not only to the mother: milk is poured out of the nipples in tight trickles, leaking, soaking the clothes and causing irritation to the skin. In addition, excess product provokes the appearance of striae (stretch marks).
What rules should be followed so as not to feel discomfort when feeding? Need to:
- feed the baby one breast at a time;
- follow the technique of capturing the nipple by the baby (improper grip of the areola makes nutritious posterior milk inaccessible, and sweet front milk is absorbed quickly - a hungry baby asks to eat, stimulating new production and an influx of an increasing amount of product);
- overcrowded breasts need to be slightly decanted before feeding to enable the baby to easily take the nipple.
At the same time, it is better to feed him in an upright position or holding the child at an angle (so that the head is above the stomach). If there is more milk in one breast than is necessary for feeding the crumbs at a time, then the residues are decanted to prevent the risk of stagnation (lactostasis) and lumps. A breast designed in this way can leak, therefore it is necessary to put a sanitary absorbent pad in the bra. The second gland also needs to be decanted if the child is already full. The fact is that when weaning (even temporary), mother's milk in the breast, in which it is not enough, quickly involves.
Habits of the baby: if he takes only one breast
From the very beginning of the baby’s natural feeding, mother’s milk must be strictly monitored so that the baby does not have a “beloved” breast. The habit of lying on one side in the mother’s tummy during pregnancy can cause him to give preference to the mammary gland, which is located closer to its traditional position. It is necessary to alternately propose either the right or left breast during feeding, remembering necessarily which side the crumbs were applied to last time. During the lactation crisis, when there is less milk, you can use both breasts in one feeding, but for the next meal, give the baby the one that was previously the second. To stimulate the production of the product, experienced mothers advise more often to apply a peanut to the less mammary gland. And after a feeding session, it is necessary to express everything to the drop. This will help increase the amount of the natural mother’s product in one breast (there’s not enough milk in it, and therefore the baby refuses to suck it).
HS consultants advise more often to apply the baby to the breast at night, especially from 3 to 5 in the morning, when prolactin is actively synthesized in the body - a hormone that affects the formation of milk in the female mammary gland. Moreover, a sleepy baby may not notice that to satisfy his hunger he was given at all the wrong breast that he loves. A warm shower, compresses or baths with moderately hot water help to increase the amount of milk before feeding - procedures that help to expand the ducts and facilitate the process of sucking milk by the baby. Choosing the optimal water temperature for such manipulations, care should be taken not to harm the delicate skin of the nipples and mammary glands in general.
One breast produces milk, and the second does not.
Why is it that there is not enough milk in one breast and more than enough in the other? After all, prolactin and oxytocin, which stimulate the production of the mother's product, enter every breast. The glands themselves control the production of food for the baby due to the inhibitors contained in the mother product. If, for example, there is less milk in the right breast, then these substances stimulate its further secretion with the help of glandular cells. Otherwise, they inhibit the formation of the product, protecting the glands from overflow.
Nature provides for a factor in stopping breast sucking by a baby: in this case, along with milk, a “litmus test” (inhibitor) is removed from the gland for further formation of the product. If there is more milk in one breast and the child sucks only the areola on it, then the product will arrive at this address, increasing the size of the gland. While on the other hand, the breast will decrease, reducing lactation, if you do not express milk regularly. Tips to eat more, drink special teas and Apilak, healing decoctions of herbs and other wishes will not bring benefits if the baby does not suck a specific breast. In order for the constant secretion of milk to occur, it is necessary that the baby correctly and often stimulate the nipples.
Myths and fallacies
There are many erroneous opinions on how to breastfeed a baby, even in our enlightened age. For example, the advice that a newborn should not be held in the chest for more than 5 minutes to avoid the appearance of cracks does not withstand criticism of neonatologists. Their answer clarifies that you need to feed the baby until the moment when he will free his chest. And the formation of cracks is due to two reasons: excessive sanitation of the nipples (soap and green), which destroys the protective layer of the areola, and its incorrect capture by the baby for sucking.
The negative review of the patient, whom the doctor recommended saving milk and infrequently feeding the baby so that he had enough for dinner in the evening, is supplemented by the comment that in this case one should wait for a decrease in the amount of milk produced and worsening of the lactation process. The widespread belief that children suck out a sufficient portion of the mother's product in the first 5-10 minutes of feeding is true only for older children. It is difficult for newborns to feed so quickly, because they still learn to suck, and not everyone can do it productively. In addition, a significant role in this process is played by the flow rate of milk from the mother, because in some women the secretion of the product occurs in small portions and comes several times during one feeding.
In conclusion…
Making breasts of a nursing mother symmetrical is easy. To do this, you need to pay attention to the problem at an early stage, adjust the process of breastfeeding, giving the baby not one breast, but both, observing the order. Smaller gland should be used more often. If you can’t independently understand the features of the correct HS, you can consult a doctor who will help organize the process so that feeding the baby brings pleasure to the mother and good health for the baby.