Breast milk production can vary from day to day. Generally speaking, your breasts make as much milk as your baby takes out. The more your baby drinks, the more milk your breasts produce. For some women, however, this feedback system doesn't work as designed and they make less milk than their baby needs. Increasing fluids might help increase milk production if you're severely dehydrated, but dehydration is rarely the cause of decreased milk production. Increasing fluid intake generally doesn't increase milk production. Talk to your doctor about ways to increase milk production if necessary.
Nursing moms need to drink enough to satisfy their thirst, around 2.5 to 3 quarts of fluid daily, according to Case Western Reserve University Hospitals. When you're nursing, you don't need to drink a pre-determined amount of fluid, obstetrician Dr. Michael Broder explains in his book, "The Panic-Free Pregnancy: An OB-GYN Separates Fact from Fiction on Food, Exercise, Travel, Pets, Coffee, Medications, and Concerns You Have When You Are Expecting." If you become dehydrated, your body first conserves fluid by concentrating your urine and then increases your thirst level. Don't feel like you have to have fluids every time you sit down to nurse, Broder says. Mix up your fluids by drinking things other than water if you want. It's not true that you need water rather than other fluids to make milk, lactation consultant Kelly Bonyata reports on her website, KellyMom.
Excess Fluid Intake
A study conducted by researchers from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and reported in the November 1990 issue of "Pediatrics" gave breastfeeding mothers whose babies were thriving 25 percent more fluid than their baseline for at least seven days. Milk production did not change significantly with the fluid increase and actually decreased slightly, although the change was not statistically significant. Drinking more fluid than you need increases urination and fluid loss. Drinking significantly more than you need can also lead to water intoxication, although this is rare in normal, healthy adults.
A study of 10 women conducted by Canadian researchers and reported in the May 1992 issue of the "Canadian Journal of Public Health" looked at the effects of both increases and decreases in fluid intake on milk production. Researchers gave 50 percent more fluids than each woman consumed at baseline for three days. This was followed by a 50 percent decrease in fluid intake for three days. While breast milk production in this study increased with increased fluid intake and decreased with decreased intake, neither change was statistically significant.
Signs of Dehydration
Severe dehydration can affect milk supply. While mild dehydration may have few symptoms, severe dehydration can cause increased thirst, dry mucus membranes, skin that pinches up easily, confusion, rapid heartbeat, fatigue and decreased urination. Urination will also change in color from clear or pale yellow to dark yellow. Call your doctor if you show signs of dehydration.
- KellyMom: Do Breastfeeding Mothers Need Extra Calories or Fluids?
- Breastfeeding and Human Lactation; Jan Riordan and Karen Wambach
- Canadian Journal of Public Health: The Effect of Maternal Fluid Intake on Breast Milk Supply: A Pilot Study
- Pediatrics: Prolonged Maternal Fluid Supplementation in Breast-feeding
- The Panic Free Pregnancy: An OB-GYN Separates Fact from Fiction on Food, Exercise, Travel, Pets, Coffee, Medications, and Concerns You Have When You Are Expecting; Michael S. Broder
- University Hospitals: Breast-feeding: Diet and Fluid Intake
- MayoClinic.com: Dehydration
- newborn image by Valentin Mosichev from Fotolia.com