In her book Mother Food for Breastfeeding Mothers, she has listed lactogenic foods and herbs that support lactation. Eating sufficient calories and getting an abundant supply of nutrients is helpful in itself for lactation, but these foods also contain substances that interact with and support the chemistry of lactation.

These substances include phytoestrogen, natural plant sedatives, plant sterols and saponins, and tryptophan, among others. In addition, a rich supply of minerals and a good balance of fats ensure that the mother’s cells and nerves are functioning at an optimal level.

The top lactogenic foods and herbs are as follow:

Fennel
Fennel can be eaten raw or cooked, for instance, steamed, or sautéed in butter and then simmered in a bit of water. Fennel seed is well-known as an herb to increase milk production. The vegetable, containing the same pharmacologically active volatile oils, acts as a gentler support.

Carrot, Beet, Yam
These reddish vegetables are full of beta-carotene, needed in extra amounts during lactation. Carrot seed has been used as a galactagogue, and the vegetable, also containing the volatile oils and phytoestrogen, acts as a gentler support. The beet is a wonderful source of minerals and iron. Taking raw beet can help alleviate iron deficiency. These vegetables are naturally sweet, and they support the liver.

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables
Dark green vegetables are a potent source of minerals, vitamins and enzymes, as well as phytoestrogen that support lactation. Dandelion and stinging nettle leaves are diuretic, and can help reduce edema during pregnancy and after birth. They can be plucked from your garden in early spring and eaten whole, chopped into salad, or used to make tea. Stinging nettle can be harvested for salad or cooked as spinach. In your market, you’ll find arugula, beet leaves, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, chicory, collard greens and others.

Grains and Legumes
Grains and legumes have a long history as galactagogues. The most commonly used grains include oats, millet, barley and rice. Oats are the most widely used lactogenic food in the US. Legumes to include in your diet are chickpea, mungbeans and lentils.

Nuts
Nuts that support milk supply include almonds, cashews, and macadamia nuts. As much as possible, eat raw nuts, not roasted or salted. The taste of raw nuts will grow on you.

Oils and fats
Healthy fats play a vital role in cellular and neural metabolism. The kinds of fats a mother eats will influence the composition of fats in her milk.

The renowned expert in fats, Mary G. Enig, suggests that mothers get regular and substantial dosages of butter and coconut oil. In addition, use cold-pressed virgin olive oil, and take equal amounts of cold-pressed sesame oil and flaxseed oil in salads.

One way to balance the fats is to dribble a quarter teaspoon of olive oil, flaxseed oil, sesame oil, and a thin slab of butter over meals. Be sure to eliminate unhealthy fats such as partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and transfatty acids from your diet, as these will also enter your milk.

In addition, be sure to have a source for essential fatty acids. For more information, see “Dietary Tips.”

Beverages
Lactogenic beverages include getting enough plain water to hydrate the body, drinking commercial lactation teas, non-alcoholic beer, ginger ale, Rivella, and natural herbal root-beers from your health food store. Check out coffee substitutes based on the lactogenic grain barley, such as CARO, Roma, Caffix, Pero or Dandy Blend. These imitation coffees usually also contain chicory or dandelion, plus malt—ingredients that are all lactogenic. A recipe for “Barley Water,” a potent lactogenic beverage can be found here.

Mothers that do not have low milk supply have to be caution when taking an abundance of lactogenic herbs and foods to increase their breastmilk supply further. This will eventually caused unnecessary difficulties for nursing moms, such as over-supply, engorgement, plugged ducts, or mastitis. Your baby may develop colic due to too much foremilk, or sucking difficulties due to an overly strong let-down reflex, both of which are common with over-supply.

Therefore, it is essential to use these foods and herbs wisely, and reduce or stop their use if you notice such problems.

In Hilary Jacobson ‘s Mother Food for Breastfeeding Mothers, barley-water is used to help mothers with chronic low milk supply.

Taken for a week or two, mother can increase their milk supply naturally. Make a pot in the morning and drink it throughout the day, warming each cup and sweetening it with a natural sweetener as desired.

Barley-water can be made with whole grain or pearl barley. Barley flakes can also be used, though these have been processed and are possibly less potent than the whole or pearled grain.

Preparation:

• Quick-and-easy: 1/2 cup of flakes or pearled barley can be simmered in 1 quart of water for twenty minutes.

