Lactation Advice for a Friend!

Maybe it's fenugreek? I would buy a mother's milk tea and brew it strong and drink it often.
Warmly,
L.

There is a tea out by Tradtional Medicies called "Mother's Milk tea! The main ingredient is Blessed Thistle Hope this can help! I used it and it was wonderful! It tastes really good too! Always, S.

Chances are she is producing enough milk. She could always try calling a lactation person they know a lot. I don't recomend drinking but a little beer with make her fill up quick. Good Luck!

Herbs that help increase milk production are called GALATAGOGUES!
Isn't that galactic?
Now for some tips..
There are several things that one can do to really help with milk production:
1. GET REST! A dip in milk production can be greatly helped by getting in bed, naked with your baby and staying there ALL DAY, for 24 hours. This is called the 24 hour cure. Get up to pee, etc, but if possible, stay in bed, skin to skin with the baby as much as possible. The skin contact increases prolactin, and the rest, well, it is just helpful all around. Make a bedside tray with really good snacks, sleep, especially when baby is sleeping, and nurse every time the baby even smacks his/her lips.

2. EAT AND DRINK ENOUGH. The drinking is obvious, but sometimes we get busy and forget to drink water, which is still the best drink, unless your drinking herbal infusions (see below) And also, A NURSING MAMA NEEDS 500 MORE CALORIES PER DAY THAN A PREGNANT MAMA. Whew! Make sure they are coming from nutrient dense foods (see below)

3. USE HERBS and you will stay healthy!!: In my opinion, this is an easy and excellent way to keep giving what it takes to nurse, keep somewhat calm and collected, and actually thrive as a newborn parent. And here are some GALACTAGOGUES: (This info is taken from Susun Weed's lovely book Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year)

NOURISHING HERBS:
Simple teas or infusions of COMFREY, RASPBERRY LEAF, NETTLES, ALFALFA, or RED CLOVER
They are mineral rich which also protect you from mineral loss during nursing and infant care. Rotate, using each one for a week to derive the unique benefits that each offers.

BLESSED THISTLE LEAVES:
Famed for its ability to increase mlk supply, it is best used as a tincture; up to 20 drops, two to four times daily is the usual dose. It is said to remove suicidal feelings and lift depression as well. It used to be called Our Lady's Milk Thistle.

BORAGE
The leaves are most highly regarded as a tea for increasing milk flow, and the flowers are a delight in salads. Half a cupful of borage infusion at each nursing insures an abundant supply of milk, acts as a mild laxative, and soothes jangled nerves.

FENNEL/BARLEY WATER Prepare barley water by soaking 1/2 cup pearled (regular) barley in 3 cups cold water overnight or by boiling for 25 minutes. Strain out barley and discard or add to a soup. Heat a cup or two of the barley water to boiling as needed, store the rest in the refrigerator. Pour 1 cup boiling barley water over 1 teaspoon FENNEL SEED and steep for no longer than 30 minutes. This combination not only increases the breast milk, but eases after-pains and settles the digestion of mom and baby.

HOPS FLOWERS An old remedy for mothers of twins who need lots more milk, hops is a suitable accompaniment to nighttime feedings, as it brings sleep along with increased milk flow (helpful in the 24 hour cure described above) This is where the recommendation to drink beer comes from. Domestic beer often contain potentially harmful chemicals. Go for an additive free beer if you're going to go this route.

NOURISHING FOODS:
Apricots, asparagus, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, pecans, and all LEAFY GREENS such as beet greens, parsley, watercress, chard, and dandelion leaves are considered helpful in increasing and sustaining lactation.

Best of luck for you and your friend. YOU CAN NURSE TWINS!!! Just ask for lots of help. Also, if your friends baby is peeing and pooping, is latched on correctly, swallowing and she is nursing when the baby asks--smacking lips, licking lips, opening mouth wide, pecking, rooting, etc. tell your friend to try to see if she can acknowledge her fears, and trust that the baby is getting enough. The herbs really do work!
Blessings,
S.

