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Maintaining your Breastmilk Supply Print E-mail
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   Fennel/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!





  Comments (1)
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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