Moms Who Meditate Make More Milk

Sometimes breastfeeding can get off to a rocky start when your baby’s weight gain isn’t happening as quickly as some careproviders would like. (Or baby seems to have lost more than usual because you had IV fluids in labor).  A new piece of research is adding some fascinating insights into a simple way you can increase your baby’s weight gain, sleep AND reduce stress without much effort (you’ll get to sleep longer too!).

Even a few minutes of meditating calms the sympathetic nervous system and increases oxytocin in the body (a key hormone in breastfeeding).

A small group of first 33 time moms were instructed to listen to an audio meditation during breastfeeding and the results were compared to a group of 31 moms who didn’t use the audio recording. All moms received regular home visits throughout the trial.  The researchers measured maternal stress and anxiety, breastmilk intake, cortisol (stress hormone) levels, infant behavior and growth. (Meditating doesn’t mean sitting in the dark chanting while your baby nurses or emptying your mind).

Reports & Statistics

The ‘Mindful’ moms reported lower stress levels and had lower cortisol in their milk.  Babies fed by the mindful moms slept longer (149 mins for the relaxed moms compared to 82 mins for the control group). Every one of those minutes counts when you’re sleep deprived!

Other studies of moms to premature or critically ill babies also showed a significant increase in milk supply with higher fat content too when they listened to relaxing music during nursing.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22469966

In another study from 1989 – moms expressed 63% more breast milk than a randomized group of control mothers after listening to a guided visualization a week after birth.  Among a small group of mothers whose infants were receiving mechanical ventilation, the increase in milk volume compared with that of control mothers was 121%.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2642620

In 2022 a new study on meditation practices and breastmilk pumping for babies in NICU found that more frequent meditations were likely to increase milk collected through pumping but another benefit was a trend in lower symptoms of depression. It’s well documented that parents have a higher risk of developing post partum mood disorders with a preterm baby in NICU.

The authors concluded that breastmilk production was similar in mothers practicing meditation compared to those receiving routine lactation support. For women engaging in frequent mediation, there may be an effect in establishing breastmilk supply and reduction of depression symptoms.

https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-1787-7576

Tracy