I think it's called Fenugreek. The best way to increase milk supply is to nurse more, it's a supply meeting demand thing. :)

Hi, well I don't know any herbs, but I had the same problem of not producing enough milk. My doctor did a lot of research and found out that REGLAN, a stomach medicine, has an effect on breastfeeding mothers. It will do no harm to the baby either. You take it 4 times a day, and trust me it works in 15-30 minutes. You will have so much milk its not funny. Good luck!!

Hi there, she should take Fenugreek to increase milk production, added bonus of it, you smell like maple syrup.
Good luck!

Fenugreek.. !! Took me forever to remember it. lol

The name of the herb is fenugreek. After my son was born I was working with lactation consultants because my milk never came in and they recommended this and my doctor prescribed something (I don't remember what it was though) to help bring my milk in. Before you take anything I would definitely talk to your doctor and lactation nurses, they usually don't want you to take anything until after the baby or your case babies are born. Good luck!

I took Fenugreek *not sure if that is how you spell it* and drank an herbal tea called Mother's Milk....It worked wonders with my first born!

Hi,

Fenugreek is the most common. Blessed thistle is also recommended in combination with the fenugreek.

Check out all the information at www.kellymom.com - just search under galactologues and you will see a number of remedies.

Good luck

D.

Fenugreek. It works wonders!!!

It's called Fenagreek and it's available at the health food stores in tablet form. I paid $8.00 for 100 tablets just a few weeks when I picked some up for a friend of mine.

I had trouble at the beginning with breastfeeding and I took that herb. I can't remember the name but it's obvious when you go to health food store. Oh yeah, fenugreek! It's also in the Mother's Milk Tea that you can get at the grocery store which I drank all the time. My friend also used it. I think it definitely helped.

Hi - it might be Fenugreek, that is an herb that you can take that is supposed to help with milk supply. But, it helps some and not others so it is not a for sure thing..
It also has some side effects like making you smell like maple syrup.
There are other things people are selling out there that are also a bunch of different herbs together..one of them is called Lactation Blend by Vitanica. I tried this and it seemed to give me a couple more ounces while pumping but it is expensive to keep buying it. Hope this information helps!

The best advice I have ever received was "when in doubt breastfeed MORE!". The more stimulation your breasts receive the more milk they will produce. In the beginning it is very normal to feel as though you aren't producing enough milk, don't give up though! Babies go through so many growth spurts in which they seem ravenous and it feels like you aren't able to give them enough. It tapers off around 5-6 months and becomes much easier :) If your friend is really worried she can contact La Leche League (online at www.lalecheleague.org) they are wonderful and full of advice! A tea she can drink that is perfect for breastfeeding mothers is Mother's Milk tea made by Traditional Medicinals. It tastes good and has helped me in the early months when I felt like I couldn't keep up.

Happy Nursing!!

i did see that you got a lot of good advice, but i wanted to add one more thing. i had a hard time with my son and making milk i ended up drying up at about 4 weeks. well i have talked with my midwife and she told me to take fenugreek while i'm pregnant she said it's suppost to help with milk production after birth (due in march). so maybe that is something that you could look into with your dr or midwife. hope that helps some.

J.,

There are several herbs. Fenugreek can be found in capsule form and also in the herb section of Fred Meyer. I made my own tea out of it. Here are some links to websites about herbs and lactation.

http://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/herbs.html
http://www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/all_about_fenugree...
http://www.parentingweb.com/lounge/bf_herbs.htm

I wish you the best in your efforts. Don't push yourself too hard, but definitely do what you think you need to do. Feel free to contact me if you want. ~J.

There is an herb called Fenugreek that can help with milk production. Your friend should visit a lactation consultant though to find out how much to take and if that is even what she needs. If she delivered in a local hospital she could call them to see if they still offer free or reduced LC visits (many offer free or reduced cost visits to patients who delivered within a certain period of time). She could also call Beyond Birth Home Lactation Services, who conducts in-home lactation visits. Their phone number is 503-232-BABY or 877-230-BABY, and their website is www.beyondbirthservices.com. If cost is an issue for your friend or she would prefer to talk over the phone to someone, she could call the Nursing Mother's Councel free phone support line. NMC has trained peer breastfeeding support counselors, though they are not certified Lactation Consultants. Their phone numbers are ###-###-#### and ###-###-#### and their website is www.nursingmotherscouncel.org.

