Making lots of beautiful milk
is easier said than done. If you are struggling with breast feeding or making breastmilk first of all I want you to know that it’s not your fault. There are very valid reasons why this happens and please know you are not to blame. There is a lot of pressure for women to breastfeed and often this pressure with all the stress of the fertility journey, pregnancy and then birth into postpartum can make this more challenging than anticipated. In this article I will educate you on making breastmilk.
There are two main reasons a women has making milk issues supply in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
Firstly she can be qi and blood deficient and perhaps does not have enough energy and internal substance to transform and create breast milk. This is usually indicated by breast feeling soft and empty and not much milk is being expressed/baby seems hungry.
The second being stress and emotional tension which is naturally very common after delivering and caring for a newborn baby. In this case the breasts tend to be very full and hard, prone to mastitis, there is milk but it doesn’t come out. It is stuck.
Listen to your body
For making milk make sure you are:
- Resting adequately and keep calm – how is your nervous system feeling? This is often the first part of the body we treat.
- Drinking lots of water, warm water is good and hydrating broths and even some freshly cold pressed juices, breastfeeding teas
- Eating a nutritious diet – lots of soup, broth, hydrating foods and cooked fruit etc Some meats/veg/healthy treats
- Choosing a night time sleeping arrangement that allows for the best sleep for all involved
- Nursing frequently
Avoid doing things that affect you making milk:
- Smoking
- Allergy medications
- Stress – do what you can to control and avoid it
- Sleeping on your stomach – compressing the breasts at night
- Wearing a bra that is too tight or Wearing a sling with the rings pressing back against the breast instead up near the shoulder
Reasons why your supply may be low
- C-section: it takes 3-6 days for your milk to come in after a c-section
- Previous breast surgery
- Stress and tension!
- Breast feeding is a new skill to learn, I highly recommend consulting with a good lactation consultant if you are having any challenges this can help immensely
- Deficiency – the body is too weak to produce adequate breast milk.
Why making milk can be difficult
Many women think their supply is low when it is good. We often don’t know, especially if it is our first baby what to expect, or we may have unrealistic expectations. If you think your supply is truly low, along with having your TCM treatment please contact the ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association). It’s important to note that the feel of the breast, the behavior of your baby, the frequency of nursing, the sensation of let-down, or the amount you pump are not valid ways to determine if you have enough milk for your baby. Providing baby is gaining weight and growing, and that there are adequate wet and dirty nappies then you do have enough milk. Kelly Bonyata has a very extensive and informative website regarding these questions.
If of course you do need to supplement your milk, by all means do after you have given baby at least two to three feeds on each breast. Constant suckling on the breast stimulates the breasts to make more milk. It can take up to 2 to 3 months for milk supply and time between feeds to be established, so feeding on demand and offering the breast regularly will ensure you are constantly telling your breasts to make more milk.
Diet
Is very important, get organised and for example do big cook-ups of soup, greens and high protein foods – now is the time to call on friends and family. This helps you making milk. These foods nourish the blood, which has a moistening and nourishing function, it helps your body to circulate qi (energy) and blood in the body. After birth we like to strengthen the digestion and energy as it is easy to become weak and you may not feel like yourself after pregnancy and delivery.
Grains – Barley, corn, oats, brown rice, sweet rice, wheat, bran, amaranth
Vegetables – Alfalfa sprout, artichoke, beetroot, button mushroom, carrots, celery, dandelion greens, lettuce, spinach, sweet potato, watercress
Fruit – Apple, avocadoes, apricot, avocado, date, fig, grape, longan, mulberry
Beans – Adzuki, black, black soya, kidney – note consume small amounts
Nuts & Seeds – Almonds, black sesame, peanuts
Fish – Mussel, carp, shrimp, octopus, oyster, sardine & tuna
Meat – All red meat especially bone marrow and liver (beef, pork, lamb, sheep – organic) & chicken
Dairy – Chicken egg
Herbs – Nettle, Parsley & Angelica (Dang gui) – drink as tea or add to soup
Condiments – Amasake & molasses
Beverages – Soya milk
Meal ideas
Rice porridge with soya milk, apricots and almonds
Dark leafy salads with avocado and grated beetroot
Warm chicken salad with artichoke and grapes
Scrambled eggs with parsley
Calamari and mussels cooked and served with cabbage, celery and watercress
Dried apricots with almonds
Kidney bean and mushroom lasagne with spinach salad
Cooked fruit with cinnamon and yoghurt is a lovely treat too – for those craving sweet
Note that any red meat dish in TCM is viewed as a strong tonifying food and to be eaten in small amounts.
