Fenugreek

[Anonymous]

Anyone use fenugreek to increase milk supply? Any other suggestions? At the 7 month mark and having trouble keeping up with demand. I pump while at work.

[Anonymous]

I used it and it *seemed* to work although I'm not sure if it was the placebo effect, or it was a combination of that and increasing the amount of time I pumped (from 15 minutes to about half an hour). Fenugreek tastes really strong but I found that I got used to the taste after a while. Honey seems to help. There's also a tincture called Mother's milk and yogi tea that has a blend of herbs that claims to increase milk supply. Both can be found at Whole Foods (in the dietary supllements section). HTH

[clarabow]

My supply's been dropping too (8 months), and I just went on a combo of fenugreek and blessed thistle three capsules of each three times a day. That's a LOT of capsules to be downing, but my supply increased materially within 24 hours. Plus, all the pill-popping is probably increasing my fluid intake which is a good thing.

ETA -- I think the capsules end up cheaper than the Mother's Milk teabags, given how many bags you're supposed to consume a day, though the tea is kinda nice and fennel-tasting.

Sorry, ETA again, thinking back on the supply-boosting tricks I used right after birth: eating oatmeal might help, and supposedly so does dark beer -- I remember thinking it did, but that might have been because I liked the idea! The herbs are definitely not placebo for me, but I suspect everyone may react differently.

[Anonymous]

I have low supply and fenugreek did not help at all. I think I might be in minority though, most other people seem to have a positive experience with it. I tried pretty much everything - going on reglan, brewer's yeast, mother's milk tea, oatmeal etc. and nothing helped. My daughter is now almost 5 months and I have to supplement.

If you do try fenugreek, you're supposed to take so much as to make you smell like maple syrup.

[Anonymous]

I took it and it did work. You need to take it 3 x a day, 3 tablets each time. It does make you smell like maple sryup, but that is not such a bad thing to smell like. Your milk will taste like that too. good luck

[Anonymous]

Fenugreek works for me. I think the beer thing is (sadly) and old wives tale

[Anonymous]

Fenugreek made me smell like pancake syrup, but it didn't do much for my supply. Blessed thistle and oatmeal helped, though, as did getting more rest.
Yeah, I know, good luck with that last one.

[Anonymous]

Yes, fenugreek helped me within a couple of days. I saw a dramatic increase in my supply; I was struggling after going back to work. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Looks like the previous posters pretty much have it covered, but two more things to quickly comment...

Remember to keep hydrated so your body has something to use to make the milk. The LC told me it was like urinating, you have to have input to have output.

Secondly, get some rest which I know (trust me!) seem like a paradox with a baby, but your body needs energy to produce milk and if you are walking around like a zombie than that is a good indication you are struggling. However, I never understood this if the LC kept telling me to nurse and/or pump every 3 hours. It is kinda like which one is it - nurse or sleep? You're telling me to do both and it just ain't happening.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

thanks everyone for the helpful advice.