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Canadian Breastfeeding Foundation

What to Do If the Mother Does Not Experience “Significant” Breast Changes

Significant breast changes include:

These symptoms are indications of adequate growth of the milk making apparatus of the breasts. If the mother does not experience significant breast changes within 15 days of beginning either of the protocols, she may want to consider increasing her progesterone intake.

There are three reliable ways to do this.

  1. Replace her current birth control pill with Yasmin. This medication has three times the amount of progesterone that is in the “1/35” type birth control pills.
  2. Replace her current birth control pill with Microgestin. This medication has a third more progesterone than is in the “1/35” type birth control pills.
  3. Continue on the current “1/35” birth control pill and add at least 1 mg of progesterone another way such as by adding 1/2 a pill of Provera 2.5.

Adding progesterone usually solves the problem but option 1 works better than option 2 because of the nature of the progesterone contained in the Yasmin or Microgestin.

A word of caution about creams...they do not provide the needed level of progesterone in a reliable manner. An oral form of progesterone is consequently a better choice.

Each element of the protocol serves a specific function. Consequently, it is very important to follow the protocols as written. If any of the ingredients for success are left out, the mother is likely to produce less breastmilk.