Suggestions for maintaining and improving your milk supply.
· Get enough rest and eat regularly.
· Drink plenty of water, herbal teas, and other liquids throughout the day.
· Drinks that increase milk supply:
o Fennel, fenugreek (in a tea or capsule form). Mother’s milk tea (Traditional Medicinals or Yogi brands).
Teas made from nettles and raspberry leaf.
o Dark/stout beers, especially Guinness.
o Amazake rice shakes in almond and hazelnut flavors (available in the refrigerated section at the Coop and Back to the Land).
o The book Wise Woman Herbal recommends the following herbal infusions: comfrey, alfafa, red clover, and borage leaves.
o F ennel/barley water (prepared by soaking 1/2 cup pearled barley in 3
cups cold water overnight or boiling 25 minutes, then pour 1 cup boiling barley
water over 1 tsp fennel seeds which you steep no longer than 30 minutes.
· Foods that increase milk supply:
o Helpful foods include beets, leafy greens, shrimp, oatmeal, whole grains, brown basmati rice, and black sesame seeds.
o According to the book Wise Woman Herbal , other good foods include apricots, asparagus, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, pecans, parsley, watercress, and dandelion leaves.
· Things that decrease milk supply:
o Mint tea – if you are an herbal tea drinker, make sure none of your tea has mint in it.
o Sage
o Avoid caffeine and alcohol (with the exception of dark/stout beers).
o Stress/Worrying about your milk supply!
Summary from March 2008 Request Written by admin , on 27-03-2008 11:52 As usual, I received a wealth of helpful information and am already putting some to use. I tried to thank everyone individually, but undoubtedly missed a few, so thank you! A few people asked that I share what I learned. So, here it is in digest form (broken down by foods, teas, supplements; pumping and breastfeeding techniques; alternative therapies and medicines; and resources. It begins with the PSP web page that addresses this same issue (Thanks, Susan!) Note, there is some contradicting info here. For instance, some people recommend drinking tons of water, others say it can have a reverse effect. Some say don't worry about the calories you are taking in, while still others say upping your calories is the key. Most people recommend pumping often, but one person had luck with less frequent sessions. So, I think it's a trial and error process, and I hope to find success using a combination of these techniques. Lots of people mentioned rest, but as a working mom, I find that bit of advice the hardest to follow! Many, many thanks, Kate, mom to Alice Web page on Maintainint Milk Supply on PSP: http://www.parkslopeparents.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=190&Itemid=472 Foods, Teas, Supplements: Fennel or Fenugreek Tea (Brand names: Mother's Milk by Traditional Medicinals, More Milk Plus, Alvita) (*Note make sure to get real fennel tea and not fennel flavored) Red Raspberry Tea Nettle Tea Mother's Milk Tincture from Upper Breast Side Water and more water (*Note: Some say that going way overboard with water can impact your supply negatively) Nutrament Beer (Brands: Pete's Wicked Ale, Guinness) Oatmeal Avocados Almonds Fennel Seeds Fenugreek supplements Brewer's Yeast Tablets 1ml each blessed thistle & fenugreek tinctures 4x/day. The tinctures are much stronger than the capsules or tea. Pumping and Breastfeeding Techniques: Pump for 5 minutes after each feeding. It would usually take 2-3 days at most to increase the supply. Pump, when your milk slows down, take off shields. do some breast massage and nipple stim, and then put the breastshields back on. You'll get a second "surge." Breastfeeding holiday: take a couple of days to stay home and do nothing but drink fluids and breastfeed as much as you can. Pumped on a very regular basis- after EVERY feed for 8 minutes. Freda Rosenfeld, lactation consultant extraordinaire, said to pump four times a day for two days, instead of just once. And to do it in a very relaxed way. When you nurse at home, give the baby one side and pump on the other. Let your daughter nurse as often as you possibly can. Perhaps her care provider can bring her to you once or twice a day for the next week while you get your supply back up? Also, nap often - more sleep will help your supply for sure. When pumping that I was really surprised how much milk I could get by pumping, leaving everything set up, then pumping again 45 minutes later. The secret for me was pumping until I was dry every time. I sometimes pumped for 45 minutes straight. I also stretched out the time between pumping sessions to 5 or 6 hours. This helped too. I would never stop pumping if there was still a drip and I often pumped several minutes after I was dry. One thing I was advised to do by a lactation consultant when my supply was running low at one point was to do a łnursing spree˛ which was to offer my breast as much as possible to my daughter to just increase the frequency of nursing and thus build up my supply Create a little "shrine" to my baby at the office for pumping time (picture, clothes that smelled like her) I put quicktime movies of the baby crying on my computer and would watch them looped while I pumped at work. Alternative Therapies/Medicines: This might seem extreme, but there's a medication-domeperidone-- that boosts prolactin levels & increases milk supply. Sometimes a short course of the med can do wonders-- it did for me w/ in just a couple days of starting the medication. I got the rx from Dr. Mona Gabbay, an internist & certified lactation consultant. There's only one drug store in the city that carries it (Kings Pharmacy, but only the UES branch) and it ain't cheap. An alternative is to order it from a New Zealand pharmacy, but it'll take 2 weeks to arrive, though it's less than half the price! Dr. Gabbay's # is: 914-632-7999 The NZ pharmacy # is: 1-877-271-6591. You can read more about domeperidone at: www.kellymom.com or www.drjacknewman.com -- it's not so common here in the US, used more often in Canada & elsewhere. An SNS (not sure what this is, Boing Boing has it) Acupuncture helped me a great deal with my milk supply. I was also taking Fenugreek. I have been seeing a wonderful Acupuncturist/Chiropractor in PS for several years now. Her name is Dr. Karen Thomas and her office is on the corner of Union St. and 8th Ave. You can reach her at 718-398-3100. Resources: Kellymom.com and askmoxie.org. Here is a link to some natural galactagogues you might try: http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/herbal_galactagogue.html
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