Whichever route your friend decides to take, I definitely think she needs to talk to someone trained in breastfeeding support. There may be other issues going on that cause her to believe there is not enough milk, and additional actions she can take to improve her milk supply. You can encourage her to keep it up too, as breastfeeding is the best thing we can give our babies both now and for their future!

Regards,
A.

I had a lot of difficulty breast feeding my child so I have the advise of an excellent consultant.

Fenugreek is the herb - you have to take much more than
the bottle advises. I took 3 pills/3 times a day

Other ideas:
Eat oatmeal
Mother's milk tea
Drink lots of water
Pump after every feeding

Hi J.,

I used fenugreek and fennel. Here is some more information though, which I found online...Best wishes!

Fennel has the advantage of not only increasing the breast milk, but easing after-pains and settling the digestion of the mother and the newborn, helping both to dispel gas and treat colic. Fenugreek has been a standard among lactation consultants and within herbal folk medicine to not only improve lactation but to promote digestion and stimulate the appetite while also improving the taste of the milk. Nettles and raspberry are nourishing herbs that encourage a greater supply of breast milk and supply a source of trace minerals and vitamins to enrich the milk. Blessed thistle and borage seed oil and flower tops encourage the supply while helping the mother with postpartum moods and settling the nerves. Blessed thistle is a bitter herb useful for liver and digestive problems as well as for increasing the flow and richness of milk. Hops can not only increase milk flow but also help to bring normal sleep for the infant. Oatstraw calms a nursing mother and stimulates milk supply as well as supplying some minerals such as silica, zinc and manganese. Goat’s rue is used in veterinary medicine for stimulation of milk secretion with reports of increasing the milk supply by up to 50%. The verbenalin in vervain has lactation-promoting properties as well. Milk thistle aids digestion, improves liver metabolism and increases milk supply.

When my son was about 9 months old, my milk started to dry up, so my lactation consultant recommended Fenugreek. It's an herbal supplement you can usually find at any whole foods store. It really helped my milk supply come back and nurse my son until he was ready to be weaned. (b.t.w., I also heard that it can help diabetics stabilize their blood sugar levels.) Hope this helps! :)

Hi, J. - congrats on your pregnancy! Sounds like you have a wonderful houseful. My midwife had me take fenugreek when I had lactation problems with my daughter when she was an infant (now 10). It seemed to do the trick for me, so I hope it helps your friend. It did make my sweat smell like celery, but it was a hot summer! Good luck.

When I was nursing the lactation nurse had me take fenulgreek capsules and drink mothers milk tea. You can get both iteams in the natural section at Fredmeyers. They really do help!

Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle

The liguid tinctures work the best and the fastest.

There are many things you can take to improve milk supply, but I think the one you are referring to is called fenugreek. It is sold in capsules and we have had many doula clients who have taken it to improve their milk supply. A great website to research this is www.kellymom.com or wwww.breastfeedingonline.com; both describe the use of fenugreek in detail.
Best to your friend, and you as as you grow with your twins!
K.

I'm not sure about the herb, but when my milk supply started going down I would pump after breastfeeding and in between. This happened after I had gone back to work, so instead of pumping every 3 hours at work I would pump every 2 1/2 and for about 5 minutes longer each time I did. Believe me at first, it doesn't seem worth it, but your boby produces how much it thinks you need, so the more you pump the more you will get. It uped it by a couple ounces each time within a week or so.

It is called Fenugreek. There is also a tea called Mothers Milk (or something similar) that aids in lactation. Tastes pretty good.
Good Luck.

There are a few, I sell a blend of them all in a lactation tea if you like. Otherwise, oats, fenugreek, & hops are some good ones. For twins I would start doing oatmeal every day & a tea daily too. Congrats, big families are such a blessing.

