Could My Baby Be Having an Adverse Reaction to Mother's Milk Tea?

I know a lot of people swear by that tea and by fenugreek and other herbal supplements, but I've been told that those products are not FDA approved and no studies have been done as to their safety for children drinking the breast milk. I'm a bit wary of herbs like that, especially if you consider how many herbs they say not to take/eat while you're pregnant. If you're really having trouble with your milk production and since your son is 5 months already, I don't think it's a bad thing to supplement some formula, especially if you nurse first for as long as you can, and then give your son a few more ounces of formula. Good luck!

The only way to know for sure if its the tea is to stop taking it and see what happens. Try drinking extra water to keep your milk supply up, we all get dehydrated in the winter.

Hi M.,

My son has gone through several stages in terms of his sleep - when he was about 5 months he would fight to stay awake at night and I would let him, and then he wouldn't sleep through the night, would be up for feedings, etc. What worked for us (in terms of sleep) was putting him down a lot earier - he goes down now at 6 or 6:30 for the night and he'll generally sleep until 7 or so. It made a huge difference - even if he wakes up once or twice, he goes right back to sleep. He's now 10 1/2 months and doing so much better with sleeping!

In terms of spitting up - it could be reflux. That would also cause problems with sleep because reflux is so uncomfortable for little ones when they are laying down, especially on their backs. My sister's daughter has it, and as far as I know it can onset with certain foods, or for no apparent reason at various times. So, it could be the tea, or it could just be his development. The only way my sister could get her daughter to sleep was to treat the refux and put her down on her tummy to sleep (yes, it goes against what we think of as safe, but if your baby can roll over, it's probably okay). After they started doing those things, she slept like a dream. Anyway, you could check with your pediatrician and see if reflux is a likely culprit or not.

Good Luck!

One of the things that doctors and such say about drinking tea while being pregnant and nursing is that there are few regulations on how the herbs are harvested, so there may be unknown chemicals and unintentional contact with other herbs, making a lot of things possible. I personally used mother's milk tea while pumping with my first child as I saw a decrease in my milk production. Like you, it happened around the time he was 4 months old. I now have my second child, who is almost 5 mos. old, and the same thing happened with her. I have deduced a couple of things. One, I am not a pumper. I can never pump the same amount that she is eating. Even with my expensive medela pump. Second, it seems to happen when the baby starts to eat significantly more. She is currently eating 6-7 oz. and I am only pumping 2-4. With my first child I was very stressed about this and was always trying to ration his bottles. But with my second, I am simply supplementing with formula. She doesn't like it straight, but I mix whatever I pumped with formula to equal the amount she eats.

Other things to consider:
Drink more water. I have found that if I down a couple of glasses of water within the hour I am going to pump, I produce more.
Have you eaten anything else different or started him on cereal? There may be something small that is triggering the spit up that you are overlooking.
Try a different milk-producing tea. I've seen a few on the internet. Check the main ingredients to see if they are different and give them a try. If it reduces the spit up then perhaps it was something in the mother's milk tea. Or just try to not do the tea for a couple of days and see if you notice a difference.

As for him being up at night and flailing his arms about, I think that is normal. Many babies go through grotwh spurts that make them hungry more often, and when they wake up at night to eat the sleep they had was more like a nap. My daughter (about the same age as your son) has started flailing arms and legs all the time. They just get excited that they can control the movements. And naps are probably short as he's working towards making a schedule of one long morning and one long afternoon nap. He just can't wait that long until his longer naps, so he takes little cat naps throughout the day. My daughter takes a couple of longer naps and a couple of cat naps (30 min.) right now. The only thing I think you should be concerned about is the sudden spitting up. And the only way to pinpoint what is causing that is to experiment with either other or no teas, and other foods you might be eating. Good luck!

I'm sorry to hear you're having some troubles! I have never heard that a baby could have a reaction to the MM tea, but it surely is possible. It is also possible that he's now reacting to something that you're eating. And I think that the evening episodes are also related.
I suggest contacting your lactation consultant. If you don't have one, I highly recommend mine, who also joins my weekly breastfeeding support group meetings on mondays in Naperville. Her name is Janet Talmadge (www.lactinv.com). Email me if you want to chat more. You can figure out what this is and get thru it!!! you can continue to nurse. I wish you teh best of luck.

None of my babies had a bad reaction to Mother's Milk Tea, but that's not to say it isn't possible. I agree with those who said to stop the tea for a bit and really up your intake of water and see what happens. It could be unrelated to the tea, but the only way to really know would be to stop the tea for a while to see. Good luck!

Hi M....First off you are doing a wonderful thing by continuing to breast feed your baby, even though you are working. I am the mother of 8, the oldest 24 and the youngest 13. I breastfed each and every one...so kudos to you! I did find that pumping did not produce as much milk as the baby actually nursing. I have not heard of this Mothers Milk Tea, but I know that herbs can cause an adverse affect in some people. Is there caffeine in this tea? Even if there is no caffeine there may be something that may give the same affect as caffeine. you would be surprised at the things that can affect breast milk and make your baby's tummy upset or even make the milk taste bad to them. If I were you, I would stay away from the tea for a bit and see if it makes a difference. Babies don't get to an age where they just spit up for no reason. Try that and see what happens. Sometimes the process of elimination is the best way to go! Good Luck!

