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I’ve been nursing my third baby a year now. It’s such a blessing to have nursed three babies now with a healthy supply. Having a healthy supply is so important, and there are some foods I found that increase breast milk supply, which I had no idea. I knew these 5 foods will increase your supply and help you lose baby weight, but with further research, I found out there are more lactogenic foods out there we can count on to increase supply! this post contains affiliate links.
Here’s the list of 5 Foods You Didn’t Know Increase Breast Milk Supply
Green Papaya: This is first on the list because did you even know there is such thing as a green papaya? Well, it’s really just an unripe papaya. Apparently green papayas are popular in Asia as a breastfeeding food. I’m not sure how it tastes green because I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on my list to attempt.
Alfalfa: I immediately think of horses because we fed our horses Alfalfa growing up, but that’s not the same. The Alfalfa that is a lactogenic food is from the pea family. It’s one of the oldest and most cultivated crops in history. It contains phyto-estrogens, which can help milk production. You can put it on sandwiches or salads in sprout form or drink a tea. It can enter the blood system and your milk, so if you do notice your baby getting gassy, reduce your intake a bit.
Coffee Substitutes: Okay this isn’t really a food, but apparently many of the coffee substitutes have chicory or dandelion, which are lactogenic herbs.
Poppy Seeds: This is a great one because its so easy to grab poppy seed muffins at any bakery. Poppy seeds help moms relax, which helps produce more milk. The poppy seeds have sedative effects, which is super important to allow your body to produce milk.
Bottle Gourd: This is a seasonal vegetable that is high in water content. It has a lot of nutrients like vitamin C, phosphorous, folate, iron and potassium, and helps keep you hydrated, which is essential to breast milk production.
Those are the five foods I had no idea could increase milk supply. If you are having trouble with your supply, see the tricks my sister and I used to increase our supply overnight.