Many women in my area are not "returning" to herbal medicine
(like I'm trying to do), since they never left it! Both bottle
and bfing moms are told to give their fussy/gassy/crying babies
chamomille or fennel tea. Not very easy to get moms to accept
even trial of an alternative. Others ask me about "taking
something" to increase their milk supply. Why do I get a feeling
that they already have an answer to the question and they're
checking? What with one thing or the other, I started dabbling
on the surface of herbal remedies. BUT. I often end up more
confused than when I started. I have two books I mainly use
because I think they are good: one (in Hebrew) written by a very
knowledgeable Israeli naturalist who has written many books on
the subject, the other (The New Holistic Herbal) written by David
Hoffmann who is "Director of the California School of Herbal
Studies" and "President of the American Herbalist Guild". The
American strongly recommends Fenugreek as a galactagogue, and is
"perfectly safe", but the Israeli doesn't mention it as a
galactagogue. Further, the Israeli writes that Fenugreek will
lower blood sugar and lower blood pressure. In bfing moms? The
only two galactogogic herbals I could get my 2 favorites to agree
on were dill and fennel. However, I have read in other sources
that fennel is a diuretic, and I don't think this is such a hot
idea for a bfing mom to be taking unless really medically
necessary. The Israeli recommends for DILL "to encourage
breastmilk" : cook 5 heaping teaspoons of dill seeds in a liter
of water for 15 min. Strain out seeds and sweeten with honey.
Drink 2-3 cups per day. Anybody know of contraindication for
dill?
Could Pat Drazin give more info on the books she recommended so
we can order/buy? Publisher and address? Especially Susan Weed
sounds interesting.
Whatever happened to the idea that malt increased milk supply?
Has this been disproven?
By the bye, some "galactagogues" mentioned by the Israeli but not
by the American - in the American book it is noted often that the
herb has antidepressive or sedative properties. Hmmm. Maybe not
too farfetched to theorize that if mom is relaxed, her milk
supply would improve?
I think this stuff is becoming more important due to back-to-
nature trends, but I feel that I should be real cautious with
recommendations, since so many herbals have multiple "uses", not
all for a bfing mom. I'd love to hear from those more
knowledgeable (just about everyone). Thanks. Judy Knopf