How to Increase the Fat in Your Breast Milk
How to Increase the Fat in Breast Milk Fast
How much breast milk you produce is important, but you can also increase the quality of the breast milk that you produce. Learn how to increase the nutrition in your breast milk, increase the fat in your breastmilk, and keep it’s nutritional density high.
What you eat, how long you pump or nurse, and even the time of day can change how much fat is in your breast milk. Babies need lots of fat to grow healthy, let’s learn all about how to increase the fat in our breast milk together.
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Increasing the Fat Content of Breast Milk
In order to increase the fat content in your breast milk, you need to make sure that it’s a part of your diet. This includes eating healthy fats like avocados, coconut oil, and raw nuts and seeds as well as fatty fish such as salmon or tuna. These foods are not only great for increasing the fat in breast milk but they are part of a healthy breastfeeding diet also. Healthy fats also help you to absorb the nutrients in your vegetables and help you stay full longer.
If you are having a hard time getting enough fats in your diet, consider adding some healthy fat supplements to help make up the difference. There is no one magic pill that will increase the fat content of breast milk but taking these steps and adding in these foods should help you get there!
We also need to remember how important breastfeeding on demand can be for your baby. Breastfeeding on demand will help to increase your breast milk supply and keep baby full and happy.
When is There the Most Fat in Your Breast Milk
Breastfeeding is a miraculous thing. You are not only providing your baby with 100% of their nutrition to grow at a rapid rate, but you are also giving them extra bonuses like antibodies if they’re sick! Along those lines, your body knows what your baby needs and your breast milk composition can vary from hour to hour and day to day.
Your breast milk is different at the beginning of a feed compared to the end of a feeding session. The milk expressed at the beginning of each feeding session is an almost clear and watery form of breast milk called foremilk. Babies don’t need to drink water because this is essentially their water. Many older babies have lots of short nursing sessions of this form of breastmilk just to quench their thirst. The hindmilk that comes later is thicker, darker, and loaded with more fat for baby.
The time of day also affects the nutritional content of the breast milk you produce. According to La Leche League the fat content of your breast milk increases as the day goes on. This is probably to keep baby full for longer stretches at night. (If you can call a baby’s sleep schedule long stretches.)
repair after all they’ve been through!
Postpartum Weight Loss While Breastfeeding
There is one struggle that so many moms have postpartum, knowing how to lose the baby weight safely while breastfeeding. Can you even do that? How can you diet and breastfeed? How can you lose the excess weight and not lose your milk supply?
For years I’ve been asked by my mom clients these same questions in different ways again and again. So as a certified online health coach, fitness trainer, maternal nutrition specialist, and mom of 3, I decided to compile the proven successful postpartum diet and exercise plan that I created for my breastfeeding mom clients into a program that now anyone can have access to!
It’s called the Milky Mama’s Postpartum Plan and it is built for you! To teach you everything you need to know to be successful at postpartum weight loss while breastfeeding!
Check out my 28 day plan now to help you regain strength postpartum with short effective workouts, increase your milk supply with loads of delicious recipes, and finally lose that excess baby weight at the same time!
How to Increase the Fat Content in Breast Milk
So how do you increase the fat content of your breast milk? First, make sure that you are drinking enough water. The baby is essentially drinking their own water from your body so it’s important to stay hydrated. Older babies have lots of short nursing sessions just to drink and quench thirst- this kind of breastmilk has a lower fat content. You need about 40 extra ounces of water each day while breastfeeding to make up for what baby is drinking out of you.
RELATED: How to Stay Hydrated While Breastfeeding
Secondly, eat more fat. This can be a little bit of a challenge in our society’s current food environment but there are some easy things you can do to get the fats your baby needs. Try including an avocado or two each day into your diet- they’re super yummy and high in healthy fats!
You could also try making sure that each of your snacks and meals has a healthy fat. Think olive oil on your salad, a bit of butter on your steamed veggies, or a handful of nuts with your apple.
Want to know something super cool? Unrefined coconut oil is the food containing the fats most similar to those in your breast milk. Both coconut oil and breast milk contain saturated fatty acids, monosaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Also, the ratio of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in breast milk is identical to that of coconut oil.
Most mothers (and thus the breast milk they produce) do not have enough MCFAs, which baby desperately needs! Adding unrefined coconut oil into your diet daily increases the level of MCFA in your breastmilk by the next day.
How do you add coconut oil into your diet in a delicious way? Pick up my free “Healthy and Slimming Milk Boosting Recipes eBook” for some delicious lactation energy balls recipes all using coconut oil!
Eating enough protein is important also to producing enough nutrient dense milk. Increasing your protein will increase your breast milk supply and the healthy fats in your breast milk. It can be tough to get enough protein while breastfeeding, you need a lot. That’s why I also recommend that breastfeeding mothers include a high quality protein powder in their diets every day. A lactation protein powder smoothie is a great way to increase your milk supply too!
RELATED: The Best Protein Shakes for Breastfeeding Mothers
Lastly, if you’re able to breastfeed on demand then that may help your baby get the right amount of fat he or she needs. Try not to let more than four hours go by without breastfeeding your baby and don’t worry too much about how long each feeding lasts- as long as they have a good latch and are drinking well.
What Foods Can Increase the Fat in Breast Milk?
- Unrefined Coconut Oil. This oil will increase the medium chain fatty acids in your breast milk. Adding 2-3 tablespoons daily into your diet has been shown to directly affect the composition of a woman’s breast milk.
- Fatty fish like sardines and salmon. Fatty fish is the best source of DHA, which is imperative to have enough of for proper brain development. Did you know most of your brain is fat? Adding fatty fish into your diet will add more of the fat DHA into your breast milk. If you have trouble getting enough fatty fish into your diet taking a high quality prenatal vitamin with DHA (like this one) will help keep these fat levels high throughout your breastfeeding journey.
- Sunflower lecithin. Adding sunflower lecithin into your diet is shown to increase the polyunsaturated fatty acids in your breastmilk. It’s actually used quite often to help with clogged ducts because it also makes your breast milk less sticky and flow more freely.
Wrapping Up How to Increase Fat in Your Breast Milk
The best way to increase the nutritional content and fat content of your breast milk is by eating a healthy, whole food, breastfeeding diet that includes healthy fats. You have to eat enough fat to produce nice fatty milk for your growing baby.
Healthy fats (within reason) do not make you fat. Your brain and joints need healthy fat to function optimally, and your baby needs even more!
I didn’t know about unrefined coconut oil. How cool is that? The human body, especially the post partum one, does some amazing things. Have any recipes related to the information above?