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