There is an herbal product by the name of More Milk sold at Mothers Haven on 3rd Street. Very good product - works well. I would also use just the Mothers Milk tea that can be bought at many stores - Pilgrims, Fred Meyers... It actually gives a little boost too. Not as much as the other product though.

I used blessed thistle and fenugreek. You have to take a fair amount (three capsules, three times per day for each). Also, a more pleasant treat was raspberry leaf tea. All these can be found at health stores. My doctor kept telling me to eat more protein as well.
Hope this helps!

It is called Fenugreek. You can get it at GNC.

Hi J.. I have 2 year old twins. Yeah for twin moms!!! I actually own an online business called multiplemomsrock.com (plug, plug). :-) check it out when you have a moment or help me spread the word to other twin moms. business has been painfully slow after the holidays and we just started this in October. Oh well. Anyway... I will echo what everyone said about fenugreek. I didn't have a super fabulous success story w/ making milk and I tried everything. The fenugreek did help but I still only made enough milk to feed 1 baby 100% breast milk. the fenugreek will make you gassy and your baby gassy so the fennel or some kind of tummy herbs will really help. I also took the reglan medication for a while and it seemed to help a little. I pumped like crazy and my boys never really learned to nurse well, so maybe that's why my supply never got to be enough. I stuck with it for 1 year and was able to provide breastmilk to my boys 50% of the time. The other 50%, they got formula. I actually started making my own homemade formula when they were 9 months using raw milk and a bunch of other fabulous ingredients. they did soooo well on this stuff and they are still drinking it. I followed the Sally Fallon recipe through Weston A. Price foundation. this might be a very different thought if you are not comfortable with raw milk. The more I research, the more I am convinced that raw milk is so much better for us (as long as it's from a clean, reputable source). I also know it is very hard to find here in oregon. When I lived in CA, you could buy it at Whole foods. How far along are you in your twin pregnancy? I made it to 35 weeks with my boys and they are doing so great.

-B.

Hi J.,

The info you have received thus far is correct, is Fenugreek. Also, I know that drinking a beer increases milk production, in fact my daughter was "prescribed" a beer a night when she was breast-feeding her 1st son. As a doula, I have even recommended it to a few clients who were trying to increase their milk production for storage, only with their care providers approval of course.

Please wish your friend good luck on my behalf.

Kind regards,
T.

Yes, I had twin girls and used the herb called Fenugreek. You can get it as a tea or take gel caps with the herb in it. It helped so much. It does make your skin have kind of a sweet smell after taking it for a few days. Not a bad side effect for the good result. I took it for about 4 months. I had a great supple of milk and was able to freeze a bunch and get ahead of them when they were first born. Good luck...twins are a blast. I would do it again any day! N.

I have to take Feugreek to increase my milk supply also. Someone else had suggested checking out kellymom.com; it's a really good site! Here is the dosage chart from that site:

capsules
(580-610 mg) 2-4 capsules, 3 times per day
6-12 capsules (total) per day
~1200-2400 mg, 3 times per day (3.5-7.3 grams/day)
German Commission E recommends a daily intake of 6 grams

capsules
(500 mg) 7-14 capsules (total) per day

powder or seeds 1/2 - 1 teaspoon, 3 times per day
1 capsule = 1/4 teaspoon
can be mixed with a little water or juice

tincture 1-2 mL, 3 times per day (or see package directions)
tea one cup of tea, 2-3 times per day

I took fenugreek and blessed thistle. You have to take a huge amount of the fenugreek. Three tabs three times a day (and then you smell like maple syrup, in your pee and sweating it out your pores.) That helped me to let down sooner but did not increase my milk much. I started to take Reglan three times a day and that has increased my supply. My baby is almost 7 months old.

Hi, first off--drink enough water and eat enough food AND DON'T DOUBT! You will produce enough milk for your baby. Wet nurses have been known to produce enough milk full time for 8 or 9 babies! YOU CAN DO IT! That's how God made your bodies! About the herbs, I personally as nursing a three month old. I am taking a mix of herbs: Lemon Balm, oats, fennel, nettle, and rasberry!

Hello! The herb is called fenugreek. You can buy nursing woman tea that's pretty good at PC Market of Choice. Also, oatmeal can help promote lactation. Just eating a bowl of oatmeal a day.

