Poor let-down while breast-feeding
You sometimes may notice that your milk does not flow easily, or let down, when you attempt to breast-feed or use a breast pump. Emotional stress, fatigue, anxiety, smoking, pain, or being cold are common causes of poor let-down.
With poor let-down, you may not experience the tingling and leaking of milk that usually occurs when your milk begins to flow. You may develop sore nipples because your baby has to work harder or you have to pump longer to get the breasts to release milk.
Increasing your comfort and level of relaxation often helps. If this does not work, talk to your doctor about using oxytocin nasal spray to help stimulate the let-down response. This spray usually is only used within the first few days of starting breast-feeding.
| Author: | Kathe Gallagher, MSW | Last Updated: May 10, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Joy Melnikow, MD, MPH - Family Medicine | |
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