After you have given birth to your precious new baby, the last thing you want to deal with is difficulties with lactation and breastfeeding. However, these difficulties are quite common among new mothers. While you may not know what you can do to help rectify the situation, there are several options that you can try to alleviate the difficulties and discomfort, and that will allow you to provide the nutrition your baby needs.

Alternative medicine provides various treatment options that will help you to breastfeed more easily in no time:

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic care is an alternative medicine option that stems from the theory that spinal misalignment are often the root cause of many of the medical issues people experience. This is because the spine is the route through which the brain communicates with the rest of the body. When the spine is not aligned, the nerves that run along it can become blocked or pinched, prevent communication throughout the body.

In the case of breastfeeding difficulties, a chiropractor can help in two ways. If your spine is out of alignment, your body may not be receiving the signals from the nerves to produce sufficient milk for your baby. Thus, the chiropractor can perform spinal manipulations to help free up the nerves and get your milk flowing. 

However, sometimes breastfeeding difficulties do not stem from you. You may have sufficient milk flow, but your baby just does not seem to be able to latch on or drink. Chiropractors can also treat infants if those infants have problematic skeletal misalignment.

The process of spinal manipulation on a baby is quite a bit different than that of an adult. So, if you take your child in for chiropractic care, make sure the chiropractor is specially certified to work with babies and children. Infant spinal manipulations can help ease discomfort your baby may be feeling that would prevent them from feeding properly.

Acupuncture

While it may seem a little bit strange to you, acupuncture can also help with breastfeeding difficulties. When your body's energy, or Qi as it is known to acupuncturists, is not flowing properly, your entire body can suffer.

What acupuncture can do is identify the points on the body associated with the production and flow of milk throughout your body, and stimulate the proper flow of energy through those associated points. This is done by the use of tiny needles that are gently inserted into those points. The points for breastfeeding are located in the chest (near the breasts), in the abdominal region, and throughout the arms and legs.

Herbal Treatments

Many breastfeeding women have also found that herbal remedies can help stimulate lactation and help with low milk supplies. Garlic is one such herb that has been said to be particularly helpful. You can either incorporate more garlic into your daily diet, or if you are not a big fan of garlic, you can also take a garlic supplement. 

Other herbs that have proven useful in stimulating lactation include fennel, brewer's yeast, Blessed thistle, and fenugreek. All of these herbs are available as supplements. You can also purchase organic teas that are designed specifically to help with lactation that include several of these herbs.

As you can see, there are several alternative medicine options to help you with any lactation difficulties you may be having. All you need to do is give these options a try and hopefully you will be breastfeeding happily and without further difficulty in no time.