She can also call the Le Leche League. They're very helpful and great! ###-###-####. Hope that helps!

Fenugreek!! Also, if you are living in Eugene, I believe there is still the FREE breastfeeding "clinic" on Tuesdays at the Sacred Heart Birthing Center on 12th. This is a tuesday gathering where you can see a lacation consultant, weigh your baby and ask advice, and it's a free service available. At least it was in 05, hopefully it's still there! It saved me and my ability to breastfeed :)

I have used Fenugreek. It was suggested to me by a lactation consultant at OHSU and it worked great!! I found it at Wild Oats in the "Parmacy" aisle. Good luck.

PS - The only side effect I noticed was that your sweat and urine get a maple syrup kind of smell. Nothing really noticable.

Hi J.,

As everyone else has said, fenugreek is a popular and well known herb.

Here are some other things that I have personally found to work very well...

1) When breastfeeding begins, within a few moments the "let down" happens, and at that moment it is as if every bit of liquid in the body goes to the breasts. ALWAYS breastfeed with a very large glass of water or cool tea to drink sitting next to you--and drink it ALL as soon as the let down occurs.

2) My favorite herb for increasing breastmilk is Borage. This time of year, you can get it dry at Sundance, and there are borage tinctures available--I would use a couple dropperfuls two times a day to start. It's a nutritive herb, and you can't really do too much of it. One of the best gifts you might give in the spring to a breastfeeding mother is a plant start for Borage--it is a pretty annual that self seeds everywhere and has beautiful blue star shaped flowers you can eat in salads. The leaves are what you want to make very strong tea (called an infusion) out of. If they grow where you don't want them, they are also very shallow rooted and easy to pull.

3) Finally, I think someone else suggested beer. If you get a good, organic, microbrew ale or stout, made with a LOT of hops (that is the herb that activates breastmilk production), it is a very relaxing and helpful way to end the day. No worries about passing the alcohol onto the baby, but the hops can tend to help the baby sleep as well.

These last two--Borage and Hops--also help reduce the stress of being a new mom and that in itself can help milk production. Borage is supportive of the adrenal glands--our stress glands that put out adrenaline and can get "burned out" somewhat when the stress is constant, like not getting enough sleep for days on end.

Blessings,
Fiora

Fenugreek is commonly used to help produce more breast milk. You can find it in tea form in health food stores. Also, your friend should make sure she is eating enough and especially drinking enough water. In the first few months of breastfeeding my babies, it would seriously affect my milk supply if I didn't drink enough water. Good luck to her, I hope she doesn't give up!

Fenugreek. She can get it at any vitamin shop. Also, there is a tea called Mother's Milk (I think) that is really good.

Tincture of Fennel. I was told by a natropath that this is the best, quickest way to increase your supply. There are also teas out there (Mother's Milk) that can help. Mother's Milk I even saw at Safeway. Good luck!

The Overlake Hospital Baby Boutique sells a lactation tea that I would swear by. (Plus lots of other fun baby clothes etc.)

I used Organic mother's milk, which contains combination of herbs. You can find it at whole foods or new seasons .
Take care
V.

The herb is Fenugreek that is available at GNC. My doctor told me to take 4 capsules 3 times a day. Your doctor can also prescribe a medication called metoclopramide that increases the number of prolactin receptors to increase production. My doctor put me on both of these when I produced no milk at all for the first 8 days after giving birth. It worked well and when my production decreased I started taking them again and it worked until I went back to work and eventually couldn't pump more than 2 ounces at a time so I stopped. Hope this helps
K.

I believe you are thinking of an herb called fenugreek. You can get it at Market of Choice - just ask for help as it seemed a little hard to find for some reason. Anyhow, I used it a couple of different times with my second child when it seemed like I wasnt producing enough milk and it worked really well for me..it also couldve been a combination of making myself cut back a little and try to relax so my body could produce more milk also.
J.

Fenegreek - works like a charm. I found it at Fred Meyer's in the natural section, but I'm sure you could get it anywhere.