Hello!

I was just wondering .....

1. Where you get 'fenugreek' ?

2. Does it actually work?


Thanks,

Angellica

HI there. I just started taking it about a week ago and it has helped my milk supply some. I got mine at a health food store. I take about 6 pills a day.

I still have to supplement my feedings with a bottle b/c my milk is just not abundant, but the Fenugreek has given me more of a supply than I had before.

Try adding Blessed Thistle as well as the two together are supposed to work well. You can also drink fennel tea...all worked well for me with my ds#1. And I got them at the health food store.

I have heard people say they have had great results with blessed thistle and fennugreek. Go for it

Yep, I still take fenugreek and blessed thistle (both work better when taken together). I buy mine at Whole Foods, but only because I'm shopping there anyway. Most health food stores carry them. And yes, they most deffinitly work!

Thanks for all your replies! I will have to go out to a Health Food store and purchase them~

One more question......

How much more milk do you get?

There is a woman in my breastfeeding support group who needed to increase her milk supply and the lactation consultant told her to take fenugreek but didnt tell her how much to take. Well she was only taking 3 a day and had a slight increase. Well she told the other LC how much she was taking and she told her that she should be taking 3 tablets 4 times a day to get a good increase. We didnt have group on Friday so I dont know if that helped her at all. Also I have a cookie recipe that has helped.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2-4 tablespoons brewer's yeast

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix the flaxseed meal and water and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar well.
Add eggs and mix well.
Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, beat well.
Sift together flour, brewers yeast, baking soda, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to butter mix.
Stir in oats and chips.
Scoop onto baking sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes.
Let set for a couple minutes then remove from tray.

I have made these and they are pretty good. Next time Im going to put raisins instead of chocolate chips. I have had an increase with just eating about 4 or 5 cookies.

Wow Bridget! Thanks.....

I think I will get some ingredients and make them today =)

How many does that recipe make?

I took fenugreek and blessed thistle, 3 pills of each 3 x a day. I noticed a difference within 3 days, good luck!

about 4 1/2 dozen

Bridget- I made the cookies- they are very good!

I also went to the health food store and they carried 'FENUGREEK' in bulk as a seed only, there were no capsules. Does anyone use this in seed form? If you do, how do you prepare it? I infused it into a tea, but was not sure If I had to crack the seed to get the most concentrated part of the herb out......???

Also, they did not carry 'Blessed Thistle' but, they had 'Milk Thistle' tincture.....

Does anyone know if they are the same?

The FENUGREEK really does work!!!

I breastfeed and pump and this afternoons pump I got 4 1/2 oz out of my right breast and 3 out of my left!!!!!!

This is great! I wish I knew about this earlier!

P.s. - I took the FENUGREEK seeds and let them soak overnight to get a higher concentration of the herb, and let me tell you ....it was extremely concentrated!!! It tastes (((very))) nasty, but it is worth the milk increase!
I just cut it with orange juice and that seems to help!

I am still in search for the Blessed Thistle~

Angellica,
How much were you getting from pumping before? Also, how long have you used the FEnugreek?
Thanks.

Hello,

I only took Fenugreek for 1 full day !!! Isn't that amazing!

I pumped about 3 oz in my right breast and 1 1/2 in my left as a max for a daytime pump prior to the Fenugreek.....and with it I am pumping over 4 oz in the right and over 3 in the left......I think that is significant!..... It all adds up!

My left breast NEVER pumped 3 oz !!!! Just again tonight before bed it went over 3 oz! I am really impressed, and this is without the 'blessed thistle'! I am still on the hunt for it......I guess I will have to get it on the internet~

That's great!!!

As for the blessed thistle, do you have a GNC near you? I believe they would have it.

I was just wondering about the amount you started with versus what you pump now, because I have been taking it for over a week now and have a very, very small increase (but then my pumping only got as routine as it should be starting this past Monday - I pumped before, but maybe not enough). I started out with practically nothing. Now, I'm up to 1/2 to 1 teaspoon from a pump on one side. I'm not getting anything from the other side. I'm a little worried though that I'm having trouble for hormonal reasons. There's a chance that my body does not produce sufficient prolactin to make this work because of a bad hemorrhage I had with the last pregnancy. I just added the Blessed Thistle about two days ago. And, I've had two days of the oatmeal cookies with the brewer's yeast and the flaxseed meal.

It helps me to know about the degree of success experienced by others compared to what I'm getting. I need to know when to give this up or for how long to continue trying. I had this same problem with my first child after a bad postpartum hemorrhage and I was really hoping things would be different this time. I pumped for quite awhile hoping to get this to work last time and it was hard to give it up - it was emotional and painful for this not to have worked. But, I pumped extensively, hand expressed after pumping to try to get it all out and took a prescription medicine that's supposed to have the side effect of increasing prolactin. But my breasts never seemed to fill up. They stayed quite soft - couldn't pump anything more than about a teaspoon out after all those efforts and not much came out from hand expressing either.

And, my little one has now given up on me. So, now it's just the pump and hand expressing after to try to get as much as possible out.

Beabonnet,

About the GNC.....yes, we do have that store, and I went in their yesterday and they carried the 'Fenugreek' capsules, but did not have the 'blessed thistle'.......they had a ton of 'milk thistle'...... I did buy the fenugreek capsules though, and it taste soooooo much better than soaking the 'fenugreek' seeds and drinking the extract.....lol

I tried all of the healthfood store in my area and none carry
'Blessed Thistle'...

Blessed thistle and milk thistle are totally different, but I hear brewers yeast works too. I would look online for blessed thistle though. DD is teething (is about to get her 4th tooth in less then two weeks :dizzy: ) and is not nursing much, so I want to make sure I don't dip in supply. I've started pumping too, so I started taking my fenugreek and blessed thistle as well.

Mothers milk tea is anothe good one, and it has fenugreek seeds, fennel, and chamomile. You might find that one tastier then the straight seeds (they are gross!!).