Many women who breastfeed, at one point or another, have a problem with low breastmilk supply and look for or need a way to help increase their breast milk supply. So, start off by knowing you are not alone!

I breastfed my first son for 28 months! Now I am pregnant with our second son and plan on doing the same, maybe even longer this time. During the time I breastfed our oldest son, I had several different breastfeeding trials, but the only one I will be talking about now is low breast milk supply and some of the methods I tried that helped me to increase my breastmilk supply.

The first thing to keep in mind when breastfeeding and the effect it has on your breastmilk supply is positioning/proper latch and the amount of time the baby is properly latched on and nursing. These two things can make all the world of a difference, most times, and are extremely important in helping to increase your low breastmilk supply. So, make sure the baby is latched on properly and sucking effectively! Also, be sure to feed on demand - as often as the baby needs (meaning you may become a human pacifier!). I cannot stress these two enough and if you've been educating yourself on breastfeeding, this is probably beginning to sound redundant.

However, in my case, and many other women's cases, positioning and feeding frequently or on demand doesn't always do the trick! (At least not as fast as we'd like) I did fine with my breastmilk supply for the first three months, and then all of a sudden, it seemed to me that I wasn't making enough milk and that my breastmilk supply was too low!

What did I do during that time to help increase my breastmilk supply?

Well, first, I made sure I was drinking enough liquids. A lot of times you hear that it is best to drink water in order to increase your milk supply. Water is great - but you cam also consume other liquids like milk, juice (preferabky 100%), and other beverages. Drinking a lot of liquids, along with the two factors, positioning and time spent nursing, also makes a big difference in regards to the production of your breastmilk supply.

One way I increased my liquid intake was by adding a breastmilk supply tea to my diet.

There are many different breastmilk supply teas on the market. Most of them are pretty effective in helping to increase your breastmilk supply, however I found one I particularly liked better than others. I personally recommend an organic tea because it is healthier for you and baby. I also prefer one that tastes good warm or cold, so that you can vary it for personal reasons or climatic reasons.

In addition to proper latch and liquid intake, another way to help increase your breastmilk supply is to make sure you are consuming enouh calories. Unless your diet is very very poor, you should always make enough milk for baby - but, I noticed on days when I ate more or healthier, my body seemed to produce more milk.

Also, remember, your baby may be`going through a growth spurt, and it may seem like you are not making enough milk. If you just feed on demand, which, again, may be very often, your baby should be getting the nutrition he needs.

To help increase my breastmilk supply, I also pumped, or expressed breast milk after the baby finished nursing to make sure I had expressed all the milk from both breasts. I also pumped at times inbetween feeds and made sure I used good nursing bras that fit well. I didn't do this often or keep it up long as a method to increase my breastmilk supply. It took up a lot of my day, and I found using the tea to be less time consuming, although not as effective. According to some research I did, emptying your breasts, in this particular case by manually expressing my breastmilk, signaled the body to make more milk. I can't give you the specifics or scientifics to how this increases your breastmilk supply (feel free to research it). I just remember learning and thinking that the body is a wonderful mechanism and knows when to make more milk according to how long the baby nurses and how often!