Osteopathic manipulation to increase lactation quantity: a prospective case series

There is currently no clinical research investigating the effect of osteopathic manipulation on the milk supply of lactating patients. Herbal and prescription galactagogues are limited and have the potential for serious side effects.

The objective of this study was to determine whether osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) can increase milk supply in lactating people with low milk supply (hypogalactia).

The patients presented in this series participated in an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved prospective pilot study. All participants were aged 18-40 years old and 2-28 weeks postpartum with the desire to exclusively breastfeed with infants who weighed at least 2,500 g at birth. At 1 h, the measured milk production was <1 oz expressed through a hospital-grade pump. Participants were ineligible if they were utilizing prescription galactagogues or had a contraindication to OMT. They were treated with an OMT protocol plus ad lib OMT once a week for 4 weeks. The study was suspended and ultimately closed due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

All three participants demonstrated an increase in milk production from baseline at each visit. Given the small number of participants, these results are not statistically significant. Power analysis calculated a need for 10 subjects. Therefore, these patients are presented as a case series.

These results show promise for the use of osteopathic manipulation to increase human milk production. A study with a larger number of participants is needed.