Many women are encouraged to breastfeed their babies. It is an admirable feat for any mom to accomplish nursing her baby successfully for 6 months to a year. Nursing is demanding on the body, and newborns cling to mom for feedings often. Problems that arise when baby is ready to be weaned or not is a completely separate issue. When mom’s body is no longer able to produce breastmilk for their little one, there are various factors at play.

Some moms cannot wait for their breastmilk to finally stop coming. After all, nursing takes a lot of mom’s energy, time, and can take a toll on the girls with soreness and swelling. Moms often deal with irritated chapped nips, and older babies might howl if they don’t get nursed fast enough, or are being weaned.

Other mothers rue the day that their body stops producing breastmilk, as they really enjoy the closeness to their baby. Feel-good and love chemicals get released in both baby and mom during nursing, which enhances the bonding experience. No matter how a mom feels about nursing, there are some things that are beyond her control which can cause mom’s body to stop making milk. Here are some reasons that mom might be drying up, or not even capable of producing a single drop.

13 An Older Body

Thanks to the power of science and fertility consultants, realizing the dream of having a baby when older is easier. However, some things science cannot even overcome, and that is old-fashioned nursing via the girls. Mother Nature is sneaky and slips in a proverbial biological clock for some women.

Thanks to aging cells, hormone production, and having more years under the belt, an older mom may have difficulty producing enough breastmilk for her child, or might not be able to make any milk at all. At least babies still have the option of formula, or even donated milk from more virile mothers.

If an older mom has a newborn babe in need of feeding, mom may have no method of inducing production of milk once she has shown signs of encroaching menopause. Watch out for those hot flashes before calling down Mr. Stork.

12 The Girls Become Infected

In the event that mom develops mastitis or a staph infection, she may find herself halting producing milk for baby. Not only would breastfeeding with an infection possibly risk passing on viruses or bacteria to baby while nursing, but medications that need to be taken can also potentially pose a threat to baby too. If an infection is severe enough that it is difficult to treat and mom is slow to recovery, it could be the death kneel for mom’s days spent breastfeeding her little one.

Moms who want to be on the lookout for signs of mastitis might suffer engorged and painful breast tissue, or even develop fluid build up and tissue damage. Staph infections can lead to sepsis and prove fatal. If mom is unable to regularly nurse baby, or can no longer even pump her girls, production can easily slow and then dry up.

11 Not Enough Pounds

Being thin is great, but not the only way to be beautiful as a woman in the world. If mom is too obsessed with her diet, waistline, and exercises to the point that training Olympic athletes would feel overpowered, mom might need to reassess her behavior. In order to produce good healthy breastmilk, a mom should embrace and love having necessary body fat levels. Sorry, but it’s true.

If a mom is suffering from high stress levels, severe eating disorders, or is overzealous about being stick thin, she might be signaling to her body to drop producing breastmilk altogether. Being able to produce breastmilk in enough quantities to satisfy a baby is difficult enough. Trying to make breastmilk with an astonishing 3% body fat level is going to take a miracle to pull off.

10 Milk Supply Is Simply Drying Up

Baby has to get in their nursing time while the getting is good, because after one full year, up to two years of nursing, the well is going to run dry. The cases of moms breastfeeding their children beyond the age of two or three is pretty rare, as hormones and the demands of life and work kick in, and cause mom’s body to naturally cease milk production in the girls.

If mom doesn’t feed her baby with the girls regularly, takes a couple of days off, or other reasons cause infrequent feeding or poor latching on, milk production can taper off. Diets, water intake, stress, and body fat levels are also a factor for breastmilk production and quantity. So, when the milk has finally gone away, it’s gone. Sorry baby.

9 The Hormones Are Off Balance

The uterus is not only responsible for making itself a home for an unborn developing baby. The uterus, ovaries, and other female organ systems are also responsible for hormone production. When there is a hormone imbalance within mom, thanks to things like thyroid problems, stress, tumors, polyps, or cancer, she might be unable to make breastmilk no matter how hard she pumps away.

Hormones like estrogen are still being studied in depth, and scientists are always uncovering new unforeseen ways that hormones impact a woman’s bodily health, and things like breastmilk production. Some health conditions that cause hormonal imbalances may require mom to take medications, which may also contribute to lower breastmilk supply, or make breastfeeding no longer an option. Conditions like PCOS, seeing increased hair growth in certain areas, and other symptoms may point out to hormonal imbalances.

8 The Baby Is No Longer Interested

Sometimes baby gives the signal that they are moving on, and are ready to wean themselves off the girls. It can be a celebratory reason, especially if mom no longer has to deal with irritated nips, tugging, pulling, or accidental bites. Mom life problems, right?

Breastfeeding can bring on so many powerful emotions, and really enhances the bonding experience between a mother and a child. It can be difficult for some moms to deal with the fact that their nursing days are over, but if baby is no longer interested in taking a nip for some milk, then milk levels will slowly descend and fade away. Each feeding triggers hormones to encourage the body to produce more than enough milk for baby’s needs. When baby no longer wants to nurse, the body gets the memo, and breastmilk production shuts down.