• Long-and-intensive: 1 cup of whole or pearled barley is simmered in 3 quarts of water for up to 2 hours. About half the liquid should cook off. Some recipes call for only 1/2 hour cooking time. However, the longer the barley simmers and the more pinkish (and slimier) the water becomes, the more of the ‘cream’ will enter the water and the stronger the medicinal effect will be.

• If the barley water becomes too thick to drink comfortably, add in more water.

• When finished, remove from the stove and sieve off the water. The grain is now tasteless and can be thrown out.

• Add 1 tablespoon of fennel powder or steep 2 – 3 teaspoons of fennel seeds for ten minutes in the barley-water before drinking.

• The traditional recipe calls for fennel seed, but powdered fenugreek seed can also be used.

In her book, Mother Food for Breastfeeding Mothers, nursing moms need to adhere to a dietary guideline after birth. Apparently, getting a good start for the first few weeks after birth can be helpful in supporting the onset and development of a mother’s milk supply.

Here are some dietary guideline as outlined in her book:

• Get enough to eat. By eating regularly, you will gain enough calories to support your milk supply.
• Drink 2-3 quarts of water a day. However, some mothers discover that they need much more fluids to maintain an optimal milk supply.
• Eat at least one warm meal per day that includes a source of protein, a portion of green salad, a grain such as millet or rice, and cooked vegetables such as yam, carrot, and fennel.
• Avoid food that is hard to digest such as fried or extremely fatty food.
• Take probiotic yogurt or lactobacilli supplements to protect your intestinal flora and to help prevent colic and allergy in your baby
• Get healthy fats such as butter and olive oil, and remember to supplement with essential fatty acids.
• Spice moderately with lactogenic spices, for instance with sea-salt, with dill or caraway, or basil and marjoram, and, if tolerated, with garlic. If you lost a lot of blood during birth, avoid taking ginger for several weeks.
• Herbs useful after birth include stinging nettle to rebuild the blood lost during birth, turmeric, to help prevent breast inflammation, oat-straw, to nurture the nerves and to help prevent nervous exhaustion. These herbs also increase milk supply, so keep an eye on your supply and reduce or increase your dosage of these herbs as necessary.
• A traditional Chinese remedy used in the early postpartum is homemade chicken soup, simmered with the bones for several hours and rich with chicken fat, taken only once a week—otherwise, it is said to over-stimulate the baby. This remedy is reputed to prevent depression, to restore a mother’s vitality, and to help develop an abundant milk supply.

This post is dedicated to my friend, Joey who will be a mom to a beautiful baby boy this coming August; and also to all soon-to-be mothers.

In conjunction to World Breastfeeding Awareness Month, this post aims to spread the awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding.

“Human milk is the preferred feeding for all infants, including premature and sick newborns…It is recommended that breastfeeding continue for at least the first 12 months, and thereafter for as long as mutually desired“

- except from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Breastfeeding Guidelines

I personally feel that breastfeeding is the most beautiful thing that a mom can do for a child. Not only does it create the strong bond between mother and baby but it also help to provide optimum nutrition for the baby.

Breastmilk is created by the human body to feed human babies. It is perfectly formulated for the nutritional need of human babies. According to World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, breastmilk is a living substance. Each woman’s milk is individually tailored for her own baby.

Mother’s milk changes constantly – both during a feed and day by day – to meet her baby’s evolving needs. When a mother is exposed to pathogens in the environment, she produces antibodies to combat them and these antibodies are then passed on to her baby via her breastmilk.

It is no wonder why many researches are campaigning the importance of breastfeeding. Breastmilk are so naturally good that it can provide many health benefits to baby:

• Less colic, gas and spitting up.
• Reduce or even eliminates food allergies. Babies who are breastfed for less than six months have seven times the incidence of allergies as those who are breastfed longer than six months.
• Prevent eczema. In one study conducted by Chandra R.K (“Influence of Maternal Diet During Lactation and the Use of Formula Feed and Development of Atopic Eczema in High Risk Infants“, Br Med J. 1989) , it was found that of infants fed soy based formulas, 63% developed eczema. Infacts fed cows milk based formulas, 70% developed eczema.
• Protect babies from bronchitis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, diabetes and asthma.
• Lower instances of cardiopulmonary disturbances.
• Reduce diaper rashes.
• Breastfed babies have 5 to 10 times fewer stomach infections than formula fed babies.
• Babies who are breastfed are 10 times less likely to be admitted to the hospital during the first year.
• Breast fed babies have up to 50% fewer ear infections than bottle fed babies.
• Breastfed babies are one-third less likely to die of SIDS.
• Breast milk can enhance baby’s development of oral muscles and facial bones.

