I'm posting the following, on behalf of a mom who posts regularly on mothering.com.  She thought her experience was worth sharing with Lactnet, and I will forward any comments about her experience, back to her.  I had looked in the archives, and there seems to be little research or information on inositol for increasing supply, althought it is mentioned several times as a neccessary ingrediant in infant formula.
Janice Reynolds




I'd like to know if anyone has experience with inositol for increasing milk supply, or any learning about the safety of using it. I have heard that it is related to the b vitamins and it is supposedly the active ingredient in oatmeal that helps supply.

My Naturopath says this about it, "The mechanism of action of inositol is to increase second messangers, which means it may have a positive effect on increasing the effectiveness of prolactin on the breast tissue which in turn may produce more breast milk. Again this is speculative at this point but could have been the reason that you have heard positive things about it." She okay'ed my trying a conservative dosage since it is a water soluble nutrient.

When I went on a strict Elimination Diet, my supply took a huge crash and I needed it back fast for my 11 month old. I didn't want to take herbal galactogogues because of the strict nature of my diet. I thought that my taking fenugreek before produced some gassiness in my babe.

I took 500mg. of inositol/day, in the AM with my multivitamin (Rainbow Light Prenatal One with extra B vits) and also a 500/250 mg. calcium/mag supplement. Within 2-3 days I saw a very noticable jump in supply that got better with each day I continued taking the inositol. My breasts were definately fuller and heavier. My babe drank longer with deep swallows.

I was able to pump 8 oz at one sitting and I have never ever been able to do that before in my entire nursing career. I noticed no side effects. After a few weeks, I went off the dosage and my supply stayed abundant.

--Jane Sherwood

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