Herbs and teas that may impact milk supply

[Melissa Urban]

I had an interesting email conversation with a Whole30'er who noticed a significant drop in her milk supply while doing the Whole30. After ruling out calories (she was eating plenty), hydration (she was drinking plenty), and demand (her kiddo was feeding as often as possible, and she was also pumping), she thought maybe the quantity of fresh herbs (specifically, oregano, parsley, sage, and peppermint she was consuming may have had an impact.

I research this, and asked both my midwife and lactation consultant, and all my stuff came back as "normal amounts of these herbs used in cooking shouldn't have any effect on milk supply." But when this woman took these herbs out of her diet, her supply jumped back up to normal.

Turns out she was eating a lot more of these herbs in her Whole30 meals - not so many I'd be thinking, "that's way too much parsley," but perhaps she's just sensitive to the effects. I'm bringing it up here, however, because 1) many of you do use a lot more fresh herbs and spices during your Whole30s, and 2) many of you drink herbal teas that contain peppermint, spearmint, or sage while pregnant (100% cocoa too!)... and those combined could potentially (maybe) impact your supply.

Here's a good summary article on teas and herbs that may affect supply: http://www.breastfee...astfeeding.html

Now, I don't want to over-emphasize the diet/milk supply link, because while diet is a big factor, there are a lot of things that go into milk supply - some of which aren't really supply issues at all. This article is a great resource for figuring out whether your supply issue really IS a supply issue: http://theleakyboob....s-low-or-is-it/

Hope you find this info helpful!

Melissa

[Holly]

Wow, she must have been sensitive. Usually the medicinal strength from herbs comes after making an infusion. The equivalent of that would be literally eatinghandfuls of fresh herbs.

Susan Weed is an excellent herbalist who has copious experience with women and herbal medicine. Her books got me through pregnancy and life as a breastfeeding mother. Two good links that have nutritional advice to increase milk production:

http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Breastfeeding1.htm

http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Breastfeeding2.htm

As with anything, your mileage may vary.

(Hope it's ok that I posted these links)

[Melissa Urban]

Thanks for sharing those links, Holly. Honestly, I went back and forth with this reader, our midwife, and my lactation consultant, and all of us (the "experts") didn't believe the amount of herbs used in cooking could possibly impact milk supply. However, if she was extremely sensitive (and perhaps had other factors going on at the same time, like a growth-spurting baby), there could be a case made. Her N=1 experiment seemed to indicate she WAS extremely sensitive to those herbs - so I figured it was worth mentioning.

Best,

Melissa