Medela — #1 Choice of Hospitals and Mothers

How safe and effective is Fenugreek?  I am considering taking it but would like to know of other people's expierence with it.  I am pumping and my milk supply is low.  My baby was never able to latch on and I was looking for ways to increase my milk supply.  Does anyone have any advice?

I used Fenugreek while nursing my first child. My lactation consultant and daughter's pediatrician recommended it to me. I'm not sure how effective it was. I attribute any success I had to the hours I spent in a nearby town's lactation center. I was able to get help with latch on and rent a quality pump. I suggest starting with a lactation consultant or a La Leche League meeting. The first few days after I came home, I ended up going back to the maternity ward at my hospital and the nurses were very helpful. This might be an option if your hospital doesn't have a lactation conslutant. Ultimately, after several months of stress I gave up breastfeeding. I'm due in 4 weeks and plan on giving it another go...good luck to both of us!

 I've used Fenugreek in the past and it helps a little but not too much and makes all of your bodily fluids smell like maple syrup. My DR. Prescribed Reglan to help with boosting my supply and it worked wonderfully.

Thanks for the info.  Have you had any side effects with Reglan?

 None at all and I've used it with my last two babies, for a couple of motnths after each was born to give us a boost, I was able to nurse my almost 3 yr old till she was 17months when we decided to wean and I am still nursing myyoungest who is almost 8 months.

Hello,  I was taking Fenugreek for about a week and a half, and it gave both me and my son stomach problems, he would get so gassy and fussy because of it.  About 4 days after i stopped taking it he was back to his happy little self again, and i didn't even notice an increase in my supply while i was taking it over even after i stopped.

 Your history with Fenugreek is interesting, as both fenugreek and reglan are taken as digestion aids. I've never had it help me with any of my children either though, thus why I was prescribed reglan for my last two.Sorry your poor little man had tummy problems because of it.

my sister in law had problems with her milk and took some mother's milk pills, i don't know if you've thought of that but it worked for her.

I would stay away from Fenugreek, it too upset my stomach, and although my babies doctor said it was fine to take, the mothers milk bank will not take your milk donation if you used Fenugreek.  They will take the donation if you have taken Reglan.

This reason alone makes me wonder about Fenugreek, however with Reglan, I experiance depression after a straight week of being on the medican, so watch all the signs and stop taking it if you start feeling not yourself.  I did this stop and start program and was able to have most of the depression feelings at bay.

Not sure how old your baby is, but a drop in milk production is normal from the first 3 months...your body has started to figure out how much milk you need and will reduce to met the demands, and not just spew milk at all times.

I nursed my oldest two kids till they were 12 months, and started taking the Regulan at about month 9.  I have noticed, just like training your breasts, you will get the most amount of milk if you pump at the same times...matching common feeding times if you are able.  I am at home 3 days a week, so I ensure while I am at my two jobs, that I try to pump at the same time baby eats while I am home with them.  I also have 2 pump sessions when I am at home.  I pump right after baby eats in the morning, so I am produceing enough at that time to feed baby AND get an excess.  I pump again always at night around 10:30pm-11:pm..this pump time is important, since it is about 2 hours before baby will wake up again, and I get the most milk since he has not begun to empty my breast with a feeding. 

Remember to drink an insane amount of water, to help you body continue to make the precious fluid!

The reason milk banks will not accept milk from fenugreek-taking moms is because fenugreek can mess with blood sugar levels in preemies. It is actually used as an anti-diabetic in the Middle East (it lowers blood sugar). Milk banks cannot accept fenugreek milk because preemies have extremely fragile blood sugar levels and they don't want to take the chance. If you want to check my facts, contact a milk bank or LC. Normal, healthy, full-term infants are usually not affected, at least their blood sugar anyway. I took fenugreek and saw wonderful results and was able to store a bag of milk a day while my son still ate 10-12 times a day. Try kellymom.com for dosing instructions.But yeah, the maple syrup smell comment is true. My husband would always say he wanted pancakes just to mess with me lol. My son didn't have any side effects to fenugreek, and it worked wonders for my digestive system. I used Reglan before fenugreek and didn't see as much increase. Reglan can make PPD worse, so if you are experiencing PPD it might not be the best choice. Other things to try would be blessed thistle, goat's rue, or any More Milk product that contains these herbs. One word of caution - do not, do not, do not take fenugreek if you are pregnant because it can cause problems for the baby. PP was definitely right about water intake - drink a ton! Another non-herbal galactagogue is oatmeal, in any form (even cookies). I see a difference in pumping output when I eat 1 packet of instant oatmeal for breakfast. And just FYI - don't eat the maple and brown sugar variety of oatmeal if you are also taking fenugreek - it is just too much maple smell lol.

