Tag: Breast milk

So I’ve been writing a lot about breast milk lately because, frankly, breast feeding is about all I do these days. Man, it takes all day it seems. My housekeeper – one of the most wonderful women in my life – brought me an elixir from an old family recipe to help me increase my supply. She’s from Mexico and I don’t know if all lactating Mexican women drink this stuff but it’s fan-freaking-tastic!

It’s simple, if you can get the ingredients: 1/2 pound of aasa, a chunk of mexican chocolate and a can (or 2, depending on your sweet tooth) of condensed milk. Blend the masa (it’s basically tortilla dough made from corn flour) with water in the blender then pour that into boiling water (about half full) in a large pot. I don’t know any measurements because she didn’t tell me. Add the chocolate and condensed milk, stir, then cool.

Living in California, it’s not hard to find masa at one of the Mexican delis or groceries. But if you’re in area without a large Mexican-American population you’ll probably find it hard to locate masa. Not sure what the alternative would be in that case.

You can drink it either hot or cold but because it thickens as it cools I prefer to drink it like hot cocoa. It’s kind of like drinking a liquid chocolate tortilla. In fact, it actually IS a liquid chocolate tortilla. Think hot cocoa with a corn like taste, but in a good way.

Anyway, drink it and then break out the breast pump. My supply GREATLY increased – enough to not have to supplement with formula for roughly 3 days (till I ran out and had to find more masa). That’s HUGE in my book. HUGE.

You may also want to check out Mamatini, which I reviewed in an earlier post.

photo credit: christyscherrer

Fenugreek is the miracle breast feeding herb! It’s been taken for centuries to increase breast milk production. In fact, I read that it can increase a woman’s milk production by up to 900% if you can believe that.

I’m taking fenugreek now and have definitely noticed an increase in my milk supply, though I’m not certain what a 900% increase would look like and I’m not certain I wanna know.

I’ve tried capsules as well as drinking it in a new drink called Mamatini and have found that while the capsules are cheaper, drinking it is easier as I forget to take the capsules (or, more accurately forget IF I’ve taken them).

Fenugreek is an herb that is commonly found in curries and chutneys as well as traditional medicine in many parts of the world including India, Greece, China, north Africa and the Middle East. It is a basic ingredient of curry powder and the Five Spice mixtures (used in Asian cooking). It is also used to as an artificial maple syrup flavoring.

There are a number of side effects, but the most funny one to me is smelling like maple syrup. If you take the right dosage you will exude a maple syrup smell. I, personally, haven’t noticed any other side effects.

I found a great website about fenugreek and breastfeeding at kellymom.com that has all you need to know about fenugreek including where to find it, drug interactions and possible side effects for mom and baby. Another good site is breastfeeding.com.

If you’re breastfeeding and need to increase your milk supply, you should definitely check out fenugreek.

Oh me, oh my, oh Mamatini. Mamatini- what a great name, no? You know you’re in California when your lactation consultant recommends this new herbal drink to increase your milk production. Mine did and, while wary, I thought I’d give it a try.

I need all the help I can get with this whole breast feeding thing. For as “natural” as breast feeding is, there is nothing that comes naturally about it.

The Mamatini folks were nice enough to send over a few bottles to sample and here’s my take.

First off, Mamatini is deeelicious! Not sweet as I was afraid it would be. You know how some manufacturers kick up the sugar content just because? Not so with these folks.

In fact, Mamatini is a yummy blend of ginger and peppermint, with lots of other herbs and vitamins too. To me, it kind of tastes earthy as if you just lovingly made a pot of herbal tea. You can visit their website to get all the details, but I’m here to say that it really tastes great!

Second, Mamatini does actually increase breast milk production, at least as far as I can tell. The magic ingredient is fenugreek. Each bottle contains 1.5 grams of the milk-enhancing herb that people have been using for centuries. I’ve definitely noticed a difference. I have issues with low milk production (along with all the other not so fun problems breast feeding related) and this stuff really does help.

A funny side effect of fenugreek, you should know, is smelling like maple syrup. Literally, maple syrup. Move over B.O, here comes some syrup…my husband has been craving pancakes ever since I started taking the stuff.

The thing is, you can’t find Mamtini in stores yet. They do sell bottles directly from the website – a case is $40 + $10 shipping and handling. That’s roughly $4 per bottle…a little pricey considering that you can find a bottle of 100 fenugreek capsules for $10 at a health food store.

While buying Mamatini regularly might be little rich for my blood, I will say that it is a fantastic alternative to drinking water ALL the time.

I was reading an article in the New Yorker about breastfeeding and was stunned at the idea that we, as mothers, may becoming our own wet nurses because of the preference of pumping over breastfeeding.  As a mother who had difficulty with breast feeding because my milk had trouble traveling down my milk ducts to get to my baby, I relied on whatever means possible to give my baby the best that I could.  While formula ultimately became my only option, I find it disheartening to hear about the continued controversy over formula versus breastfeeding.  And now with pumping added to the mix… oiy!

Clearly the nutrients in breast milk are vastly superior to anything that can be manufactured, however, this argument seems to had led to unfortunate consequences.  Here in California, lactation consultants reinforce the practice of breastfeeding to the point of being pushers.  While I applaud the effort, I feel like their emphasis is misplaced.  Instead of reinforcing the notion that breastfeeding is as much about human connection as giving nutrients, the focus on breast milk has not made things better for the baby or the mother.

What a great pity that mothers are being encouraged to do themselves out of what must surely be the most important job in the world, raising the next generation.   Children are being given over to the often very capable hands of day care workers and nannies with bottles of expressed milk.  Capable but can we really say they have the same amount of time and attention needed to fully attune to the new baby.  Breast feeding is about more than giving nutrients to the infant, it is about attunement and bonding.  The first year of a baby’s life is so crucial and so much is now known about the impact of attunement and attachment on infants and the impact of neuronal development.  It’s strange that in a society that is gung ho about the academic development of children so little attention is paid to the all important emotional development which creates stability later on in life.  Surely bonding with mom, more than flash cards and tutors at the age of three, is setting them up for the ability to attend and learn later on.

Not to mention the headache attached to pumping.  Breasts fill and must be drained on a schedule.  The horror stories I’ve heard about women heading off to an icky restroom to pump for 15 minutes is shocking.  I mean would you feed your baby a sandwich in a restroom?   And as for the office restroom, it is dare I say humiliating to be hooked up to a pump like Bessie the cow and have your co-workers come in!  Some offices do have lactation rooms, which is a start, but again that skirts the issue.

I am absolutely not against a mom choosing to return to work after having a baby nor am I opposed to pumping.  What I am opposed to is the lack of discussion around all of the consequences of the myriad choices we mothers have.  Long term consequences.  I feel that, as a society, we should be discussing the effect of day care and nannys as well as breast milk when we discuss what is best for baby.  If we conduct experiments and studies on breast milk, shouldn’t we pay the same attention to the choice to contract out raising our children?

photo credit: Raphael Goetter