Does Fenugreek Work?

Fenugreek gave my son diarrhea and I had to stop taking it before I could notice a difference. I have heard pros about it but also just as many cons.

YES! Fenugreek is the only reason I was actually able to breastfeed my daughter for a full year- it is the best thing ever! My supply was always low and nothing else worked. I would take 4-6 pills every day (2-3 in the morning and 2-3 at night). I would adjust the dose based on how my supply was. I used Fenugreek regularly for almost the entire year I was breastfeeding. I never really noticed the maple syrup smell, but maybe I just got used to it since I took it for so long.

It worked for me. I bought a big bottle of the capsules at GNC and took 3 two times a day. I think it does make your body odor smell a bit like maple syrup and your pee BUT it did up my supply and after I got the increase, I stopped taking them and it stayed up. I really reserved them for those times that I was feeling too tired or ill so my supply was dipping. I never tried any of the teas or anything that other people recommend. Have you also tried re-starting the letdown feature on your pump to get a second letdown and more milk? That helped me a LOT with baby #2 ... gave me an extra couple of oz every time!

It did not work for me.

I took 4 pills twice a day and it worked for me. Whole milk and Ben & Jerry's ice cream also worked. I think it was the fat content, but whenever I was low I'd dig into a pint of NY Superfudge Chunk and the next day I'd be back up to normal levels.

And yes, it makes you smell like maple syrup. When I went back to work I kept hearing people say they smelt pancakes all the time.

A.

Same thing happened to me. My lactation consultant recommended I buy More Milk Plus, an herbal supplement that contains fenugreek, blessed thistle, and some others. You can get it at Whole Foods or any other natural market. I don't remember smelling like anything and no one ever said anything to me about it!

Definitely try this before you move to formula. I know so many women who gave up around 7-8 months because they just thought they couldn't do it. I also increased my pumping just to make sure and I pumped like crazy on the weekends to make sure I had enough during the week. It was stressful, but VERY worth it.

Good luck!

at first it did for me, but i developed a tolerance.

Here's what I learned about fenugreek from kellymom.com and my LC's:
- you have to take enough until your body smells like maple syrup (for me, this was 25 capsules)
- for most women, it needs to be taken along with brewer's yeast and/or another supplement that I can't remember right now.

You'll get other ideas from kellymom - the best site out there for breastfeeding, IMO. I know moms who swore by so many diff methods and not every one will work for every mom. Good luck!

It worked for me. You may smell like maple syrup. I could think of a LOT worse things to smell like,

I used mother's milk tea which has it in it and I swear it worked. It can't hurt to try it.

I took fenugreek when my daughter was about 8 months old for the same reason. You have to take quite a bit of it though.. like 6 pills a day or something, spaced out (check around on this). You do smell like maple syrup when you sweat! :) Also check out this article: http://www.examiner.com/attachment-parenting-in-erie/erie...

Congrats and tons of support in your goal to continue nursing!!

1) doubtful your supply is decreasing unless you are ONLY pumping. If you nurse her when at home and pump only when away - your supply will be normal.

2) using the pump as a way to gauge your milk supply is extremely misleading. What you get 3 times pumping in different sessions, your child can get out of ONE nursing session. Pumps are machines, they don't get even 25% of what the human baby mouth can get.

3) Fenugreek does work for most women, but works best when paired with Blessed Thistle. Both supplements can be found at health food stores. Yes you will smell like maple syrup - which is what you need to work up to in order to know it's at high enough levels.

www.kellymom.com offers great advice to increasing milk supply too.

when I pumped at work I took fenugreek & ate a bowl of oatmeal everyday and it seemed to work like magic. not sure what's in oatmeal, but that did work. (get the best oats you can find)

my sweat smelled a bit like maple syrup but it wasn't THAT noticable.

also, take some fiber or add a little into your oatmeal bc fenugreek can constipate you a bit.

good luck mama!

I SWEAR by it. I took it and man, I was my a gold mine for my son! I worked part time in the office and pumped - I was worried I wasn't producing enough. After reading about Fenugreek - I tried it. I would take 3 in the am, 2 or 3 in the afternoon and I think 1 or 2 at night. I could feed my son and pump a 4oz bottle! I didn't smell like maple syrup like it says it can do, it really really worked for me!

It did work for me, but it caused me to have diarrhea (I would suggest increasing the dose gradually).
More importantly though is that a)my daughter did not tolerate it (intense colic) and b) I am slightly asthmatic and didn't know it beforehand but fenugreek can cause asthma attacks in those susceptible so I had to discontinue it :( This of course doesn't mean you will have any of these problems! I just wanted to give some possible adverse reactions.
If you would like a list of galactologues, I can send you some. I have several books on increasing milk as I had to find alternatives to the traditional Mother's Milk tea.
People in India actually use fenugreek traditionally in their cooking because of the sweet smell secreted in sweat; makes for an easy deoderant ;)

it worked for me. something else that worked is hot chocolate - don't ask me why, my grandma said that's what she and her sisters used "back in the day". I'm not sure if it was the hot chocolate, or the increased in fluid that worked, but I ran with it - haha.

Why do you think your supply is decreasing? Because you aren't able to pump as much maybe? That is very common. The baby is always going to be far better and get far more from you than the pump can. And the more stressed you are the harder it is to get anything from the pump. I knew with my second that I had plenty of milk but couldn't pump to save my life! But with my first I pumped exclusively for his first 12 weeks so go figure! you might also try a renting a different style pump to see if that makes a difference or maybe even a manual one.

And at 7 months old she shouldn't be eating enough to cause your supply to decrease. Remember, food is only for practice at this stage and not to replace any of your good stuff! :)

My daughter hated when I used it. It didn't work very well for us, and yes, everything from breastmilk to perspiration to urine smelled like rancid maple syrup.

Oatmeal and dark beers worked better.