How long did you take the fenugreek? I read that it takes up to 72 hours to see results. Do you continue taking it after you see results? I have a 16 week old and she started sleeping through the night at around week 9. I tried taking the mini-pill but it decreased my supply and I stopped it. Then I got my period, so I had to go back on the pill. I thought I'd try taking fenugreek, and noticed some increase after 2-3 days, and stopped taking it, but now I'm back to where I thought I was. I pump in the morning when it's supposed to be at its greatest amount, but I don't feel that my baby is getting enough in the afternoon evening hours because she sometimes only goes 2 hours without needing to eat again. I have some reglan left over from another time and may try that.

Hi!

I've never tried fengugreek with any of my five children.  I don't know how well it works.

In Germany it is usually recommended that you drink Fennel Seed Tea.  I drank it with my three girls and it worked beautifully.  I did not drink it with my first son and my milk supply dried up so much that we just had to switch to formula all together.  I am now drinking it again with my second son and have so much extra milk that I am able to pump and freeze it just in case the milk does start to dry up again.

We also give a diluted fennel seed tea to our infants in Germany.  It calms their little bellies and they seem to sleep better because of it.

  

What dosage of reglan were you on? I am currently on Reglan, my supply increased but not as much as I anticipated!  I am wondering if I am on the maxium dosage I am taking 10mg every six hours.  I am only pumping because my baby was never able to latch on.  I get about 3 ounces during my morining pump and the rest of the day I get anywhere from 1-2ounces.

 I was also on 10mg 3 times a day for the first three months to establish a good supply then stopped taking it.

I am sorry, I looked for left over Reglan I might of had, but have none left to verify the dosage. I believe it was 5 or 10 mg..I do know I halfed the pill when I took it, and I took the half only twice a day. It caused me depression, so I had to be careful on taking too much. My supply increased 60% from what I was pumping before the pill, however everyone is differerant so you might want to try some of the other things that the moms have posted. I will tell you this, if your baby is not nursing from you, you will not produce as much as if they were. The pump just is not as effective as you baby, and if you do not have your baby to assist in draining your breast, this may be why you are not getting much milk. Of course I say this as I recall may friends that said they pumped for a year without their baby nursing, again everyone is different; I should say that pumping only DID NOT work for me. I say this because when my kids started to wean from me, which was around the 10 month mark, I would pump and pump to try to still provide them milk. This is why started taking the Reglan, and although it did help, I never was able to get as much as when the baby nursed and I was pumping. My second child was in the NICU for 5 days, and I was not allowed to nurse him. The NICU wants to know the amount of food the baby is getting so I would take pumped milk to the NICU. When he was released, he would not nurse from me, he had been trained on bottles, and was lazy and did not want to suck from me, because that of course required more effort then milk dripping from a bottle. This was not going to work, I knew, so at the suggestion of a lactation consultant I tried a nipple shield (medela brand of course). This worked! The nipple shield tricked my baby into thinking that he was having a bottle, but was nursing from me! Never understood why my son fell for it, he still had to work for the milk more then a bottle, but I guess since the shield felt like a bottles nipple to him, he was content to keep trying. After about 2 weeks of using the shield, I started giving him the breast without the shield. I did not want to worry about going out and about and not be able to nurse because I did not have the shield. He transitioned well and we became good breast feeding team. I do not know how old your baby is, but I do know how upset I was when I could produce nothing near what my baby was eating. Worry would decrease my supply. I was so stressed out watching only a few single drips fall into the collection bottle that I could not relax enough to get any sort of a true amount of milk. I suggest, in this order: Tons of hugs and kisses to baby, gallons of water for you to drink daily, nipple shield: nurse the baby, pump at the same times everyday, do not worry! I wish you the best! Nicki Mom to Abbi (4), Abner (3), Oran (11 weeks)