Cooper County WIC

04/04/2026

04/04/2026

“My milk supply dropped…”
…or your body regulated

Around 11-14 weeks postpartum, milk production shifts from hormone-driven to supply-and-demand

It can feel like everything changed overnight
What regulation often looks like:

• Breasts feel softer
• Leaking slows or stops
• You’re not feeling full between feedings
• Less of that sweaty, engorged, sticky feeling
• Pump output may look different
• Baby may cluster feed again or seem unsettled

These are hormonal shifts into efficiency, not signs your milk is going away

What’s happening physiologically:
In the early weeks, hormones drive higher volume production and storage
That’s why breasts feel full, heavy, and leaky

As your body learns your baby’s needs, it adjusts:

• Extra blood and fluid are in the breast for the first few weeks to help push milk to the baby while they are learning to feed. This goes away and breasts feel soft
• Production responds more to milk removal
• Supply becomes tightly matched to your baby

This timing throws people off because this phase often overlaps with:
• A final early growth spurt
• Periods of cluster feeding
• Changes in sleep that can look like a regression

So you see more feeding + less fullness + more night waking
It’s easy to assume supply is dropping

What’s important to understand:
• Babies don’t keep increasing daily milk volumes for long. Once they reach 10-12 pounds, they need 25-30oz a day. And that’s what they need daily through the first birthday. Not gallons a day
• As a newborn, babies usually take 65-80% of the milk in the breast at any given feeding. There’s more milk always available for cluster feeds and growth spurts
• Growth continues, just at a slower, steadier rate
• Your body is matching that shift

What to watch instead:
• Diaper output
• Swallowing during feeds
• Growth patterns over time
• Overall feeding behavior

Soft breasts can still contain plenty of milk
Less leaking doesn’t mean less milk. It means more efficient milk production

This is milk supply regulation into the next stage of lactation and is expected

04/03/2026

“I can’t put my baby down more than 5 minutes without them waking up wanting the b**b. My milk supply must be low”. Nope. It’s because babies don’t like to be put down! Their survival mechanisms kick in to make sure they’re back in the arms of the people who can keep them safe from predators and ensure that they will be fed when the time comes. We are carry mammals, like monkeys, kangaroos and wallabies (I’ve always wanted to use wallabies in a post 😂)

Carry mammals birth the most immature babies in the animal kingdom. They are completely parent dependent for food, warmth and safety. Our milk has very low levels of fat and protein, so our babies need to latch and feed frequently.

Being on your body for the first 3 months helps regulate their heart rate, respiratory rate, and helps them transition between wake and sleep states. It also keeps them close to their foods source and the person who will clean them and monitor for first signs of infection or illness. Babies are most vulnerable to SIDS in the first 3 months, so staying on your body helps protect them. As long as you have a pain free latch, are hearing swallowing when baby is at the breast, baby is making lots of wet and routine poopy diapers and baby is steadily gaining weight across time, it’s not your milk supply that’s making them cry when you put them down. It’s the being put down.
breastfeedingmoms

04/02/2026

After birth there is an enormous range of normal for when periods return. Exclusive breastfeeding carries the perk in that it may delay periods returning. Frequent nursing inhibits the release of hormones that cause your body to begin your monthly cycles. Some moms will have spotting around 6-8 weeks. Others have a non-ovulatory period before 6 months postpartum, but do not menstruate again for many months. Some start their periods as soon as baby starts sleeping through the night or eating solid foods. Others never get a period at all until they wean, even if they’re only occasionally breastfeeding a toddler! You are more likely to ovulate and resume regular periods if your baby is going for more than a few hours without breastfeeding (for instance, at night) and baby is more than 6 months old.

It is common to have a drop in supply around the time of your period. Breastfeeding can also be uncomfortable during this time from increase breast tenderness. This is from the hormonal changes and is only temporary. It is safe to continue breastfeeding while on your period. Your milk is just as nutritious. You may find baby wants to nurse more frequently while you’re on your period. That’s normal! They are helping regulate your milk supply during the hormonal shift. Some babies are fussier at the breast because milk during your period can be saltier and flow slower. Research from La Leche League shows “a daily dose of 500 to 1,000 mg of a calcium and magnesium supplement from the middle of your cycle through the first three days of your period may help minimize any drop in supply.”

