I was gone last week when much of the posting on Dr. Lawrence's
presentation as it was reported in the media. Here are my thoughts on the
subject.

I believe that if fenugreek were really dangerous to a lactating mother or
breastfed baby the Indian women whom I work with and who use fenugreek and
fennel seed as a seasoning in their cooking would have learned to avoid
them.  I see Americans' fears of herbs of long-standing historical use as
offering us as a laughing stock in the rest of the world.

What about oregano?  Or nutmeg?  Have there been any studies proving the
safety of using these herbs?  And do we need to caution mothers against
eating watermelon since it is a diuretic?  And are we ready to tell all
breastfeeding mothers to avoid dairy products and beef because many infants
suffer GI disturbances when Mother ingests those products?

Every culture in which breastfeeding didn't "die out" has centuries of
experience with galagtagogues.  And here comes the US with our
pharmaceutical approach to health and we question anything that hasn't been
studied within our borders. We see food and seasonings and herbs as drugs
to be researched in double-blind studies--with, of course, the exception of
the concoctions that we feed our infants.

And speaking of these concoctions, if LCs change their recommendations of
well-known galactagogues all that we in the US are left with is Reglan,
with its high risk of depression, and artificial baby milks, which, in my
opinion are a much greater risk to infants than herbs that "may" pose a
problem for some.

Along with adequate feeding and/or pumping, I have had steady success with
blessed thistle, nettle, fennel seed, and fenugreek in combination.  There
have been few mothers who have not found it very effective. Therefore I
will not change my practice.  I do ask a mother if she has asthma or
problems with blood sugar and, if so, I eliminate the fenugreek. And if
mother or baby shows any negative reaction, I suggest that she stop using
it, just as I would any other substance.

As Linda cautioned in her post, we don't know if Dr. Lawrence said what the
article reported. So we certainly would be remiss in changing our
recommendations based on a news article. And until we are ready to do
research on ALL herbs, including those that are as familiar to us as the
ones that are familiar to much of the rest of the world, we would do well
not to condemn what we are not educated about. If we want to educate
ourselves about herbs we should learn from one whose specialty is herbs.

There is much information in this article that is in error so we will do
well to consider it in the same light as we do articles that show that
artificially fed infants are just as healthy/smart/bonded, etc as breastfed
infants. And even "experts" in breastfeeding cannot be expert in every
aspect of it, as we know. A wise person knows when to say "I don't know
enough about that topic to speak to it," when asked a question out of
his/her field of expertise.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Mailto:[log in to unmask]

             ***********************************************
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