Immediately after giving birth to EW Baby, the nursing staff encouraged skin-on-skin and breastfeeding. I was lucky, and EW Baby had a great latch from the very first day! However, as a new mom, I was concerned whether he was getting anything out at all. The first couple days postpartum, the nurses would come in at every shift and ask "
Has your milk come in yet?" They would take turns trying to hand express milk from my breast which was rather uncomfortable, but well-meaning. When nothing (not even colostrum) appeared to visibly come out, they would reassure me that babies are very effective feeders (better than pump or hand expressing), and that "he's probably getting something."
When my milk had not come in by the second day, I asked my mom to go down to the gift shop and purchase this
Earth Mama Angel Baby Organic Milk Tea for me. The ingredients are fenugreek, fennel seed, red raspberry leaf, stinging nettle leaf, milk thistle seed, orange peel, anise seed, caraway seed and alfafa leaf. Shortly after I began drinking this tea - whether due to the tea or nature or a combination - my milk came in!
I have since continued to drink this tea - usually 1-2 cups a day and have found that it does make a notable difference in my milk supply. It did take a little getting used to as it has a strong herbaceous taste. I also smelled very strongly of maple syrup initially (this is a noted side effect). However, the bottom line is it works! I've recommended this tea to my sister-in-law and she prefers it iced with some sugar.
