Breastfeeding: Medical Expert Allays The Fears Of Pregnant Women And Lactating Mums With Small Breasts
A medical health expert, Dr. Oluwatosin Kuku, has allayed the fears of women with small breasts who may be concerned that they may not produce enough breastmilk after childbirth, noting that the size of a woman’s breast has no role to play in the production of breastmilk.
According to the health expert, there’s no relationship between how a woman lactate and the size of her breast. The specialist said,
“In fact, a small breast can produce more milk than a big breast.”
Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise in an interview, Dr. Kuku explained that:
“Usually, we would say genetic and other factors are what affects breast milk production after birth. That is why sometimes we encourage new mums to take lots of water and fluid.
You’d hear people tell them to take pap and all that but mostly I think it has to do with individuality.”
Also, a recent article published by Baby Centre UK – an online resource for expecting and new parents – noted that the size of the breast does not affect breast milk production.
The article explained that:
“The size of your breasts mostly depends on how much fatty tissue they contain. But fatty tissue doesn’t have anything to do with how your breasts make milk.
To make and store breastmilk you need glandular tissue. This is laid down while you are pregnant. The vast majority of women have enough glandular tissue to breastfeed their babies.
As your baby suckles, the hormone prolactin stimulates the mammary glands in your breasts to secrete milk. As your baby continues to feed, your body releases yet more prolactin. This places the order to your breasts to make enough milk for your baby’s next feed.”
Speaking further, Dr. Kuku urged women who may be having difficulty lactating after birth to allow their newborn to latch on the breast as it can stimulate milk production in such women. She added:
“It takes days for some women to lactate after giving birth, in those cases you’d allow the baby to latch on the breast for a few days to stimulate the breast to produce but some people are just lucky they start lactating immediately.”
Continuing, she explained that it is even recommended by doctors that when such women are not lactating after birth, “we tell them to put the baby there and allow them to latch on the breast, so when the baby sucks, the sucking reflex actually stimulates the milk production itself even if it is not coming out at that moment.”
Kuku also pleaded with breastfeeding mothers to allow their children to finish the content of a breast before putting them on the other breast.
According to her, this is to make sure that the child gets all the nutrients from the breast.
She explained that the length of time spent sucking on a breast is irrelevant as what is most important is that the breast is emptied by the newborn before sucking on the other breast.