Chinese Herbs
Have been used for centuries to nourish mother’s milk, they are easy to take in a granulated formula and can make a big difference to your supply. Dr Ilana has trusted herbal formulae to support you with low milk supply due to deficiency or milk supply issues due to stress and tension (what we call Liver Qi Stagnation in TCM).
Acupuncture
Great to improve energy and the body’s function of making milk, it is also a fantastic stress reliever which every mother deserves. Feeling good and supporting your body through these changes is priceless. Most women focus on their body before and during pregnancy, if you look after yourself in the postpartum; your health can be improved for the rest of your life.
Homeopathics
Lactation consultants often recommend homeopathics to their clients, they can immensely help and are usually very safe to take. We prescribe some here in my practice.
Colicky Baby Advice
If you think your baby gets colicky or fussy at a particular time of the evening, I found avoiding and limiting (some is okay) the following foods beneficial to reducing the wind and difficulty of digesting milk (yes, big hard vegies like cabbage and broccoli can cause lots of gas in the breastmilk!):
- Garlic, onion, chilli, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts
- Limit processed foods such as sugar, caffeine, and alcohol (I recommend Guinness or a dark stout if you fancy a drink, drink it while baby is feeding to prevent the alcohol going to the milk) half a can of guinness every two or three days.
- Drugs – over-the-counter, prescription and social drugs can adversely effect your baby such as valium and phenoarbitone
- Nicotine – affects the baby’s lungs, heart rate and can cause vomiting and diarrhoea. Smoking can reduce your supply
- Artificial sweeteners can cause hyperactivity
- Soft drinks and carbonated beverages – sparkling mineral water is lovely
- Fatty food
- Chocolate (I regret!)
- Lentils, beans, split peas (beware of ‘pea and ham’ soup)
- Acidic fruits (too many oranges, strawberries and berries. etc)
- Dairy – the most common allergenic food with up to 75 percent of society adverse to them. If you are sensitive to these products, please remember that you and your baby will be better off without them, although I believe small amounts are good so baby gets exposure of them through the milk. If you are concerned about calcium, making a soup with bones and adding a teaspoon of vinegar at the end can leach out the calcium into the soup, almonds, lots of leafy green, organic dried apricots, salmon. Greens are much more nutritious than phlegmy dairy.
- Rhubarb or sienna, aloe or cascara – laxatives which are strong and irritating on the body
- Protein bars and shakes can actually decrease your breastmilk supply. There is an array of artificial chemicals in some of these products (how can they last on the shelf for so long?).
Supplements
- Omega 3 & 6 – babies brain development and good essential fatty acids
- Vitamin E – promotes healthy skin for both mother and baby
- Zinc – can prevent Post-Natal Depression, prevents and can repair cracked nipples, and is great for tissue repair after birth
- Calcium/Magnesium – can assist the uterus to contract down well, assist with post-partum pains, bone & teeth development
- Multivitamin (make sure it does not have FOLIC ACID)
Helpful Teas
- Chamomile Tea – calms and soothes mother and baby’s nervous system
- Raspberry Leaf Tea – yes you can drink this afterbirth, safe whilst breastfeeding and supports the uterus to contract down, highly nutritive
- Fennel – good for milk production and weight loss
I also recently had feedback from a colleague that after a cesearian section, the bones of the baby’s skull are not compressed into place, and some chiropractics can improve the situation so baby can suckle effectively.
