How Your Milk Is Made

How Your

Milk Is Made

Your baby helps you make milk by suckling and removing milk from your breast.

The more milk your baby drinks, the more milk your body will make. Knowing how your milk is made can help you better understand the breastfeeding process.

The breast is made up of several parts:

Areola: The area of darker-colored skin on the breast around the nipple

Nipple: The small, raised area in the center of the areola

Alveoli: Small, grapelike sacs
Lobule: A cluster of alveoli

Milk Ducts: Tubes that carry milk to the nipple

Lobes: The parts of the breast that make milk; each lobe contains alveoli and milk ducts

The act of breastfeeding – your baby suckling at your breast – signals the brain to release hormones. These hormones are called prolactin and oxytocin. Prolactin causes your alveoli to make breastmilk. Oxytocin causes small muscles around the alveoli to squeeze milk out through the milk ducts

This passing of the milk down the ducts is called the “let-down” reflex.

Let-down is experienced in many ways including:

  • Your infant begins to actively suck and swallow
  • Milk may drip from your other breast
  • You may feel a tingling or a full sensation in your breasts
  • You may feel thirsty

The let-down reflex may also occur when:

  • Thinking about your baby
  • Hearing your baby cry
  • Hearing another baby cry
  • It is your scheduled nursing time

The release of prolactin and oxytocin may make you feel a strong sense of needing to be with your baby.

Feeding a 6-7 Month Old

Feed solids with a spoon and from a bowl, never from a bottle.

Feeding a 10-12 Month Old

Breast milk is the most important source of nutrition for your baby, even after you start offering solid foods.

Feeding a 8-9 Month Old

Feed solids with a spoon. Never put cereal in a bottle.

Tips

Mom new born home

Breast milk and formula feeding:

Around 2-3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months of age, babies may experience a growth spurt when they feed more often.

As they grow babies can hold more milk, so feedings may become further apart and take less time.

To prevent choking, always hold your baby when feeding. Never prop up a bottle to feed.

Start offering whole milk when your baby is one year old.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and that breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months and beyond.

feeding solid foods

Feeding solid foods:

Wait to offer solid foods until your baby:

  • Can sit up and hold up their own head.
  • Opens their mouth when they see food.
  • Can close their lips around a spoon.

To prevent choking, always hold your baby when feeding. Never prop up a bottle to feed.

Try one new food at a time. Wait 5 days before trying another new food to watch for allergies. Food allergies may include wheezing, rash, or diarrhea.

Introduce peanut butter around 6 months. Spread a small, thin smear of peanut butter or nut butter thinly on a cracker.  Watch your baby for any reaction for the next 2 hours.

Babies under one year should NOT have honey due to the risk of botulism. Also, babies should not have foods that can cause choking like nuts or whole grapes.

All babies are different. Talk with WIC or your baby’s healthcare provider about your baby’s needs.

Feeding Cues

Feeding a 4-5 Month Old

Before teeth come in, wipe gums with a soft, clean wash cloth after each feeding, especially before bed.

Feeding a 0-3 Month Old

Newborns have tiny tummies and need to be fed often. In the first few weeks, you may need to wake your baby to feed if they sleep longer than 4 hours.

Growth Spurts

Many babies are fussy during a growth spurt and will want to nurse longer and more often. This is called cluster feeding. This is your baby’s way of helping you increase your milk supply so that you can keep up with their needs. Remember, the more your baby nurses, the more milk your body makes.

Growth spurts can happen at any time, and every baby is different.

They often happen at these ages:

two-three-weeks

2 to 3 Weeks

6 Weeks

three-months

3 Months

six-months

6 Months

What foods can I get?

Authorized Food List
Authorized Food List

Where can I shop?