Insufficient Lactation

"Insufficient Lactation" Issue / Symptom Connections

Below you will find various relationships to, and potential clinical treatment approaches for insufficient lactation.

Content Related to Insufficient Lactation

It is critical to appreciate that in Chinese Medicine, treatment for "insufficient lactation" is rarely focused on the symptoms exclusively. Alternatively, a practitioner is looking at the factors that led to the development of "insufficient lactation" - i.e. the "cause(s)".

For non-practitioners, we recommend reading treating the "cause" and not the "symptoms" for more on the overall approach and the importance of the TCM diagnostic system in formulating treatment approaches.

Related Acupuncture Protocols

When developing an acupuncture protocol a practitioner is very often focusing on the causal diagnoses in Chinese Medicine terms, not on the condition itself. To illustrate and guide developing an acupuncture treatment for someone experiencing insufficient lactation, this issue is referenced in the following acupuncture protocol section:

• View KD 21 (Dark Gate)
  
      6 cun above CV 8, .5 cun lateral to CV 14.
  
      Local point for abdominal and intestinal pain and functional issues. Reflux, vomiting, food stagnation, dystenary - harmonizes stomach. Liver stagnation affecting the breasts - insufficient lactation, breast distention.
• View PC 1 (Celestial Pool)
  
      1 cun lateral to the nipple in the 4th ICS.
  
      Window of the Sky Point, opens the chest - fullness, counterflow qi, cough with phlegm. Headache, blurred vision, axillary sweating, malarial disorders, difficulty moving the limbs. Breast disorders, breast abscess, insufficient lactatio…
• View SI 1 (Lesser Marsh)
  
      .1 cun posterior to the corner of the nail on the ulnar side of the little finger.
  
      Breast disorders of any etiology, insufficient lactation, mastitis, breast abscess, cysts. Jing Well Point, clear heat from the opposite end of the channel, for eye redness, earache, tinnitus, sore throat, stiff tongue. Headache, dizzine…
• View SI 11 (Celestial Gathering)
  
      On the scapula in a depression at the center of the infrascapular fossa, found at the junction of the upper and middle …
  
      Breast problems, mastitis, insufficient lactation, breast pain. Emotional issues, anxiety that presents with asthma, expands and relaxes the chest, asthma generally. Local point for channel pain within the shoulder, scapula region, elbow…
• View SP 18 (Celestial Ravine)
  
      6 cun lateral to the anterior midline in the 4th inter-costal space.
  
      Descends qi - chest oppression, shortness of breath, cough, hiccup, running piglet disorder. Opens the chest and circulation in the breasts - breast pain, insufficient lactation.
• View ST 18 (Breast Root)
  
      4 cun lateral to the AML in the 5th ICS.
  
      Any issues with the breasts - mastitis, pain/swelling, insufficient lactation. Chest tightness/oppression, asthma, cough.