Anyone tried breastfeeding tea?

[northlondonchoclover]

Does it work and where to buy?

I drank it with dd1. She still cried all the time so I didn't bothered with dd2 and ds.

I think it was weleda brand?

Fennel tea allegedly works, and is cheap - find it in the tea section of the supermarket. It didn't work for me though, as did Fenugreek or Milk Thistle. I'm a bit sceptical about these things, but I've read on this site that lots of people have success with Fenugreek. You can get it from health food shops.

it tastes all right but if it makes a difference or not I couldn*t tell.
fennel tea is cheap and lovely with honey.

I drank lots of fennel tea and ate lots of oats, both supposed to be 'galactagogues'. I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't liked them both, though. . I think www.kellymom.com has some comments about galactogogues and whether they really work.

I dont think I could fit my nipple in the spout

at Trinity!

I did wonder what the blue blazes you were on about - had similar visions to Trin, and then wondered if you were trying to persuade your baby to drink tea from your boobs somehow (don't ask how, I don't know!)

Fennel tea - cheaper from H&B than it is from Waitrose - drank it religiously every day when bf'ing DS (til he was 23mo). Don't know whether it "really works" or not - but it never caused me any problems, I never had mastitis and DS always had enough milk.

OK, so looks like I could just get the generic version of fennel or fenugreek tea instead.

BrandyButterfly - DS is 5 weeks old, and so far is thriving - gaining weight and producing dirty nappies. The past week or so however he has started demanding more frequent feeds and do not seem satisfied with the amount of milk. So I tried pumping to increase production and did not manage to get much more than about 1 ounce per session. I would like to start expressing to build up a stash so that DH can also feed, and to give me flexibility to leave the house once in a while without DS.

Lol... just got the joke..

northlondonchoclover - it sounds like DS is trying to up your milk supply on his own. The more they feed, the greater your supply will be.

You might well find that if you respond to his extra demands for feeds it will all calm down by itself in a week or so.

You know there will always be patches when your dc is more demanding and seems to be feeding very frequently. This isn't because you don't have enough milk, it's more often than not because the baby is going through a growth spurt. Milk production is linked to how much the baby sucks (and although pumping can help to increase production, the baby sucking is far more effective) so after a while it will settle down again. Kellymom (as linked to above) has loads of information about how milk production really works.

I'm not trying to sound preachy but, in my experience, loads of mums think they 'don't have enough milk' when it's probably one of the least likely reasons for your child feeding more often. And I was one of those mums, certainly until ds2 came along and I had to rethink all my previously held beliefs about breastfeeding.

It is useful to have a stock of expressed milk, though, so there's no harm in pumping a little. Every 1 oz counts - and it's often easier to have small amounts stored so you don't waste large amounts when your dc doesn't take very much.

hth

I used bf tea and fennel and fenugreek at various times. Found fenugreek by far the most effective. I used galactogogues (great word!) to help me pump from about 12 weeks to build up my return to work stash. That and pumping every morning and night as routine. I'd freeze whatever I got - started off as barely 2oz. With regular pumping and fenugreek I got this up to 4 or 5. It is nice to have the stash but I haven't used much of it as what I continue to pump morning and night and at work mostly meets dd's needs.