June said,

<<  Its common for the woman's mother to make
 this beverage for her during pregnancy and the postpartum period..its
 considered very nourishing. >>

I was at dinner tonight with a group of lactation consultants (the Task Force
from the Central IL area -- conference tomorrow -- I'm supposed to be
reviewing my notes, but hey -- who knows what interesting things I'll find on
Lactnet that I can use when speaking???  Anyway, we were chatting about the
fact that it seems that mothers in most other countries (at least the
non-westernized ones) are given special foods or drinks routinely to help
with milk supply.  I had an Indian mom just a few days ago that had something
her mother had brought over from India -- a beige color ball of something or
other that tasted suspiciously like curry with a lot of other things I
couldn't identify (yes, I tasted it -- no, I didn't get any milk).  I
wondered if there isn't something to it -- perhaps it does help increase
milk, but perhaps its a combination of "someone cares about me and will give
me something for milk production" and simple belief that it will work.  We
were speculating that perhaps the perception of IMS is prevalent, esp. in the
U.S. because we DON'T provide "Dumbo's Magic Feather"  (wasn't it a feather
that helped him fly?)  Beer is about the only thing women know about that
theoretically increases milk supply (well, we know it increases prolactin
levels -- in men, anyway), but then there is so much angst about alcohol
during breastfeeding, that....

I wonder if it wouldn't help if we had something special that we encouraged
ALL postpartum mothers to take as their "magic feather" to routinely increase
milk supply.  I think a big bowl of oatmeal sounds innocuous enough.....  Do
I think they really NEED something?  No, not w/ good breastfeeding
management.  But perhaps we need to give the mothers something magic to hold
on to....

Just musing...

Jan B -- in Peoria tonight.

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