Understanding Milk Letdown Reflex - What a Mother Should Know
Milk letdown is the reflex most new moms have in response to their young one's need to nurse.
Basically, this is the instantaneous breast milk release from a mother after being triggered by a good number of things.
Letdown is also considered to be very important, as it lets the infant feed easier, especially during his early days when latching and proper sucking is still difficult for the child to do.
However, most mothers tend to get disconcerted by the fact that the letdown reflex can happen at anytime, especially right after giving birth.
This is why understanding the whole matter is an important thing to do, especially for first time mothers.
Milk letdown is a normal occurrence almost all postnatal women experience, so there's really nothing to be anxious or worried about.
In fact, you should even be proud if you experience letdown, because it is a sign that your body is functioning correctly to answer your child's needs.
As you may know, the female body is designed to be a great support system for her young.
Nature intended it to produce the perfect food, at the right amount, for her young and even made certain physiological processes perfectly practical for the baby's need.
The letdown, for one, is an ingenious work of nature, as well as the fact that the breasts produce natural oils that sterilize the nipples to make them safe for the child to suck on.
However, no matter how nature designs the mother's body to be equipped for her child's requirements, there are still those times where it fails to deliver due to an ailment or some complication.
One common problem mothers tend to encounter is the slow milk letdown.
This is the condition wherein the milk flow is inhibited and usually causes frustration on your baby's part.
Usually caused by low milk supply, smoking, stress, and alcohol intake to name a few, a good advice to deal with it would be by taking measures to increase the milk production through more frequent nursing and taking milk increasing supplements.
Oversupply also usually causes an issue related to the milk ejection process, because this is also the main culprit for forceful letdown.
This, in turn, disrupts the child's normal feeding behavior, overwhelming or even chokes your child during nursing, making it quite an issue, especially if your infant is only a couple of weeks old.
To deal with this letdown problem, you can try ways to help your body adjust and produce less milk or try other breastfeeding positions that will prevent the down flow of milk to avoid overwhelming the child.
Lastly, and probably one of the most pronounced issues related to the letdown reflex, is the unexpected release of milk most mothers experience.
This one can cause the biggest hassle since it can happen anytime, even while the mother has all of her clothes and without the baby latching on.
And even though it is the easiest problem to resolve, as all you need to do is to apply some pressure on the breasts and nipple areas, it still causes some anxiety on a lot of girls even while they're still ripe with pregnancy.
Now that you have a good idea with the things that come with breastfeeding, you can be more prepared to deal with whatever problem that comes your way.
Basically, this is the instantaneous breast milk release from a mother after being triggered by a good number of things.
Letdown is also considered to be very important, as it lets the infant feed easier, especially during his early days when latching and proper sucking is still difficult for the child to do.
However, most mothers tend to get disconcerted by the fact that the letdown reflex can happen at anytime, especially right after giving birth.
This is why understanding the whole matter is an important thing to do, especially for first time mothers.
Milk letdown is a normal occurrence almost all postnatal women experience, so there's really nothing to be anxious or worried about.
In fact, you should even be proud if you experience letdown, because it is a sign that your body is functioning correctly to answer your child's needs.
As you may know, the female body is designed to be a great support system for her young.
Nature intended it to produce the perfect food, at the right amount, for her young and even made certain physiological processes perfectly practical for the baby's need.
The letdown, for one, is an ingenious work of nature, as well as the fact that the breasts produce natural oils that sterilize the nipples to make them safe for the child to suck on.
However, no matter how nature designs the mother's body to be equipped for her child's requirements, there are still those times where it fails to deliver due to an ailment or some complication.
One common problem mothers tend to encounter is the slow milk letdown.
This is the condition wherein the milk flow is inhibited and usually causes frustration on your baby's part.
Usually caused by low milk supply, smoking, stress, and alcohol intake to name a few, a good advice to deal with it would be by taking measures to increase the milk production through more frequent nursing and taking milk increasing supplements.
Oversupply also usually causes an issue related to the milk ejection process, because this is also the main culprit for forceful letdown.
This, in turn, disrupts the child's normal feeding behavior, overwhelming or even chokes your child during nursing, making it quite an issue, especially if your infant is only a couple of weeks old.
To deal with this letdown problem, you can try ways to help your body adjust and produce less milk or try other breastfeeding positions that will prevent the down flow of milk to avoid overwhelming the child.
Lastly, and probably one of the most pronounced issues related to the letdown reflex, is the unexpected release of milk most mothers experience.
This one can cause the biggest hassle since it can happen anytime, even while the mother has all of her clothes and without the baby latching on.
And even though it is the easiest problem to resolve, as all you need to do is to apply some pressure on the breasts and nipple areas, it still causes some anxiety on a lot of girls even while they're still ripe with pregnancy.
Now that you have a good idea with the things that come with breastfeeding, you can be more prepared to deal with whatever problem that comes your way.