Jennifer,

I hope I got this right and your client is trying to reduce supply due to
oversupply or OER, right? If I am wrong and she is attempting to wean
totally then just disregard my reply.

I treat many women for oversupply and never use herbal or other chemical
means to do so. There are recommendations in the LLL archives (I could mail
you the urls or you could search the LLL.org website), the Womanly Art and
the Breastfeeding Answer Book for treatment options.

One of the problems with using chemical means for a woman who intends to
continue breastfeeding (as opposed to a mom who is using the chemical/herbs
to wean totally) is that they may work TOO well,(the active chemicals in
the herbs may vary greatly from lot to lot, and temperature of water as
well as the time of the year and place where the herb was harvested may
effect the amount of active chemical avalible to the user) and they may
contain chemicals that can give the milk an off taste, which may aid in
weaning but is not a good idea if mom wants the baby to continue to nurse.
One of the theories is that both herbs you mentioned may be estrogenic as
well as sage being anitcholinergic. Thus, they may not be suitible for
mothers who are going to continue breastfeeding, due to the risk of
complete cessation of lactation as well as return of memses. Sage is
similar to anticholinergics, chemicals that dry the mucous membranes, may
cause pediatric sensitivity and Thomas Hale says sage should be used with
"some caution" in breastfeeding mothers, giving it a Lactation Risk
Catagory of 4. Also, if she is suffering from a foremilk hindmilk imbalance
the herbs most likely would do nothing to remedy that.

Reducing oversupply through breastfeeding management methods may be a
better alternative.

I could send you some informational articles that myself and others have
written concerning strategies for oversupply if you like.



Mary Jozwiak IBCLC, LLL, AAPL,
Private Practice

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html