After my last post about milk supply promoting herbs, I thought of one more
thing that I would like to add to the discussion here. In the session that I
mediated, the speakers first discussed herbs and broke them down into two
categories: those which could be ingested in large amounts with no toxicity,
and those which needed to be stringently dosed.  We spent our time on those
which do not build toxicity and can be used in cooking to augment the mother
and family's health and well being.  It is this latter group that I am more
comfortable recommending as an LC to those clients who are "into"
alternatives.  I would never consider recommending something like foxglove,
which is the basis of digitalis, a powerful drug!

I am hoping that someone out there who is knowledgeable in herbs will sit
down and write up a list of the non-toxic herbs and their usefulness to
pregnant and lactating mothers, with an eye to the LC. We would, of course,
also need to know any cross-allergen potentials such as the relationship
between ragweed and chamomile that was recently posted; that was new to me,
and very valuable!  Please, is there someone who would do such an article for
JHL?  We need it!  I believe there is room for alternatives, but preferably
with some solid info to back them.

-Lisa Marasco, IBCLC
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