Things to Avoid During Lactation
While I don’t generally love telling parents what they can and can’t do or eat etc during lactation, there are a couple of things to be aware of that can have an impact on milk supply. This list isn’t exhaustive and you should always check with your primary caregiver or lactation specialist.
Peppermint - Excessive amounts of peppermint could lower milk supply in some mothers.
Sage Tea - Due to the drying properties of sage and infant gut hypersensitivity, it is recommended to avoid sage either as tea or in foods.
Pseudoephedrine, otherwise known as Sudafed, is used as a decongestant, meaning it is used to dry up mucus. In women with marginal or low supply, this can cause further milk loss and it is generally recommended to avoid it while breastfeeding for most breastfeeding parents.
Some birth control contain the hormone Estrogen - Estrogen blocks Prolactin which is the hormone required for milk making. So choosing either a non hormonal contraception or one that a Progestogen only like the mini pill is a better choice. (I will do a seperate post about using breastfeeding as birth control in another post).
Super Tight / Binding Bras - Compression can help dry up milk supply so find a comfortable bra or nursing tank with a good shelf that holds the girls in place without being restrictive, also make sure, no underwire.
Cabbage Leaves - Cabbage gets thrown around a lot as a natural way to relieve engorgement. But here is the thing, engorgement is the body’s natural reaction to doing what the baby told it to do and what you worked so hard for, MILK! You did all the work to get through night two and cluster feeding, that the body responded favourably by producing copies amounts of milk. It’s a great sign (I’m high fiveing you by the way!)! So after you worked hard to bring in the milk, I would prefer you move the milk through feeding the baby or doing some expressing (just to comfort, be careful not to create an over supply), using warm and cold compresses before and after feeds, rather than trying to down regulate the milk supply. It is temporary and usually passes in 24-48hrs.
Caffeine - In some babies can cause fussiness and gassy symptoms so if you are overdoing the caffeine (because hello sleep deprivation), that might be the first one to look at before suspecting an allergy, colic or reflux as is often the first thing that is blamed, and try drink it after a feed rather than before. Daily recommendations are 200mg so check out the caffeine content of your beverage to see how many you can have per day.
As always, the above is a guide and doesn’t replace a good chat with your health care provider or a lactation specialist.
