Introducing our new Food-Grown Breast-Feeding Complex

Boosting breast milk production

Eating a diet to support your blood sugar will support this milk production as well as your energy. When blood sugar drops too low from not following a balanced diet low in refined sugars or carbohydrates, not eating enough or leaving long gaps in between meals, eating will trigger stress hormones. This in turn reduces the production of hormones that initiate milk supply and the ‘let-down’ reflex when your baby is brought to the breast. Eat little and often, preferably three main meals and two snacks per day.

Eating a wholesome breakfast will replenish your reduced stores of glucose from feeding at night. You will also need to make sure that you are drinking enough water, around 6–8 glasses a day and this can include herbal teas, such as peppermint or fennel.

It is thought that the diet you eat during breastfeeding is the first stage of weaning for your baby. The breast milk changes in flavour and consistency according to the foods that you eat – garlic, for example, has been found in breast milk just an hour after the mother consumed it.

What about supplements?

The diet for healthy breastfeeding remains the same as that during pregnancy, but requires 500 more calories per day than your pre-pregnancy levels. If you have been eating a nourishing diet throughout your pregnancy your breast milk will be nutrient-rich. The Department of Health recommends specific nutrients that are required in higher amounts during breastfeeding.

A supplement designed to support Breastfeeding can improve your intake of important nutrients for breastfeeding and recovery from birth, especially if you are vegan or vegetarian. With our Breastfeeding Complex I wanted to look beyond the standard formulas that simply address poor milk production through fennel or fenugreek and address the wider issue; In order to support our babies, we as the mother require energy and enough of the right hormones in order to improve milk quality, and where necessary, milk quantity too. Breastfeeding Complex a unique complex of Food-Grown® nutrients and botanicals to support milk quality supply, the nervous system and energy requirements of the breastfeeding mama and nourishing the skin, hair and nails.

Stinging Nettle (or Urtica Dioica) and Fenugreek have been used for centuries as galactagogue herbs (breast milk enhancers) to improve milk supply and quality for lactating women. Their natural supply of iron and other minerals means that they are also used as a nutritiously rich plant to nourish the new mother after birth. Alongside these herbs the formula also provides Lutein, the primary carotenoid found within breastmilk to support the development of the brain and eyes during infancy. Supply in breastmilk is dependent on a mothers intake during pregnancy and breastfeeding and recent research has shown that supplementation with lutein during breastfeeding can enhance supply to the breastfed baby.

Fatty acids and Breastfeeding

Your baby will rely on your consumption of Omega 3 fats in your diet for the fatty acids DHA and EPA These fats remain as vital as they were in pregnancy for the healthy development of the brain and eyes. Following the guidelines on fats in pregnancy by eating eggs, nuts, seeds and their oils, oily fish and eggs regularly can greatly support this. You may also benefit from taking an Omega 3 Supplement, especially if you do not like to eat fish.

Breastfeeding can be one of the most profoundly intimate and loving exchanges between you and your baby. It can support a gentle transition from carrying your baby inside you and adjusting to the physical separateness that occurs naturally as a result of the birth. Take the time to listen and watch for your baby’s cues in the early weeks. In time you will start to do this subconsciously and it will soon become a rhythmic, symbiotic process for you both. Eating the right diet throughout the breastfeeding months will provide maximum nourishment for you and your baby.