Remedies for milk supply issues
Breastfeeding is hard to get used to – especially when your body deals you the supply-issue card. Maybe you have so much your boobs hurt and you keep getting clogged ducts, or maybe you have so little your babe seems fussy, or worse, seems to have given up and turns away when you try to feed. Maybe there seems to be an issue of quality – it comes out curdled, or thick (you’ll see this most obviously when pumping or expressing into a container of course) or tastes bitter (if you are bold enough to taste your own!). Luckily, there are a lot of options homeopathically for these issues.
If baby is spitting up a lot or making “yuck” faces, I suggest getting a homeopath to talk about both you and your baby. At this point in life, the two of you are so connected, knowing which one needs treatment may be a bit difficult. For example, babies that spit up curdled, insanely sour-smelling milk may need the remedy Calc-carb. It may appear as if your milk is sour and curdled, because that’s what it looks like when baby spits it up (even if it’s right away), but it’s not a problem with your milk quality, but babe’s digestion. La Leche League also lists green, explosive stools in babe as a sign of oversupply in mom – so treating your oversupply may help babe’s digestion. But this same symptom is also common in colicky babies. In essence, it’s hard to determine what is causing what, without having someone take your case and the baby’s case.
Onto remedies!
Supply is too high:
Pulsatilla, Bryonia and Belladonna are the first three to consider – however, as always, there are many, many possibilities. All three have increased milk and lumps, like clogged ducts (which are common if your supply is high). If you tend to be weepy in this early postpartum stage, feeling timid or you tend to just give in to what other people say, then take the Pulsatilla. Pulsatilla patients may also be hot, like the fresh air (like a fan on or a window open), feel worse when getting heated and suffer from varicose veins.
If you need Bryonia, you are more likely to become irritable with your postpartum hormones raging, and feel better if you rest and do not move a muscle; typically any kind of motion makes Bryonia patients feel worse.
If you need Belladonna, there may be thirst, restlessness, fevers (if you develop something like mastitis, for example), or other signs of infection and/or inflammation. The breasts may be red and swollen, or you may have a uterine infection that results in smelly, lumpy lochia.
Supply is too low:
Vitex: This is Vitex Agnus Castus, or chastetree. This is commonly prescribed as an herbal product during/before pregnancy to improve fertility and naturally increase progesterone levels. But if you continue taking it after giving birth and you are having low milk supply, then you need to talk to the prescribing provider ASAP. Vitex decreases milk supply. That’s what it does. So if you are taking it herbally and want to breastfeed, you need to at least decrease your dose if not give it up altogether. Buuuut because of the law of similars, if you are not taking it herbally and your supply is low, then its something to consider taking homeopathically. If you need Vitex, (called Agnus Castus in homeopathic circles) then you may have deep sadness with a feeling you will die soon or feeling you would rather be dead than be alive and feel this way. Complete loss of all libido and inability to become sexually excited would further indicate taking Vitex homeopathically.
Dulcamara: Dulcamara has lots of internal restlessness, impatience and likes to quarrel with people, although not in an angry way. The most common use of dulcamara is if milk dries up while/after you get sick – catch a cold, flu or mastitis - any kind of sickness. If the illnesses causes your milk to decrease, go grab some of this.
Calc-carb: If you tend to be timid, but not necessarily weepy, with fear about the future and your health, lose your hair, have suffered prolapse (of the uterus or rectum), then Calc-Carb may be your remedy. People who need calc carb tend to be very sensitive to the cold.
Zinc: People who need Zincum may perspire easily and copiously, be very restless, have a very changeable mood and have urinary leakage when coughing, sneezing, or just walking around. Sounds like the early postpartum huh?? If your libido dramatically increases in the early postpartum, you got horrible varicose veins during pregnancy, or you have been trembling a lot, then the use of Zincum would be further supported.
Sources: Boenninghausen’s Characteristics, Allen’s Handbook