Blog posts
Low Supply, Herbs and Induced/Re-Lactation
Table of Contents for all blog posts
Low Milk Supply and Herbal Galactogogues
Low Milk Supply website, and their excellent book Making More Milk
Melissa Cole’s Herbal Handbook and Herbal Database (requires a subscription). Melissa is also available for personalized consults
A few more thoughts on herbs and foods (please note - I am not an herbalist so this info is for education and not medical advice!). Please discuss this topic with your doctor or a certified herbalist.
Most herbal galactagogues are generally safe, but there are some contraindications and/or side-effects to consider (mostly with any thyroid or insulin-regulation issues) so again, please discuss with your doctor. Fenugreek, for example, is a well known herb - but for some people they actually experience supply reduction - possibly related to interactions with thyroid (note this is not true for general culinary use, only for higher dosages).
There are herbs and medicines that can decrease milk (in particular estrogen based birth control or psdeudophedrine-based medicines). So, check your medications and teas to make sure you are not taking/eating/drinking something that may lower supply.
Foods can be helpful to increase supply, but are usually not as helpful as high quality herbs - especially if they don’t taste good to you! So, please eat foods and drink teas that you love (and if that food/tea is reported to boost supply - great!) and avoid foods that you don’t like! And if you want a cookie, have a cookie that you love and not a meh lactation cookie!
Hydration - if your urine is clear/light you are doing great! Drinking water is great for everyone, but over drinking can be stressful and unnecessary.
The most popular herbs for increasing glandular tissue include:
Shatavari, Moringa (also called Mallungay), Goat’s Rue, and Torbangun.
Also Alfalfa, Blessed Thistle, Fennel and so many more.
For some people myo-inositol and other glucose/insulin-regulating supplements and medications.
It’s important to get high quality herbs and take them at dosages that have impact. Many online sources are low quality, low dosage, or have a proprietary mixture for which it’s challenging to determine dosage.
Medications can be used to increase milk, but it’s a complicated situation. Reglan (metoclopramide) can be prescribed in the US, but has side effects that make it less desirable. Domperidone is available around the world (including over the counter in most places) but not easily prescribabed in the US. More info about domperidone in the next section, and you would want to work with an MD/IBCLC.
The podcast Breastfeeding Outside the Box has several episodes relating to herbs, foods, and medications for supply.
Induced and Re-Lactation
Alyssa Schnell, MS, IBCLC is a wealth of information for these topics. In addition to offering personalize consults to help you choose the right protocol for your family, she also offers many other excellent resources:
Her excellent book Breastfeeding Without Birthing
DomHub - designed for both parents and professionals, it offers “scientific evidence for the safe and effective use of domperidone for increasing lactation”
As noted above, her podcast Breastfeeding Outside the Box has several episodes on herbs, medicines, re-lactation and more.
An article she wrote for La Leche League
Induced and Co-lactation for Queer Parents, Induced Lactation for Trans and Intersex people
Re-lactation and Back-to-Breast for Birthing Parents whose supplies have recently declined
There are a variety of protocols for inducing lactation - from starting many months ahead of time and using herbs and medications to aid glandular tissue activation, to using pumping and/or at-breast supplementing anytime to stimulate supply. In addition to Alyssa Schnell’s resources above, here are a few more
And, here are more resources with various protocols to induce lactation: