As soon as the word is out that you are breastfeeding or planning on breastfeeding, the advice will start to come out of the woodwork. Hey you should be used to it from fielding all of that baby advice when you were pregnant, right?
I remember that when I was nursing my first child, or was it my second (these things can blend over the years), my husband came home with a curious little can. It was a remedy for increasing your milk supply. A co-worker had generously given it to him for me, when she found out that we were choosing breastmilk instead of formula.
The can was foreign in origin, from Korea, I believe, and the co-worker swore that it worked almost immediately. Well, I never did try it for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that I could not read the label. I was pretty sure that it was simply a can of sweetened condensed milk, but I didn’t want to take chances.
Other common remedies for increasing your milk supply, at least here in the United States comes mostly in the form of teas made from or containing fenugreek. Fenugeek comes in the form of seeds. You can either steep the seeds yourself, or purchase tea bags, such as Mother’s Milk tea, which already contains some fenugreek.
Although this tea has never been proven to increase anyone’s milk supply, many nursing mothers swear by it. Common thought is that it is ineffective but harmless. So you can probably go ahead and try it, although I suggest mentioning this to your pediatrician first. Even if the fenugreek itself doesn’t work, just taking the time to relax and have a cup of any caffeine free tea can probably go a long way to reduce stress. And stress can sometimes interfere with milk production.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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