Herbs for Increasing Milk Supply
It is quite possible that herbal remedies help increase milk
supply. There are several drugs which obviously do increase milk
supply, and of course it is reasonable to assume that some plants and
herbs might contain similar pharmacologic agents. Almost every culture
has some sort of herb or plant or potion to increase milk supply. Some
may work as placebos, which is fine; some may not work at all; some
may have one or more active ingredients. Some will have active
ingredients that will not increase the milk supply but have other
effects, not necessarily desirable. Note that even herbs can have side
effects, even serious ones. Natural source drugs are still drugs, and
there is no such thing as a 100% safe drug. Luckily, as with most
drugs, the baby will get only a tiny percentage of the mother's
dose. The baby is thus extremely unlikely to have any side effects at
all from the herbs. Two herbal treatments that seem to increase the
milk supply are fenugreek and blessed thistle, in the
following dosages:
fenugreek:
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3 capsules 3 times a day
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| blessed thistle:
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3 capsules 3 times a day,
or 20 drops of the tincture 3 or times a day |
The tincture container states that blessed thistle
should not be taken by nursing mothers, presumably because of the tiny
amount of alcohol the mother would get. Don't worry about this. Teas
also work, but to take enough to make a difference, you will be
drinking tea all day and night.
Other herbal treatments that have been used to increase milk supply
are: raspberry leaf, fennel, brewer's yeast. The effectiveness of none
of these treatments, including blessed thistle and fenugreek, has been
proved.
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