When to start breastfeeding tea and how does it work? All information for you

Things worth knowing about breastfeeding tea

Breastfeeding offers you and your baby many advantages . There is countless information and reports on the composition and use of breastfeeding teas. Here you get an overview of the most important facts.

• Breastfeeding tea is a herbal tea mixture that is said to have a milk-forming effect. However, this effect has not yet been scientifically proven. From practical experience, however, we know that breastfeeding teas work well for some women, but have little effect on others.
• Even if you don’t get the desired effect of the tea, you’re still doing something good for your body by drinking the tea. You should drink a lot, especially while breastfeeding, to avoid dizzy spells.
• The types of tea available on the market have different compositions, but mostly contain caraway, fennel and aniseed. You can buy nursing teas at drugstores, pharmacies, and health food stores. Even well-stocked supermarkets now carry still teas. Alternatively, you can mix your breastfeeding tea yourself.
• Just as some herbs have a positive effect on milk production, there are some that have the opposite effect. Peppermint and sage , for example. You should not drink teas made from these herbs while breastfeeding. However, it can be helpful if you decide to stop breastfeeding.

Practical tips for using breastfeeding tea

When using breastfeeding tea, you should pay attention to a few things.

• It takes a little time for the milk-forming effect to kick in. The length of time is very individual. So start drinking the breastfeeding tea in the last few weeks of pregnancy.
• If you are breastfeeding, you should drink a lot. Nevertheless, caution is required with the amount of breastfeeding tea. If it is too high, it can actually lead to less me. Limit yourself to three cups a day.
• Dose the tea carefully at first. Even if you have little milk shortly after birth, you should be able to provide your baby with sufficient milk. If you drink a lot of breastfeeding tea from the start, you may have more milk than your baby needs . Your bulging breasts will hurt and you may have to pump out excess milk.
• This is how you prepare the nursing tea: Pour boiling water over 2 – 3 teaspoons of the herbal mixture and let it steep for 8-10 minutes.

Breastfeeding tea ready mixes under criticism

Ready-mixes for breastfeeding tea are always the subject of criticism. Whether from the supermarket or from the pharmacy. Studies have examined nitrate, pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) and pesticides in still teas. They led to the following result:

• Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA): The value for the PA in particular was often many times higher than the guide value specified by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). The reason for the high values ​​are the additional herbs in nursing teas. For humans, PA are carcinogenic and liver-damaging.
• Nitrate values: The nitrate values ​​found were below the permissible limit for drinking water and are therefore considered harmless. However, some samples contained this critical ingredient. If you take in too much nitrate, it will be converted to nitrite in your body. This can then result in nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic.
• Pesticides: Most of the teas tested contained at least trace amounts of pesticides. This is to be expected with conventional products. The measured value was below the permissible limit and is therefore acceptable. Things are different with organic teas. No pesticides should be detectable here, but they were actually found in some products.

This is how you make breastfeeding tea yourself

If you want to mix your own breastfeeding tea, you should use the following herbs:

• Basic herbs: aniseed (encourages sleep and stimulates milk flow), black cumin (anti-bloating), fennel (anti-bloating and antispasmodic).
• Additional herbs: Here you have many options to create a mixture according to your needs. Dill seeds, lemon verbena and fenugreek, for example, have a milk-forming effect. Marjoram relaxes and lemon balm calms. You can add raspberry leaves to stimulate the intestines.
• Make sure that the herbs for the tea come from organic farming . Or even from your own garden.

Experiment to find the right mix for you. As an example, try the following recipe first:

• Ingredients: 50 g each of fennel seeds and aniseed as basic herbs. As additional herbs, 30 g each of fenugreek, nettle leaves, lemon balm leaves and black cumin seeds.
• Crush the seeds with the mortar and mix them with the other ingredients. If you want to store the tea, fill it in an airtight and light-protected container.
• To prepare, pour boiling water over a teaspoon of the mixture per cup and let the tea steep for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add honey or lemon juice to improve flavor, if desired.