Lots of physiological changes come with having a baby. From the first stages of pregnancy to the postpartum period; the female body will experience a lot of new things and developments that one will have to get familiarized with.
Along with these changes and new processes, of course, are a handful of new terms you will have to know to better understand what’s happening with your body. Especially when it already comes to nourishing your child, extra effort should really be taken by parents to ensure the baby’s health.
For example, when it comes to breastfeeding, there are a lot of important words and terminologies you will need to get acquainted with. One of the vital items you really need to know about is milk letdown. Basically, the process wherein the milk gets released from the breasts even without the mother knowing it, this condition, also known as the let-down reflex, is quite a normal phenomenon and a sign that you’re healthy and doing a good job in nursing your infant.
Sure, some new mothers may have qualms and problems with the condition, as it can just happen at anytime without any warning, but you need not worry. The let-down reflex is a part, and good sign, of lactating, so, if this happens to you, it doesn’t mean that you’re sick or something is wrong with you. In fact, in the older days, various cultures advice new mothers to drink alcohol to improve lactation, although further studies prove that this inflicts more problems rather than help the situation.
The amazing thing abut the letdown reflex is that even the smallest stimuli, such as the newborn’s sputtering or gulping while attempting to latch or hearing your child cry or pucker up can easily trigger the discharge of milk. Breast milk will also start to get released once the body gets in tune with the regular feeding patterns of the child, a perfectly good sign that your body is doing its best to be a good mother.
The only problem with this is that there is really nothing you can do to “fix” it. You can, however, stop the flow from soaking your clothes. The trick here is to be watchful of your body. By doing this, you can be able to quickly do something, in case your letdown reflex goes off while in public. By quickly applying some pressure to your nipples with the help of your wrists or forearms, the milk will surely stop almost immediately from flowing out.
Remember, there’s nothing you can do to actually stop milk letdown, unless you want to stop lactating altogether. You might hear some tips like alcohol can help, however, it is very unhealthy and it will surely inhibit lactation as well.
Milk letdown may be quite a hassle at times as the milk can get released even without the baby latched on, but you can easily do things to stop the reflex from going off. Remember, girls’ bodies are perfectly designed to cater to a young, making it very sensitive and always ready to answer their child’s demands, so messing up with this course of nature might not give you good results. So, if you’re really desperate, all you can do for now is nurse more often and follow the first aid tips while nothing else is medically approved and recommended.