What can i take to increase my milk supply

There are tons of supplements to increase milk supply. Fenugreek, nursing teas, tinctures – what are the best ones, and do they actually work? Below is an overview of the best lactation supplements for milk supply.

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What to Try BEFORE Taking a Breastfeeding Supplement

There is some amount of risk to trying any breastfeeding supplement. For example, though many people (including me) have seen an increase in supply when taking fenugreek, others have actually seen a decrease.

Therefore, before trying a lactation supplement to increase the amount of milk you pump, I would first try ways of increasing supply that have little or no risk. These include:

• If you’re exclusively pumping, make sure that you’re sticking to your pumping schedule as much as you can, and that you’re pumping at least 120 minutes per day. More on pumping schedules here.
• Do breast compressions while you pump.
• If you’re noticing your supply dropping and you’ve been pumping for a few months or more, try replacing your breast pump parts. They can wear out and get microscopic tears, and this can affect the suction.
• If possible, try power pumping once a day for a week.

Do Breastfeeding Supplements Work?

Most supplements DO work – for some people.

Unfortunately, milk supply is not straightforward, and the only way to know if something will work is to try it. Some women see a small boost when they eat oatmeal for breakfast; others don’t. Many people swear by nursing teas, but they do nothing for others.

Different things work for different people, so you may just need to try a few things to see what works for you. My suggestion is to limit the amount of money that you spend on any one thing until you’ve seen good results with it yourself.

Breastfeeding Supplements to Increase Milk Supply

Here are some of the best breastfeeding supplements.

Oatmeal

There haven’t been any formal studies as to how effective oatmeal is as boosting milk supply; however, enough women have noticed a difference in milk supply after eating it that it’s widely recommended as a supply booster. Personally, I noticed an increase of 1-2oz per day on the days that I ate oatmeal for breakfast.

Oatmeal has a lot of advantages as a galactagogue – there isn’t any risk to trying it, it’s very affordable, and it doubles as breakfast.

I’ve had the best results with just having a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. However, if you dislike oatmeal, you can also make lactation cookies or brownies that include it as a galactagogue ingredient. Also, there are a lot of overnight oats recipes that are really good.

Here is an unscientific poll I did on Instagram regarding oatmeal’s effectiveness:

Legendairy Milk

Legendairy Milk makes several lactation supplements, such as Pump Princess, Liquid Gold, and Milkapalooza.

Legendairy Milk supplements do not contain fenugreek and instead contain galactagogues such as goat’s rue, fennel, moringa, and black cumin.

Here’s an unscientific poll regarding Legendairy Milk:

(Legendairy Milk reached out to me and gave me a 15% off discount code for any of their supplements – use EPUMP for 15% off!)

Fenugreek Capsules

Fenugreek capsules are easy to take, there’s a simple way to tell if it’s working, and it’s very effective for a lot of people. When I took it, fenugreek (along with sticking to a strict pumping schedule) helped me get my supply up from 24 oz per day to 35 oz per day.

The dosage that you should start at is two capsules three times per day, and if you don’t smell like maple syrup after a few days, you can increase it to three capsules three times per day. (Smelling like maple syrup is the trick to knowing that it’s working.)

If fenugreek works for you, you should see an increase within a few days of noticing the maple syrup smell.

However, before you take it, you should know that some people actually experience the opposite effect – that is, fenugreek decreased their supply.

Here’s an unscientific poll regarding fenugreek:

More information on fenugreek, milk supply, and the risks is available here.

Mother’s Milk Tea

Mother’s Milk Tea is probably the most ubiquitous and easy to find nursing tea – you might be able to find it in your grocery store.

This tea contains fennel (560 mg), anise (350 mg), coriander (210 mg), fenugreek (35 mg), and blessed thistle (35 mg). It should be noted that these dosages – fenugreek and blessed thistle in particular – are far lower than if you were to take these herbs in capsule form; the tea has less than 10% of what’s in one capsule.

The manufacturer recommends drinking 3-5 cups of tea per day. To make the tea, you steep it in 8 oz of hot water for 10 minutes, and then drink it. It tastes like licorice, and you can sweeten it with sugar or honey or whatever you’d prefer.

Here’s an unscientific poll regarding Mother’s Milk Tea:

(If you don’t like the taste, I made a recipe called “Lactorade” that mixes this tea with lemon lime Gatorade that might work for you.)

Blessed Thistle

Blessed thistle is a plant that is thought to increase milk supply when ingested; these capsules contain the stem, leaf and flower.

Blessed thistle’s effectiveness hasn’t been studied much on its own. Instead, in all of the studies, the subjects have taken both blessed thistle and fenugreek.

In the studies, the women who did see an increase in milk supply noticed it within a few days (it ranged between 2-48 hours).

These lactation supplement capsules are 390mg, and the recommended dosage is three capsules three times per day.

Here’s an unscientific poll regarding blessed thistle:

Let There Be Milk Best Lactation Liquid

If you don’t like tea, Let There Be Milk! might be a good alternative. It’s a concentrated blend of galactogue herbs, specifically blessed thistle, red raspberry leaf, fenugreek, goats rue, and marshmallow root.

You take it by either adding it to another liquid (they recommend 1-2 oz of the other liquid, and you can mix it with anything from tea, Gatorade, Coke – you’ll want to experiment to see what works best for you as far as taste), or just taking a few drops by itself. I tried it on its own and thought it tasted disgusting, but it was tolerable when mixed with 2 oz of Diet Coke.

The recommended dosage is 1 ml, 4 times per day.

Mommy Knows Best Fenugreek Free Lactation Supplement

Mommy Knows Best makes a great lactation supplement without fenugreek for those who are sensitive to fenugreek or who would prefer not to take it.

It contains a mixture of blessed thistle, milk thistle, goat’s rue, and marshmallow root.

One great thing about this supplement is that you only have to take one capsule per day (where with some others, you can be taking two or three several times per day).

Majka Lactation Protein Powder and Protein Bites

If you like to use protein powder, Majka lactation protein powder (also available on Amazon) is a great option.

I made the blueberry oatmeal smoothie recipe on their website, and it was really good! The protein powder contains ginger root, fenugreek, and turmeric for milk supply and lactation support.

The lactation bites are meant to be a snack (they are very dense and surprisingly filling) and are made with oats, flax seed, fenugreek, and turmeric for increasing milk supply.

Did I miss any of the best milk supply supplements you’ve used? What has your experience with these been?

References

1. Bonyata, Kelly, IBCLC. “Fenugreek Seed for Increasing Milk Supply.” https://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/herbs/fenugreek/
2. Newman, Jack, MD. “Herbs for Increasing Milk Supply” https://www.canadianbreastfeedingfoundation.org/induced/herbs.shtml
3. Sim, Tin Fie. “The Use, Perceived Effectiveness and Safety of Herbal Galactagogues During Breastfeeding: A Qualitative Study” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4586661/

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