How Breastfeeding Regulates Milk Supply

You know that every time a baby breastfeeds, they're actually telling the mother's body what to do?

Tiny nerves in the nipple sense the sucking and send signals to the brain? In response,

the brain releases prolactin, which stimulates the milk producing glands,

and oxytocin, which triggers the let down reflex, pushing milk from the glands into

the milk ducts. As the baby sucks in a rhythmic pattern, milk flows through the ducts to the

nipple and the baby drinks in a steady suck pause swallow rhythm. The more the baby

feeds, the more milk the body produces. This is the natural supply and demand

system of breastfeeding. During a single feeding, the milk also changes, it starts out thin