Oxytocin is a hormone related to sexual patterns and maternal and paternal behavior that also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. In women, oxytocin is released in large quantities during childbirth, as well as in response to nipple stimulation by sucking the baby, thus facilitating labor and breastfeeding.
Some women, for whatever reason, need to express milk. Do youHow to stimulate the oxytocin reflex for milk extraction, and thus increase the amount?
That is, how can we help the process that triggers oxytocin to occur? The main thing is stimulate the milk ejection reflex, and the most logical and natural way is to breastfeed on demand. In this sense, the first minutes of the baby's life are very important, when he is alert and our body has an important oxytocin discharge.
But let's see how this situation is favored to express the milk, although as we see it is about "imitating" the ideal conditions to breastfeed a baby. The tips we read below are drawn from a Breastfeeding counseling training course which is published in the WHO and is endorsed by this agency and UNICEF.
Help the mother psychologically: it is important that you increase your self-confidence. Here we can remember how some women are treated during childbirth, not encouraging them but undermining their confidence, or only pressing them when they are trying to breastfeed and "milk does not rise", or they do not have "enough milk" ...
Also try to reduce any source of pain or anxiety and help the mother to be positive and constructive in relation to her baby.
Help the mother in a practical way. Making it easy for you to sit in a quiet place with enough privacy to breastfeed or express milk with a person who supports you.
On the contrary, some mothers can easily express milk in a group of mothers who are also pumping milk for their babies.
To express the milk, it is recommended to lift the baby and keep it in direct contact skin to skin, if possible. The sitting mother may have the baby between her legs, but if this is not possible, she can look at her baby, or even a photograph. I remember that in this post about milk rises, a mother commented on how it was produced simply by looking at her baby's picture.
They also recommend that the mother drink a drink she likes (except coffee or alcohol, of course).
Warm the breasts, applying for example a warm compress or warm water, or taking a warm shower.
Stimulate the nipples, gently massaging them with your fingers. Also massage or touch the breasts with very delicate touches. Some women find it helpful to touch their breasts with their fingertips. Others find it helpful to press with a clenched fist, rolling it toward the nipple.
Rub your back to the mother who, sitting down, leans forward, bends her arms on a table in front of her and makes her head rest on her arms. Breasts hang freely, without clothes. The person doing the massage rubs down both sides of the spine. To do this, use your clenched fists with your thumbs pointing forward and press firmly making small circular movements with your thumbs. Work down both sides of the spine simultaneously, from the neck to the shoulder blades, for two or three minutes.
Anyway, we see that for stimulate the oxytocin reflex when the milk is removed We can follow these tips that point to the well-being of the mother, to the closeness and contact with the baby and to certain stimuli that favor the creation of oxytocin.