What makes breast milk uniquely rich in goodness is that breast milk contains at least 100 (some sources say up to 400) ingredients not found in formulat including at least 4 unique proteins. There are unique and powerful immune building properties in breast milk, and it can enhance brain development. There is growing evidence that breastfeeding can raise your child’s I.Q and there are numerous studies pointing to higher developmental test scores in breastfed children.

Obviously, formula just don’t measure up. Formula is an industrially manufactured food. It contains chemicals, flavoring, vitamins, and proteins that attempt to replicate breast milk. Despite many efforts, formula copanies simply CANNOT duplicate the amazing benefits of breast milk.

The multiple processings, ingredients and alterations required to convert cows milk or soy beans to the finished product opens up numerous opportunities for cotamination by harmful bacteria, chemicals and foreign bodies.

The following is a PARTIAL list of known contaminations of infant formulas:

• 1997 – UK : Milumil withdrawn from sale after being linked with salmonella infection.
• 1997 – USA: FDA recalled Nestle’s Carnation follow-up formula because of adulteration and production under unsanitary conditions. Linked with mild gastrointestinal illness. 11,317 cases of 6 32 oz. cans to a case recalled.
• 1996 – USA: Carnation Alsoy Concentrate liquid in 32 oz. cans withdrawn because instructions on the top of the can state: Do not add water. Mislabeling could have led to infants consuming undiluted, concentrated formula. The side label indicated the addition of water.
• 1996 – USA: Heinz apple and prune juice for infants in 4 oz. bottles recalled because they contained quantities of lead in excess of 80 ppb.
• 1994 – Sri Lanka: Customs officers sent back a large consignment of Nestle’s milk powder imported from Poland because it was contaminated with radioactive particles.
• 1993 – USA: Nutramigen formula recalled after it is found to contain broken glass.
• 1993 – USA: Soyalac formula withdrawn following discovery of salmonella contamination.
• 1992 – India: Live black insects and crawling worms found in a packet of Lactogen infant formula.

Source: WABA World Breastfeeding Week Action folder 1997 “Breastfeeding: Nature’s Way”

Formula fed children have a drastic increase in childhood cancers. “The risk of articially fed children was 1-8 times that of long-term breastfed children, and the risk for short term feeders was 1-9 times that of long term breast feeders.” David M.K Infant Feeding and Childhood Cancer. Lancet 1988.

Therefore, breask milk is always safe, fresh, perfectly clean, just the right temperature, instantly available and it is the most nutritious feeding system for the lowest cost.

Recommended Sites:

Parenting Web – The Nursing Lounge

WABA Resource Centre

MOBI Motherhood International

Introducing solid foods is a very important step in your baby’s development and well-being, studies show that babies who are fed nutritious, healthy diets grow into stronger kids and better-adjusted eaters than those who are fed poor diets.

Many parents don’t realize that making baby food at home is a simple and economical plan to provide your baby with best in quality, nutrition, and taste. It makes it easy for you to make sure your child gets the best start possible. Making baby food using fresh, all-natural ingredients has many benefits, including:

• Increased nutritional value
• Elimination of additives
• Improved freshness
• Added variety
• Enhanced control
• Lower costs

Increased nutritional value

Vitamins and other nutrients are critically important to your baby. For the next three years, your baby will experience rapid growth and development. It is essential that he be fed a healthy and nutritious diet in order to maximize his growth and development process.

Processed baby foods have added water, sugars, and starchy fillers. While these products are not nutritionally bad for your baby, their use in baby food dilutes the nutrient content of the actual foods. To make matters worse, processed baby foods are cooked at high temperatures to kill bacteria, so they can be stored in jars at room temperature. Bacteria are not the only things that are eliminated in this process. Vitamins and nutrients are also destroyed. Many baby food manufacturers compensate for the loss of vitamins by artificially adding some of them back in after the food is processed.

When you make baby food at home, you can cook it quickly. This process not only preserves the wonderful color and taste of the food, but most importantly it maximizes the foods nutrient content for your precious baby.