7 Too Tired To Pump Or Nurse

Moms are responsible for so much juggling of different points in their life, from taking care of baby, keeping their work life in balance, and squeezing in time for themselves when possible. Sleep is practically an unheard of thing for most moms during the first 2 to 6 months with a newborn. So, it is very easy for not only mommy brain, but exhaustion to creep up on a mom and make it difficult to regularly nurse.

If mom finds herself too tired to nurse, or even finds it too difficult to pump breastmilk to store for later, her body might take this as a sign to quit making milk altogether. Making breastmilk requires a good amount of energy, and time must be dedicated to keep things going smoothly. Infrequent feedings can trigger hormonal responses to stop breastmilk production very easily.

6 Contracted A Blood-Borne Disease

Blood-borne diseases are serious business, as many moms and medical professionals seek to lessen the possibility of a mom contracting an incurable condition and passing it on to her little one at birth. Some viruses and bacteria can find their way to baby while still in the womb, as a compromised cervix can be an express lane for unwanted contaminants to cross the threshold of the amniotic sac. It is so important for a mom to be careful about her exposure to hazardous contaminants, and to have her blood screened regularly in case of possible infection risk.

Whatever mom puts into her body will show up in her breastmilk, whether it be lead, radioactivity, illicit substances, or trace amounts of viruses and bacteria. Screenings for viruses and diseases, drinking clean filtered water, and eating safely handled and prepared foods can reduce the risk of contracting a disease.

5 Thyroid Problems

The thyroid is located in the neck, and is responsible for regulating certain activities within the body. If mom has problems with her thyroid, her body will not produce enough breastmilk to support her babe. On the flip side of things, women who breastfeed may help reduce the chances of hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism becoming a problem.

However, if a woman is already screened and diagnosed as having malfunctions with her thyroid gland, the side-effects of low breastmilk levels, or difficulty producing any breastmilk at all for their baby may already be a problem. The thyroid gland is responsible for producing thyroxine and triiodothyronine, and if the levels of those hormones is off, surgery or radioactive iodine might be used to treat this issue. If mom is feeling fatigue, aggravation with cold or heat, hair loss, or weight loss, the thyroid might be the culprit.

4 The Girls Have Been Reconstructed

Many women may not consider a future in motherhood, following getting some surgery for the girls. In order to feel more beautiful and confident, many women like the idea of getting implants put in, or may even desire a reduction. There is one curious problem with mom going under the knife, and that is regarding the method and results.

If doctors end up having to surgically remove the nips and place them elsewhere, or healing creates excessive scar tissue that interferes with the milk ducts, mom may not be able to make milk. When the nips are altered and have an adjusted position on the body, mom’s sensitive body parts might not work as they did before having some work done. It is better for mom to undergo cosmetic alterations long after baby, so as to have a better chance to nurse if she desires.

3 Stress Plays A Role

Stress is one tough thing to bear for a mom. Even if mom is her baby’s superhero, she is still human and may suffer moments where she could use some pampering, self-care, and much-needed downtime. If mom has a super hectic work life, home life, or other lifestyle concerns which are sucking away her joy, being able to successfully breastfeed her little one may be the last thing on her mind.

Stress triggers hormone responses in the body to combat or deal with stress. Stress can display itself as negative moods, cause stress-eating, hair pulling, and make breastmilk production plummet like a stone dropped off the top of a skyscraper. Mom needs to relax when the need calls, unless her body reacts to her stress in such a way, that breastfeeding was just a distant dream left unrealized.

2 Undergoing Cancer Treatments

If a mom is diagnosed with cancer, and has to undergo chemotherapy treatments, her body may be unable to later produce breastmilk for her baby. Chemotherapy can be very aggressive treating cancer within the body. If a mother has to actively undergo cancer treatments during the time she thought she would be nursing her little one, a mom would have to forego being able to nurse her child as she would like.

Cancer can take a huge toll on a mom, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Medications and various treatments may leave a mom losing her hair, feeling exhausted, or make it more challenging to care for her baby. Since whatever mom has in her body will effect her child if she nurses, it would not be wise for a mom dealing with cancer to pass on traces of chemotherapy to her baby in any breastmilk.

1 PPD Can Be A Culprit

Postpartum depression not only impacts the lives of the mothers who deal with it, but also their significant other, and definitely their baby. If postpartum depression becomes so severe, a mom may have no course of action but to manage her symptoms with medical treatment. Depending on the makeup of the medicine offered, mom may have no choice but to do away with nursing her babe. Some moms going through this difficult time may actually be relieved, as breastfeeding can be difficult to bear.

Anxiety and stress are other reasons mom may not be up to the task of making breastmilk, let alone letting her little one get close long enough to nurse. Many medications on the market can be passed onto a nursing baby through the milk consumed, so moms who decide to stop nursing for this reason, may soon see an end to milk production.

Sources: AAP Publications, Belly Belly, Baby Gaga, Daily Parent, Baby Center