Breastfeeding tea – you can make your own tea with dill, fennel, fenugreek, nettle, blessed thistle and alfalfa
Galactalogues
A substance that increases milk supply is called a galactalogue.
Breastfeeding tea – you can make your own tea with using a combination fennel, fenugreek, nettle, blessed thistle and alfalfa.
Oatmeal or oat porridge is said to support milk production.
Flower Essences – An amazing vibrational medicine Dr Ilana often prescribes in her practice to help her patients with all kinds of physical and emotional imbalances. Very safe and effective.
Guiness or stout is said to be a galactalogue, in moderate doses.
Recipes
I have some Traditional Chinese Medicine recipes, please email if you would like them. This adzuki bean juice recipe has been especially written with breastfeeding mothers in mind.
Adzuki Bean Juice
Soak 1 cup of Adzuki beans overnight.
Simmer 1 cup of beans to 5 cups of water for 1 hour. Remove the juice and keep cooking the beans – they can be added to a dish or eaten with vegies or salad etc. Drink 1/2 a cup of this juice 1/2 an hour before meals.
Black Sesame Seed Pudding or Porridge
Ingredients : 200 g black sesame seeds, 30 g rice, rock sugar
For pudding:
1. Blend soaked rice and sesame seeds into paste.
2. Combine with water and cook it into a thin gruel.
For porridge:
1. Cook the rice porridge.
2. Blend sesame seeds and add to the rice.
3. Add rock sugar to taste.
Lettuce with Rice Wine
Ingredients : 200 g lettuce leaves, 30-50 cc Chinese rice wine, meat stock
1. Cook lettuce briefly in a little soup.
2. Add salt and rice wine. Ensure that the wine is cooked until all the alcohol has evaporated.
3. Eat both soup and lettuce.
Longan and Red Date Tea
Ingredients : 10 pieces of dried longan fruit, 20-40 dried red dates (with the seeds removed), an optional ingredient of 4-5 g of tan kwei(angelica sihensis)
1. Boil and simmer ingredients in 6-8 cups of water for 45 minutes to one hour until the liquid is fragrant and tasty.
2. Drink throughout the day.
Fish Curry
Ingredients : 500 g fish of your choice or flower crabs, 2-3 tomatoes, 1 tsp fennel seed (ground), curry powder (add to taste), salt, pepper, 1-2 bowls of asam water, 2 large onions (chopped)
1. Add oil into a pot or wok.
2. Add onions and curry powder.
3. Stir and add fish or flower crab into the pot.
4. Add fennel seed and asam water.
5. Add tomatoes and salt
6. Seasons to taste
7. Served with boiled rice
Chicken Soup for Strength (to reduce wind and enhance energy)
Ingredients : 1 spatchcock (optional remove most of the skin), 1 pc ginger, 1 onion, grind together: 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1.2 tsp black pepper seeds and 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1. Place grinded ingredients in muslin cloth, tie up into a ball and boil together with chicken for 1 hour.
2. Boil with 1 clove, 1 stick cinnamon, 1 tomatoes and 1/2 tsp salt to taste.
Chicken Curry for Milk Production
Ingredients : 1 chicken cut into pieces with bones, 1 tbsp fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1tsp black pepper seeds, 1/2 tsp tumeric powder, 3 cloves garlic, 1 pc ginger, 1 tomato (diced), 1 onion (cut finely), 1 clove, 1 stick cinnamon, 1 cupwater, 3 tbsp oil
1. Fry ground ingredients in oil.
2. Add onion, clove and cinnamon, add chicken and fry gently to seal juices.
3. Add 1 cup of water and cook till boiling, then simmer for 45 minutes (or until you think it is cooked well)
4. Add tomato half way through cooking
5. Add salt to taste.
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