Elimination of additives

Processed baby foods contain trace amounts of chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Although the FDA has approved these chemicals, you may choose not to feed your baby products containing them. Buying certified organic produce (fresh or frozen) and preparing food at home eliminates agricultural chemicals from your baby’s diet.

In addition, many varieties of processed baby foods add ingredients that are not essential or beneficial to your baby’s diet. These can include ingredients such sugar, butter, and salt. Most healthcare professionals will recommend you avoid the introduction of these foods until your child is much older. Homemade baby food is pure, wholesome food with nothing added that you did not add yourself.

Improved freshness

Have you compared fresh green peas to a jar of pea baby food? Even though they are the same food, they don’t look, smell or taste similar. While your baby does not have the refined palate of an adult, he does respond to taste, color, and smell. With the enormous availability of fresh produce in your grocery store and the simplicity of making baby food, there is really is no reason he needs to be deprived of colorful, tasty, great-smelling baby food. And serving fresh food from the very beginning will help your baby be more open to tasting new flavors and types of food.

Additional variety

Processed baby food is developed for the mass market and, as a result, is limited in variety. Variety is key to a balanced diet and healthy living. Today’s grocery stores offer a tremendous variety of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. There is no reason why your baby should be limited by what food manufacturers consider the most popular foods. What’s more, preparing baby food at home enables you to add herbs, combine flavors, and easily introduce new textures, making your baby’s mealtime a pleasurable, gourmet experience.

Enhanced control

As a parent, you want to understand and trust the ingredients in your baby’s diet. Similarly, you want assurance concerning the purity, safety, quality, and consistency of such ingredients. Preparing baby food at home provides you with control of your baby’s diet and knowledge of exactly what goes into your baby’s food. The more involvement you have with what you are feeding your baby, the more likely you are to nurture healthy eating habits.

Lower costs

Processed baby foods are expensive. The average baby in the United States will consume 600 jars of baby food. Parents who use processed baby food spend an average of $300 or more on baby food during their infant’s first year of life. Making baby food at home is extremely cost-effective, as foods may be purchased either in season or on sale. On average, baby food prepared at home can cost as little as $55 in the first year.

With all these benefits, you may think that it is difficult to make baby food, but it is a lot easier to make than you may imagine. Using fresh produce, a blender, and set of ice cube trays, you can make food in quantity and freeze it in single servings. This means you only need to make food once or twice a week. Bottom line, it takes about 30 minutes a week. Here is a simple and easy recipe for a common first food:

Sweet Potato Puree

2-3 medium to large sweet potatoes

Step 1: PREP – Wash , peel and chop sweet potatoes into one-inch (3 cm) cubes

Step 2: COOK – Place sweet potatoes and 2 Tablespoons (30ml) of water in a microwave-safe dish. Cover. Cook 8-10 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. They are done if the sweet potatoes can be mashed easily with a fork.

Step 3: PUREE – Place sweet potatoes and cooking juices into a blender of food processor. Add ½ cup (60 ml) of water. Puree. Add additional ¼ to ½ cup (60 – 100 ml) of water, as needed, to develop of smooth texture.

Step 4: FREEZE – Spoon into So Easy Baby Food Trays or ice cube trays. Cover. Place in freezer 8-10 hours or overnight. Remove cubes from trays, place in storage container or freezer bag, and return immediately to the freezer.

Makes 24 one-ounce servings. Stays fresh for 2 months in the freezer.

To serve, select frozen sweet potato cubes from the freezer, defrost and warm, check the temperature and feed.

About the authors: Cheryl Tallman and Joan Ahlers are sisters, the mothers of five children, and founders of Fresh Baby (www.FreshBaby.com). Raised by parents who love fresh foods and entertaining, their mom, a gourmet cook, ensured that they were well-equipped with extraordinary skills in the kitchen. Both with long track records of business success, they decided to combine their skills in the kitchen with their knowledge of healthy foods and children to create Fresh Baby. Cheryl and Joan put a modern twist on the conventional wisdom that when you make it yourself, you know it’s better.

The goal at Fresh Baby is to make the task of raising a healthy eater a little bit easier for all parents. Fresh Baby’s breastfeeding accessories and baby food making supplies provide parents with practical knowledge and innovative tools to support them in introducing their children to great tasting, all-natural foods – easily and conveniently. Visit them online at www.FreshBaby.com and subscribe to their Fresh Ideas newsletter to get monthly ideas, tips and activities for developing your family’s healthy eating habits!)