Increasing Your Milk Supply

I want to share with you a great help I have found for increasing your milk supply if you are a breastfeeding mama.  I had been having trouble keeping up with my hungry little infant and was feeling frustrated with our nursing sessions.   My goal was to breastfeed this baby as I had the other children and things just weren't going well.  Our pediatrician wasn't happy with her weight and I noticed that we would have one good feeding and then the next one would leave her still hungry.  Each time I gave her a little formula I felt I was losing more of my breast milk.  A friend at church mentioned trying the herb Fenugreek so I came straight home and did some research.

Here is what I learned......

The first thing you will want to do is look at why you may not be making enough milk.  Try drinking more water, resting a little more, (both of these things I'm terrible at doing). You also need to snack on foods rich in protein and calcium.  (I do snack, but not always on the healthiest of foods.)  You want to avoid supplementing with solid food, water, juice, and formula (unless you must supplement with formula for medical reasons).  Set aside time to do little else but working to increase milk production, and nurse frequently.  This is definitely where I run into trouble.  We have 5 other children besides the baby and there is MUCH laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, errands, and school work to do.  Not to mention we just moved into a new house and there are more boxes to unpack than there are blades of grass in the backyard.

Here is where the great news comes in!  I did my research and after reading all I could, I went to the health food store and bought Fenugreek and another common galactogogue called Blessed Thistle.  I had read it was good to take these in combination.  By day 2 I noticed a big difference in my milk supply.  Praise the Lord!  It really helped! 

So, here's the scoop...use this information, do your own research and talk with your doctor.  I hope it helps someone like it has helped me.

FENUGREEK  2-4 capsules 3 times a day.  (You should see an increase in your milk supply in 1-3 days)
BLESSED THISTLE  4 capsules 3 times a day.

Sometimes it is recommended to take alfalfa as well but I am already taking an antibiotic for mastitis, and iron supplements because my hemoglobin is low, and a prenatal vitamin, and frankly I just didn't want to take anything else.  The guy at the health food store also suggested taking DHA and you can do your research and decide on that as well.

I do hope this information is beneficial to someone. 

HAPPY NURSING!