Any herb or med must be used wisely and one must know what things to watch
for or what possible contraindications there might be. (or at least know
where to go to find the information!) This is, again, where it behooves us
to know what we are suggesting and what questions to ask to rule out
possible contraindications for the mother.  I know what to watch for with
Fenugreek because I read - now I ask.  I have only had a couple moms I did
not recommend fenugreek (or combo herbs containing fenugreek) to.

 

From The Nursing Mother's Herbal:

 

Pg 200 - regarding Diabetes:  "If you are diabetic, you may be interested in
exploring herbs that complement drug treatments for high blood sugar.  Be
aware that herbs that lower blood sugar or increase insulin sensitivity
should be used under careful medical supervision.  Among the better-studied
anti-diabetic herbs are gymnema and fenugreek. Combining these herbs with
oral antidiabetic medications can be problematic; these drugs are considered
less desirable for use during breastfeeding anyway.  A number of widely used
galactogogue (milk increasing) herbs may lower blood sugar in modest
amounts, an effect that may actually be advantageous to diabetic mothers
with low milk supply.

 

Page 315 - Appendix C:  plant safety

Safety:  The German Commission E has approved fenugreek for internal use as
an appetite stimulant.  It reports that no contraindications or drug
interactions are known. <snip> High does of fenugreek may lower blood sugar
levels slightly (15-100g/day ingested whole seed is used as a complementary
treatment for diabetes), but galactogogue does ranges are often much smaller
(3-5g/day) and hypoglycemic symptoms in the mother are not anticipated.
<snip>  The sudden introduction of fenugreek into the diet will sometimes
cause diarrhea in the mother and (even more rarely) the baby.  Reducing the
does or slowing the introduction into the diet reverses this diarrhea.

 

Allergy: <snip> Using fenugreek may exacerbate existing asthma; mothers with
asthma or asthma tendencies should avoid the powdered forms including
capsules.  Cases of contact dermatitis have been noted even with first-time
external use, so avoid fenugreek if you are allergic to peanuts, soy or
other members of the pea family (Fabaceace).

 

This book is an excellent resource - I use mine all the time.   If you don't
have it yet, I encourage you to purchase it soon.  <disclaimer> I have no
personal or financial interest in this book.

 

Now - as far as a CLC course teaching this type of stuff - well, let me be
honest and say I am not impressed.  I also think it sounds - well - what is
a good word for it - strongly biased.  For what reason is this seeming bias?
Here is information being presented to many people who may not know the
strong and effective history of Fenugreek - they are coming out of this
course probably without the thought that maybe the course presenters are
incorrect.  I'd like to see the studies that say fenugreek doesn't work and
then present them with the several 100 mother's I myself have worked with
who can show them otherwise.  In fact I personally can tell them otherwise.
My milk supply crashed, and when it wasn't responding terribly well to round
the clock pumping (every 2 hours.long story) I was put on fenugreek (and a
host of other herbs that had nothing to do with milk supply) and within 24
hours had a dramatic increase in my supply and within 2 weeks was not only
producing enough milk for my baby, but was 2 days ahead - every day I pumped
enough milk for at least 3 days worth of feeds!  I donated well over 8
gallons of milk to the San Jose Milk Bank for research.I collected that in
less than 2 months.  So fenugreek doesn't work, eh?  Uh - yeah right.

 

My fears here about the manner this information seems to be being presented
in (and I say "Seems" because I have not seen it myself) is that we will
have an influx of CLC's who refuse to believe that there are some really
good options in fenugreek and domperidone.  The good, safe and solid
histories of both appear to be non-existent and irrelevant - and that is a
huge problem!  We must take those things into consideration.it is important
to know that fenugreek has been used for years for certain things (including
milk supply) and to be able to 'weed out' that information that seeks to
blow off that history.  

 

I agree with Micky - something is up.and I wonder who is behind it and why.

 

Jaye.

 

 


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