4 Things To Expect When Inducing Lactation

January 10, 2023 Stacey Stewart, C.L.E

Breastfeeding is possible, even if you’ve never been pregnant! Inducing lactation involves tricking your body with cues that tell it to make milk.

How do you trick your body into making milk? The one thing you positively have to do to induce lactation is stimulate your breasts.

Stimulating breasts to induce lactation is usually done by using a breast pump, ideally at least several months before baby arrives in your arms.

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What to expect when inducing lactation

#1 Frequent Pumping

There’s no getting around the fact that you’ll need to stimulate your breasts often in order to induce lactation.

Ideally you’ll end up expressing milk as frequently as a newborn nurses, which is at least 8-12 times every 24 hours.

Breast milk supply is on a supply and demand basis. So the more times you pump and drain the breasts, the more it asks of your body to make more.

Sticking to a pumping schedule is very important because you’ll need to be diligent in pumping around the clock.

#2 A slow start

Don’t expect much (or anything) in the beginning. Inducing lactation is a time consuming process and can be frustrating at times because it could be weeks before you even see the smallest drop of breast milk.

It can take a couple weeks to months to start producing milk because milk production happens more slowly with induced lactation.

Any breast milk you get is worth celebrating along the way.

Did you know?
The breast milk that arrives from inducing lactation is comparable to the milk women produce roughly 10 days after giving birth, also known as “mature milk.”

#3 Mental strength

You need to be mentally ready before you induce lactation as it requires persistence and a lot of time.

Also, using a breast pump is a learned skill and doesn’t always produce results as well as a baby nursing at the breast.

Not only that, pumping without any breast milk for a few weeks may be a tad uncomfortable.

To help the process, use lubrication. We always recommend this spray because it’s perfect for lubricating breast pumps during inducing lactation.

#4 Varying success

The amount of breast milk produced when inducing lactation can vary.

Unfortunately not everyone will make all the breast milk their baby needs while inducing lactation. Some parents won’t be able to produce any milk at all, but most end up with a partial milk supply and will need to supplement with donor milk or formula.

Note: If you’ve ever delivered and nursed a baby before, inducing lactation may be easier and faster than someone who’s never done it before.

With inducing lactation it’s all about celebrating small victories! Any amount of breast milk is valuable and should be considered “liquid gold” to babies.

And, remember, breastfeeding is possible with a baby no matter how much (or little) breast milk is produced!

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