How Much Fenugreek?

I took this brand. http://www.gaiaherbs.com/product.php?id=302 I just took what the bottle suggested it worked amazingly well! I went from pumping barely 1 oz to pumping 8 oz or more! But beware you will smell like maple syrup!

My lactation nurse told to take 3 fenugreek capsules 3 times a day. You can also drink Mother's Milk tea - pretty tasty - can't hurt. Try adding sweet potatoes, apricots and brown rice to your diet too. I had very lazy boobs and did all of the above in order to nurse my son to age 10 months. Find a good hippy dippy granola crunching health food store, you can't get fenugreek at GNC.

Hi J. -

I take 3-4 capsules with every meal. There's a lot more you can do too! Yoga has actually helped me a lot, as has taking a few other herbs. I just found www.lowmilksupply.org - wish I'd seen this earlier! Good luck.

I struggled with my milk for months and months. I took 16 pills of fenugreek a day and I think 2 pills was 1200mg. I also took nursing teas, made my own teas with blessed thissle, fennel, rasp leaves and I also used Goat rue (hels stimulate mam glands). All this together helped but I still lost the battle at about 11 months. So devistating but I cant say I didnt try. Anyway to answer your questions, you can take as mush as you want but you can never stop taking that same amount or your milk will drop a lot. You can get a lot of herbs at http://www.rosemarysgarden.com/ and get goat rue and other things at herblore.com
good luck

My lactation consultant had me take 5 caps three times a day for one week and then slowly back down on the dose. It is true about the smell. My husband called me "Pancakes"! But it worked great. Good luck.

I don't know much about fenugreek; however I recently read that a hypothyroid can cause a low milk supply. I didn't get any milk in and have a hypothyroid. While researching hypothyroid I can across an article about low milk supply.
Best of luck!
C.

Hi J.- I think if you just follow the directions on the back of the bottle- it may say 2 or 3 times a day- you should be fine. My sister had a ton of luck with it (both of them, actually) and we all swear by it.
Good luck!

Kellymom.com can tell you the dosage, but I know you must take enough that your sweat/body smell like maple syrup.

There's also a medication to help with lactation. Domperidone/Motilium
You need a prescription and to fill it at a compounding pharmacy or buy it online from inhousepharmacy.com (it's cheaper). it's "over the counter" in most countries. (It's not covered by insurance). The side effect is that it can make you really hungry :)

Good luck!

I varied from 2-3 capsules 2 times a day to 1 capsule 3 times a day, but it did give both me and the baby gas so beware! Also, it is a bloodthinner, so if you are on bloodthinners or any other medication you need to be aware of this. Should you need surgery, you have to stop taking it. Otherwise it worked to give me the boost I needed, but I did not take it for more than a few days in a row. I stopped having that full feeling and thought my supply was down, babies (I had twins) were satisfied so it was just me, not my supply.
Bless you & congrats on your new baby boy!

D. (mom of 5)

Hello J.,

I had a period with low milk production so I did start taking Fenugreek. At first I took only one pill per day . . . not much was happening so I went up to 3 pills per day (1 breakfast, 2 supper) with same amount of Blessed Thistle pills. Plus I started making a point at drinking more water. My production is right back up : ) Enough milk to start thinking about pumping some for possible other low period. Good Luck!! P.S.: some people told me that fenugreek is a detoxicant and may cause some headaches. Did not happen to me but be aware.

Start with 2 capsules 3 times a day. Also, having oatmeal a couple times a weeks.

J.,

I had great success with the fenugreek to the point where I went from low supply to over supply and quit taking it altogether. I was taking three capsules four times a day- right when I got up and at every meal. Be warned though you will start to smell a little like Maple Syrup- but it goes away when you quit taking it. I did not try the tea-

M.

I used the tea. I used one tea bag to make a cup of tea in the morning, then had another in the afternoon and another in the evening. Remember to also drink a lot of water and don't cut back on your calories too much. It's tempting after having a baby to go into diet mode to lose the baby weight, but don't while you are breastfeeding. If you cut back on your calories, the first place your body will respond will be in your milk production. Eat well, eat haelthy, drink lots of water and use the tea. You'll find your milk production will be great and you'll lose the weight anyway...