04/01/2026

04/01/2026

How you labor matters. Having a IV placed has become a standard with hospital births. They are often set to continuously drip while in labor. These fluids don’t just hydrate you, they cross the placenta and also enter your baby. Why is this a big deal? Research suggests that these fluids can actually inflate your baby’s birth weight. They will p*e this fluid out, usually as the first day progresses. So why does that matter if they’re going to p*e it out anyway? Birth weight is the first data point used by healthcare providers to know if baby is feeding efficiently when feeding from the breast, since there are no markers on breast or baby telling us how much they get from feeding

It’s OK for babies to lose weight after birth!! Long standing research shows up to 7-8% of birth weight in the first few days after birth (while drinking the first milk, colostrum) is acceptable, and then once milk transitions they should regain back to birth weight by 10-14 days. We also expect only 1 (2 at the most) p*e diapers on their first day of life. If they are born with excessive fluids, their weight can be inflated and when they p*e this fluid off, the weight loss can be exaggerated. Once a baby loses 10%, supplementation is always recommended as the standard of care to ensure baby is getting the nutrients they need

This can lead to the assumption that baby isn’t feeding well even if they are. It also puts needless pressure for milk supply to “come in” or increase to volumes beyond what the body would typically make at that stage of lactation. Coincidentally, too much fluids can also delay colostrum transitioning to mature milk and increasing in volume as well as cause excessive swelling in the breasts which makes latch more challenging!! This also results in an increased chance of formula supplementation (with or without initiating pumping) which is often associated with a shorter duration of breastfeeding than what was initially intended by the family

How you birth matters. Knowing what happens to your body and baby’s body is so important to help you figure out your journey

📸
Midwife pictured: the amazing

03/31/2026

BIRTH CONTROL AND MILK SUPPLY
An IUD is a form of birth control that’s put into your uterus to prevent pregnancy. One of the most common forms of birth control, it’s long-term, reversible, and considered one of the most effective birth control methods. Many doctors will encourage new mothers to have them placed between 4-6 weeks postpartum checkup to prevent pregnancies too close together. The Paragard IUD is wrapped in copper and doesn’t have hormones. The Mirena, Kyleena, Liletta, and Skyla IUDs use the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy. Be aware that each IUD has a different amount of progestin. They are not created equal. Progestin is also the hormone found in the mini pill.

Hormonal IUDs and the mini pill are often recommended by doctors as the best form of birth control for breastfeeding mothers because most of the research that is available says that they don’t impact breast milk supply. And many who use these methods don’t experience any drop in supply. For some, though, both the mini pill and the hormonal IUDs will drop breast milk supply, some times drastically. Every body is sensitive to different levels of hormones. If you have an IUD placed and notice a drop in supply, the only way to increase supply again is to remove the IUD. Increased pumping or herbal supplements will usually not be enough to increase supply again because you’re working against hormones. The only way to rebound supply would be to remove the IUD. If you’re considering a hormonal based IUD and aren’t sure if your supply will drop, consider taking a few rounds of the mini pill (progestin only) which is the same hormone as the IUD. If your supply drops, you only have to stop taking the pill and your supply will rebound much quicker.
Did you use a hormone based birth control? Did you notice a change in your breast milk supply?

03/31/2026

ALL MILK IS GOOD MILK!! The fat in your milk accounts for 50% of the calories your baby takes in each feeding. While protein and lactose remain relatively stable throughout the day, milk fat concentration can vary by 47% in a 24 hour period!

Factors that influence milk fat in breast milk:
🤱🏽 In the mother/lactation parent(some of these you can change and control and some of these you can’t):
Lifestyle
Diet
Body size
Health or disease/inflammation
Number of children
Type of birth
Overall milk volume produced daily

👶🏼 In the baby (the mother/parent’s body responds to make specific milk to accommodate the baby):
Gender
Gestational age
Birth weight

🍫 Other factors that influence fat in human milk:
⏰ Time of day (highest fat is in the afternoon/evening)
👶🏼 👧🏽 Stage of lactation (colostrum has the lowest amount of fat. Extended milk for toddlers 12+ months has the highest amount of fat!)
🗓 Time postpartum (milk fat increases with time!)

Ways to help increase milk fat:
🤱🏽 Feed more frequently. An emptier breast has higher fat and lower water concentrations.
⭐️ Shake your breasts prior to feeding. This gets the fat at the back of the breast to be activated more quickly to flow sooner in the feeding
🐠 Add in healthy fats to your diet: salmon, herring, sardines, flax and chia seeds, and walnuts are high in healthy fats that don’t increase fat, but the type of fat found in your milk
🍦 Manage diabetes/blood sugars
🏋🏽‍♀️ Make sure you’re not anemic or iron deficient
♨️Reduce inflammation in the body (can often be done with diet and lifestyle changes and/or with the help of a naturopathic practitioner)

03/26/2026

✅ Update from Cooper County Public Health Center ✅

Our systems are now back up and running!

We are once again able to accept phone calls and provide services, including printing birth and death certificates.

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we worked through the issue, we truly appreciate it!