Traditional Chinese herbs to increase breastmilk supply

After a woman gives birth at a hospital, a doctor will likely follow up with her, making sure she's healing internally. Sadly, most doctors only offer pain-relief drugs at this point, giving no practical advice for some common challenges that women are bound to face after giving birth. When a new mother plans to build her newborn's immune system with her own colostrum and breast milk, she needs the best support. Struggles that may come up include dealing with post partum mood changes, low milk supply, or troubles with her baby latching correctly.

Breastfeeding is the ultimate way to protect a newborn from viruses. In this study, breast milk protected newborns from live rotavirus strains that were injected via vaccine. Breast milk gave the infants immunity to three rotavirus vaccine strains, RV1, RV5 G1, and 116E. Breast milk exerts specific IgA and neutralizing activity against all three virus strains, proving it's superiority in immune system development.

Helping the mother persevere with breast feeding
To empower the newborn's immune system and establish a strong bond between mother and baby, it's best to encourage and support breastfeeding. A willing mother, accompanied by a supportive, father, can overcome early breastfeeding challenges, even if a pediatrician tries to intervene and push formula feeding against the parents' will. The father figure is there to protect the family from doubts and misleading orders coming from systematic pediatricians. He is also there to encourage the mother without being pushy. His non-judgmental presence helps the mother press on with breastfeeding even when her emotions are exhausted. A lactation consultant can also provide great technique and emotional support as well, especially in the latching-on stages. In the end, the mother and newborn's instincts will kick in.

Supporting the mother's microbiome to help with post partem mood changes
Sometimes a mother may feel tired, emotionally inhibited, inadequate, idle, or unable to feed her newborn correctly. These emotions, which are normal, can hurt her milk supply and milk let-down. In these times, emotional support is important. To stay mentally and emotionally strong, a new mother may also need to supplement with probiotics. By supporting the mother's microbiome with healthy bacteria colonies, including apple cider vinegar with the mother, fermented foods, or a quality probiotic supplement, everything can change for the better within her microbiome. Suddenly the mother's ability to absorb nutrients increases, also allowing the good bacteria in the gut to protect the blood from toxins that may have been traveling into the blood stream and triggering chemical imbalances in the brain.

What is a Galactagogue?
If a mother's milk supply starts to feel low due to emotional hindrances or due to a newborn's frequent feeding patterns, it's important to be proactive and increase clean water intake and nutrition levels. Supplementing with nutrient-dense chlorella or spirulina increases nutrition levels of the breast milk, while delivering cleansing chlorophyll and an influx of nutrients to the baby.

If milk supply is low, the situation may be remedied with highly nutritious galactagogue herbs. A galactagogue is a natural substance that increases a mother's breast milk production. Two herbs that enrich breast milk with quality nutrition content are nettle leaf and alfalfa. These herbs can be infused in a tea. One to two tablespoons of these herbs can be brewed in simmering water for 20 to 30 minutes to produce a tea high in vitamins K, A, iron and calcium. The tea can be made three times a day if the mother prefers. It can be combined with a bitter herb called blessed thistle, which is also good for relieving postpartum depression.

Red raspberry leaf, high in niacin and a whole spectrum of vitamins and minerals, is perfect to add to the tea. Its healing action can also help the uterus recover after birth. Two seeds that stimulate breast milk production are fennel and fenugreek. These seeds are also good for regulating hormones and ensuring adequate breast milk supply.