Happiness - Pregnancy

 Herbs and Breast Feeding - How to increase your breast milk supply

There are two popular herbs that are being used regularly to help nursing mothers overcome how to increase breastmilk production. Those two herbs are Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle.

Fenugreek:

* Fenugreek is a common galactogogue. A galactogogue is a substance that increases secretion of milk. Fenugreek usage dates back to ancient Egypt, Greece Rome. The primary use of this herb was to combat problems that women were often faced with, one being breast milk production in mothers who found it hard to produce adequate breast milk for their baby.
* Fenugreek seed sold today is usually ground into a powder and placed into capsules. This form of Fenugreek can be purchased for a reasonable price at local herb stores.
* The normal dosage for Fenugreek is 3 capsules taken 3 times per day.
* Fenugreek primarily helps mothers to produce more milk by stimulating the glands that produce sweat. Being that your mammary glands are essentially sweat glands, it’s no mystery how this herb is able to assist towards increasing breast milk production.
* Fenugreek works best when breast milk has been emptied completely from each breast, which can be accomplished by breast feeding or using a breast pump.
* Results vary from person to person, and may take some trial and error to see if the herb works to increase your breast milk supply.

Blessed Thistle:

* Blessed Thistle works by stimulating the mammary gland, and is considered to be one of the best herbs to increase breast milk production.
* It’s recommended that you take Blessed Thistle along with Fenugreek to achieve maximum results.
* The recommended dosage is 3 capsules 3 times per day. Blessed Thistle is also sold in the form of a tincture which can be taken 3 times a day, 20 drops dose. Some tincture preparations have labels that state nursing mothers should avoid consuming the product mainly because it contains alcohol. There is no need to worry as the alcohol is in such minute amounts that it will only show up in small amounts in you breast milk.