How to Lactate
HOW TO INDUCE LACTATION ( INFO )
I have done this myself and many women world wide for some reason or another have also induced lactation. Its a fairly simple process that just takes time.
Inducing Lactation
The technique for inducing lactation without being pregnant is exceptionally simple: physically stimulate the nipple and areola, and the body will respond by making milk! Forget about milk inducing drugs and exotic techniques: all it takes is stimulation!
The best and most reliable way to induce lactation is to dry breast feed your nursing partner for 20 minutes, eight times each day. Don’t let your partner suck just on the nipple; make sure he or she is latched on in the same manner as a nursing infant would latch onto it’s mother’s breast. In the beginning, even without milk, relax and breast feed your partner, just as you would as if you breasts were full of milk. In time, your body will respond to the suckling by producing milk.
If your schedule won’t permit eight nursing sessions each day; reduce the number of sessions to what you can comfortably handle. Women have successfully induced lactation with as little as two breast feeding sessions each day; however, the sessions do need to be at least 20 minutes long. Keeping in mind: the closer to eight nursing sessions each day you are able to have, the better the results will be.
If you do not have a willing or reliable nursing partner, you may substitute suckling with hand massage of the breast, and finger stimulation of the nipple and areola. You may use a breast pump if you wish; however, hand expression will work just as well. Eight, 20 minute stimulation sessions each day is still optimum for inducing lactation, even without a reliable nursing partner. If your schedule will not permit eight sessions each day, you may reduce the number of sessions to what you can comfortably handle. But again, the closer to eight nursing sessions each day you are able to have, the better the results will be.
DO NOT OVER COMPLICATE THE TECHNIQUE! Quite simply put: your body will respond to the need for milk by producing milk! It is a mistake to overcomplicate your method of inducing lactation. Keep it simple!
If you are breast feeding your nursing partner to induce lactation, his or her mouth should provide enough lubrication to prevent chaffing of the nipple and areola. If you are inducing lactation by using hand and finger stimulation, you may need to use a lubricant to prevent chaffing. There are several products on the market specifically for lubricating and protecting the nipples and areolas of women who are breast feeding. A warm shower is a good time to stimulate; the water will help lubricate and the warmth will help relax your breasts.
In the beginning, expect your breasts to swell and become sore. To lactate, the lymph system in your breasts have to undergo certain changes; the result is temporary soreness. You may notice soreness particularly around the outer edges of the breasts, near your armpits. Even though the soreness is temporary, the increase in cup size will likely remain as long as you are lactating.
If you have never been pregnant, and never had milk, the process may take a little longer. Even though mammary glands mature during puberty, the glands have to undergo minor changes before they will actually produce milk: this will add time to the process of inducing. Once mammary glands have produced milk for the first time, they never go back to the way they were. Mammary glands of a woman who has breast fed in the past are always be ready to produce milk again. After breast feeding for the first time, some women never completely dry up. It is not unusual for a woman to be able to express a drop or two, even years after she has breast fed.
Don’t look for drugs or exotic techniques to inducing lactation: this simple technique of physical stimulation is all there is to successfully inducing lactation. Once past puberty: as long as a woman’s mammary glands are healthy and have not been altered or surgically removed, a woman’s breasts are completely capable of producing milk! This is true for women who have never been pregnant, women who have gone through menopause, and even women who have had a hysterectomy. The presence of a uterus, and/or ovaries, is not required for a woman to lactate: the only thing that is required is healthy breasts and a desire to lactate.
This really is all there is to the physical technique of inducing lactation; HOWEVER, there is one more factor involved: YOU HAVE TO HAVE A REASON!
As long as healthy mammary glands are supplied with body fluids, the hormones Oxytocin and Prolactin, and stimulated electrically, they will produce milk indefinitely! The main obstacle that prevents a woman from producing milk when inducing lactation is not physical technique; it is psychological! The brain has to send an electrical signal, via the nervous system, to stimulate the mammary gland before the mammary gland will make milk!
Mammary glands, like every other part of our body, is controlled by the brain, particularly, a subconscious portion of the brain. If the brain perceives nipple and areola stimulation to be sexual only, the brain will respond by creating a feeling of sexual pleasure only. If the brain perceives nipple and areola stimulation to be the need for milk, the brain will respond by sending an electrical signal, via the nervous system, causing the milk to letdown and the mammary glands to produce milk. The breasts will continue to make milk as long as the brain continues to send electrical signals, stimulating the mammary glands. Also if the brain perceives nipple and areola stimulation to be for both sexual pleasure and the need for milk, it will respond by creating both.
When a mother begins to breast feed her child, she automatically focuses her subconscious mind on making milk. It is this subconscious mental image that causes her brain to send the signal to her mammary glands to letdown and make milk! In addition to sexual arousal caused by nipple stimulation, a woman who inducing lactation must also create the mental image of making milk, in the same manner that a nursing mother would.
The physical technique of inducing lactation is very simple, (physically stimulate the nipples and areolas), however, creating the mental scenario that results in the brain stimulating the mammary glands into milk production is a little more involved. At the same time, once the subconscious has been trained to correctly respond to stimulation, little else matters: you will be able to letdown when you need, and produce milk in whatever quantities needed. As we can see in the example of spontaneous letdown and leakage: when a woman is properly stimulated mentally, she will letdown and produce milk. All physical stimulation does is tell your brain, when and how much milk to make!
Whether dry nursing your partner to induce lactation, or hand massage, finger stimulation and breast pumping, choose a physical technique you are comfortable with and enjoy: then focus on training your subconscious to respond to making milk instead of, or in conjunction with, sexual arousal. The secret to inducing lactation is creating a proper mental state that will cause the brain to stimulate the breasts to letdown, and mammary glands to make milk. How long it takes to lactate, depends entirely on how long it takes you to decide to create the proper mental state! How much milk you will be able to produce will depend on how much milk you want.
If this fails there is drugs that can be used to increase prolactin levels and are fairly safe. Herbs can also be used to help with lacatation.
Herbs
In addition to the medications described above, the following herbs have been found to be helpful in increasing milk supply for women on the protocols:
Fenugreek seed - 3 capsules (580-610 mg each) 3 times a day with food
Blessed Thistle herb - 3 capsules (325-390mg each) 3 times a day with food
These dosages were arrived at through a review of the available literature, a review of the recommendations of several herbal companies, and anecdotal evidence. Many women on the protocols have found that Fenugreek taken alone may cause stomach upset but when it is taken in combination with the Blessed Thistle the stomach upset is reduced or nullified. Taking these herbs with food seems to help as well and is recommended by most of the herb suppliers. Women often report that they smell like maple syrup or curry while taking fenugreek. Many women have found these herbs to be most effective if they are begun after completion of the necessary time on the birth control pill – domperidone combination, and once the women have started to pump. Also, many women have reported feeling nauseated when starting the herbs too early. For this reason it is not desirable to take the herbs while taking the birth control pill and prior to pumping.
Hope this helps some fellow hucows out there ;) <333anna