Insights & Discussion
Consumption of fenugreek herbal tea and palm dates appears useful in enhancing breast milk production during the initial postpartum period.
The study had 75 puerperal women randomized into one of three groups for two weeks: a fenugreek herbal tea group, a palm dates group, and a control group with no galactagogue. Maternal milk volume was gauged on the third postpartum day by manually pumping the breasts. To track the impact on the babies, the infants were weighed on specific days - day 0, 3, 7, and 14.
Women who consumed fenugreek or dates had a noticeable breast milk volume increase on the third day postpartum. Additionally, infants who fed on maternal milk from mothers consuming dates registered weight gain on the seventh day. The infants in the fenugreek and the control group on the other hand, were still under their birth weight at this point. By the fourteenth day, there was no significant difference in any of the groups regarding the infant’s weight.
Discover Related Insights
Date fruit consumption appears to be useful for promoting and increasing breast milk quantity in breastfeeding mothers. Date fruits may be an alternative galactagogue.
2021 Breastfeeding Medicine The Effects of Date Fruit Consumption on Breast Milk Quantity and Nutritional Status of Infants Modepeng T, Pavadhgul P, Bumrungpert A, Kitipichai W
Randomised Controlled Trial Breastfeeding Date Fruit Galactagogues
Breastfeeding mothers who received 10 date fruits/day had an 11% increase in breast milk quantity from baseline to week 2, and a 23% increase from baseline to week 4, (both p < 0.05). The breast milk quantity of the breastfeeding mothers who received date fruits was significantly higher than that of the control group (p < 0.05). However, there were no differences in infant nutritional status.
Fenugreek improves breast milk production in mothers and increases the weight gain of newborns during their first week of life.
2020 Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health Effect of fenugreek on breast milk production and weight gain among Infants in the first week of life Ravi R, Joseph J
Randomised Controlled Trial Breast Milk Breastfeeding Fenugreek
The study was an experimental design carried out in two groups, a control and an experimental group, at a maternity centre in Bangalore. A total of sixty postnatal mothers were selected and split evenly between the two groups. For the experimental group, 7.5 grams of fenugreek was steeped overnight; this resulting fenugreek water was then given to these participants once in the morning for one week. The study then assessed and compared the frequency of urination and weight of the infants between the two groups at different points: on the first, third, fifth, and seventh days.
There was identifiable improvement in indicators of sufficient breast milk in the group that consumed the fenugreek compared to the control group. The influence of fenugreek on breast milk was identifiable through increased frequency of urination and weight gain in infants in their first week.