First, I want to tell you I give you kudos for nursing while being a full-time worker. And like several others, I would encourage you to make sure you are getting plenty of water and as much rest as possible (yeah, I know you are working and have a 5 month old -- but if you can, on weekends nap when your baby naps so you can be well rested.) Also, I would caution you to supplement with formula unless of course your baby is losing weight. Because as I'm sure you are aware...breastfeeding is based on a supply and demand principle, so you don't want to interfere with the demand part of the cycle.

Secondly, I want to address the spitting up. I have several suggestions:

I suggest stopping the Mother's milk tea. It probably is not affecting your child negatively, but it doesn't hurt to stop for a short time. See if that makes a difference.

You could eliminate any dairy products from your diet and see if that makes a difference, but it would be less likely that this is the problem since your baby is 5 months old (and never had the reflux previously).

And if neither of these work to improve the reflux, then you probably need to make an appointment with your baby's doctor. In the meantime, you can also raise the head of your baby's bed slightly by placing a blanket or towel roll under the mattress. Keep the baby positioned upright for at least 20 minutes after a feeding, and minimize bouncing immediately after feeding sessions.

Hope this helps...and by the way: prior to being a SAHM, I was a pediatric nurse practitioner -- my bottom line is that if the reflux is a new thing, don't sit on it too long, as it could be an indication of something else, that the pediatrician could find with exam.

I have not heard of babies having any negative response to Mother's Milk Tea, but that is not to say it is impossible. In fact, some of the herbs used in the tea (fennel, fenugreek) are thought to ease and aid GI function. Could it be that the increase in your supply has led him to overeat a little at feedings (at least nursing sessions, I imagine he is getting the same amt from bottles) and therefore spitting up more? Not sure about the night/sleeping. It could be totally unrelated, like teething or something. But the best way to find out is stop drinking the tea and see if you notice a difference in a few days. Many women do not need to continue taking a supplement once they have achieved the increase they were looking for. Good luck.

Just an idea for you with the pumping. I noticed that for me I cannot usually pump the amount of milk that my baby can get from me directly. So in order to fill a bottle via the pump I discovered that if I pump while breast feeding it works MUCH better. I yield much more milk bc my baby is stimulating my milk ejection reflex. It was miserably tricky at first until I figured out that if I set her up on a pillow on one side of me in the football hold position and let her nurse, I can then pump on the other side easily while she nurses. Perhaps try this in the evening when you are home. And again, kudos for nursing while working full time!!!

Could be! Since your supply is back up, try stopping the tea for a couple weeks and see if he gets better. If he does and your supply goes back down, try taking Fenugreek capsules (the main active ingredient in the tea) and maybe he will tolerate it alone better than everything else in the tea.
Good Luck!

Call your dr. and see what they say...I feel like people throw allergies and reflux around way too often. Call your Dr. and see what they have to say. You and your dr. know what is best.

Did you have to give formula at all in the time when your supply was decreased? Sometimes breastfed babies have a hard time adjusting to formula. Otherwise it could be a developmental stage. Good luck.

Try eliminating it from your diet and if he stops then you know that is it if not it could be something else-broccoli, garlic and dairy are also other sensitivity triggers for baby. It could be the fenugreek-there are other products out there to increase your breast milk. I found that there is a product called mama milk extract which is organic at www.babybellybotanicals.com. I have been studying herbology for 5 years now and sometimes you do have to switch and i have 4 children that I have used various natural organic products on.

T.

Design your own diaper bag or purse!! www.bspurses.com/tvanschoyck

Hi M.,
Does the spitting up happen after you nurse? I've read that if ones milk supply is overabundant, the baby will stop nursing before receving the hindmilk. They will get too much foremilk and this causes the spitting up.
I'm also a ft working mom and have been drinking Fenugreek Seed Tea during the day to increase the amount I pump. My DS has had no reactions to the tea.

Has he started rolling over or crawling? Once our baby started rolling over, the spitting up increased because he was on his belly a lot. Once he started crawling and moving more, he realized that he was more independent and bedtime became a little more tricky for a while.

Or, it could be the tea.

I never consumed that particular tea but, I breastfed all 4 of my children until they were at least 18 months old. My oldest had colic at 6pm nightly until I stopped drinking milk. I didn't do it just because of the colic. We had an eye infection that they said we would recover faster from if we didn't consume milk because it helps make too much mucus. So when I discontinued the milk consumption, I was pleasantly surprised as we expected the colic to begin at 6pm that evening that the colic attack was replaced by a happy cooing baby!! By the way, I also took the herb called Eyebright to help recover from the eye infection faster. I noticed they were always grumpier and more gassy whenever I ate broccoli as well.