Postpartum breast milk is not enough, be careful of these factors

There should be sufficient milk after giving birth. In the short period of time after birth, the baby needs to be fed with breast milk, and does not need to drink milk powder, because milk powder is artificially processed after all, and breast milk is the most natural. Many mothers often find that they have very little milk and there is no other abnormality in their breasts. In this case, there are usually several reasons that need to be judged, and you need to understand the factors that cause low milk.

It is a big problem for women to have too little milk after giving birth, and it may even affect the healthy growth of the baby. Too little milk after delivery means that there is very little or no milk after delivery, the breasts are soft, not swollen or painful; or the breasts are swollen, hard and painful but milk secretion is not smooth, accompanied by fever, chest and flank pain, loss of appetite, etc. There are also cases where women breastfed normally after giving birth, but later developed a decrease in milk supply or even no milk due to various reasons. So how to relieve insufficient milk after childbirth? Let's take a look at the syndrome differentiation and treatment of traditional Chinese medicine:

The diagnosis of this disease is relatively simple. Most patients are within a few days to half a month after delivery. When they start breastfeeding, their breasts do not feel full, and the milk is scarce or absent; or their breasts are swollen and lumpy, but milk is not discharged smoothly, and only drips are needed.

There are two common causes of low milk production:

01

One is that the patient's body is weak in qi and blood, and due to blood loss and qi consumption during delivery, or weak spleen and stomach, the production of qi and blood is insufficient, and the source of milk production is insufficient, resulting in very little or no milk. This type of milk deficiency is easy to understand, so ordinary people have experience in nourishing postpartum women. They give postpartum women soup and let them eat high-protein and high-nutrition foods, all to achieve the purpose of nourishing the mothers.

02

There is another type of insufficient milk that is less known and easily overlooked, and that is liver depression and qi stagnation type of milk deficiency. Patients often suffer from postpartum depression, liver dysfunction, and poor Qi flow, which lead to blocked milk vessels and poor milk flow, resulting in too little milk. This situation is not due to insufficient milk source, but rather the presence of milk but its discharge is not smooth.

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Therefore, when diagnosing too little milk, it is important to distinguish between the actual and the false. Milk is produced from blood and relies on Qi to circulate and control. The presence, amount and discharge of milk are closely related to Qi and blood. Therefore, milk deficiency can be either false or real. If the Qi and blood are weak, milk secretion is impaired, and there is no milk to be discharged, it is true milk deficiency, which is false. If the source of milk is not lacking, but the Qi is stagnant and the ducts are blocked, the milk cannot be discharged, it is false milk deficiency, which is real. During the clinical diagnosis process, the first thing to do is to inquire about the medical history. Patients with deficiency syndrome often have a history of excessive blood loss during delivery, while patients with excess syndrome often have inducements such as emotional frustration. Patients with deficiency syndrome usually have soft breasts and thin milk, while patients with excess syndrome have hard breasts and thick milk.

Since postpartum milk deficiency can be divided into deficiency and excess, treatment cannot simply be based on nourishing the body. Instead, the focus should be on combining nourishment with circulation, and promoting circulation with dredging, in order to achieve good results. The main treatment method for this disease is to supplement the deficiency and relieve the excess. For the deficiency of qi and blood type, supplementation is the main treatment, while for the liver depression and qi stagnation type, relief is the main treatment. Regardless of the type of syndrome, it is advisable to use lactation-promoting products.