Fenugreek - Tampa, FL

Have you checked health food stores in your area?

Just in case you haven't tried, increasing frequency and duration of nursing can often help increase supply. A lot of skin to skin contact, maybe even carrying the baby in a sling and letting him nurse as often as possible.

Some doctors recommend using the formula-feeding model of timing feedings based on watching a clock, but that can possibly cause a decrease in supply and slow gain.

Also, if you have not already found a local group, the Florida La Leche League meetings are posted at http://www.lllusa.org/FL/groups/index.html Attending meetings can be helpful with getting the information and support to succeed with breastfeeding. Good luck to you!

It produces gas in my baby's tummy, so I use Healthy nursing tea which's great boosting my supply with no tummy issues in my baby.

Like the message before check with Natural Health Food Stores. I went to Chucks in Brandon and picked up my Fenugreek, I also picked up More Milk Plus, its a tinture I would put the dosage in a glass of tea. Both of these products really work. You will be a milk producing machine :)

Fenugreek has a really good properties to it, even if you are not breastfeeding. Good luck to you. Glad see someone else using it. :)

I found that my milk supply increased when I upped my water consumption.

Check Nature's Harvest on MacDill or the Natual Supermarket just S. of Bay to Bay on MacDill. Those will be your best bets. Have you attended a local LLL meeting?

I used Fenugreek and I am one of those that SWEAR by it and I had so much milk at times that it would be litterly squirtting my poor baby in his face! I didn't smell like maple syrup or have a weird craving for it or taste in my mouth or any other side effects. I'm sorry I can't help with locations in South Tampa but others have made suggestions. Any health food store has it and I think - I think - I've seen it in like Walmart. The health food store we got to is off of 56 st and Fowler.

Good luck to you all!

I don't know of any place specific in S. Tampa but I was able to get mine at GNC. But to be honest, the Fenugreek didn't work for me with either one of my children. I have friends who it did work for...so who know. :-)

Hello - I didn't know what Fenugreek is so I looked it up and found the following:

"Fenugreek probably has little effect on milk supply until a mother takes large amounts of (about three capsules, three times per day, but this varies from pill-to-pill) and her milk and urine begin to smell like maple syrup, though no clinical trials have been conducted to prove or disprove this relationship. When a mother takes large quantities of fenugreek, the baby begins to smell like maple syrup too, and some babies have been misdiagnosed as having "maple syrup urine disease," a serious metabolic disorder. Another danger associated with fenugreek is that the herb is related to peanuts, the food most likely to cause an allergy. The possibility of an allergic reaction in a baby is quite high, and many cases of colic, stomach upset, and diarrhea have been reported among babies whose mothers take fenugreek.
My own experience counseling women to use fenugreek to enhance milk production has been mixed. Many mothers at our lactation center report that fenugreek had no effect on their milk supply, while others are quite laudatory about its effect on the amount of milk they produce. The pills can be found at most vitamin and nutrition stores and at many supermarkets and natural foods stores. Fenugreek can also be taken in tea form, although tea is believed to be less potent than the pills and the tea comes with a bitter taste that can be hard to stomach."

Back to me:
I am a mother of a 2 1/2 year old and I nursed her exclusively for 14 months. I noticed that my milk supply fluctuated. For example it was really high the more I pumped. LOVE my Medela electric dual pump! I even pumped when I didn't have anything to pump. But that action of pumping was producing more milk and eventually I'd have new milk coming in before my regular time to produce it. You are in control of your milk supply. The more you stimulate your let-down, the more milk you'll make. Also, one weekend I left my 5 month old daughter at home for 3 days while I vacationed in New Orleans. I took my pump with me and pumped 4 times daily (just to keep my flow up). I noticed when I got home my flow had lightened. But not to fret! I just nursed and pumped more and my flow eventually caught back up. One could even lose her milk supply for a couple days and get it back. Stimulation is key.
If you already knew all this, apologies for the reduncancy. But if not, hope this info helps!
Good luck!