Fenugreek!

We celebrated Ginger's 8 month birthday earlier this week, on 9/13, I am in SHOCK that in just 4 more short months, I will have a 1 year old. Crazy! Having returned to work a few weeks ago, I knew it was inevitable that my milk supply would dwindle, even with pumping. It's just not the same as breastfeeding her 5-6 times a day. So I've been stressing a bit trying to figure out what to do. Do I try to pump more often? Do I begin supplementing with formula? Will that give her gas? Do I quit? Is it more of a pain to continue for 4 months, or will it be a pain if I start supplementing with formula, only to make another change to regular whole milk in a few months?

All of this stress ended up causing me to produce less milk, so I did some research and found that there is an herb (in pill form) called fenugreek that is supposed to naturally enhance mommy's milk production. I really didn't believe that it would work- but I gave it a shot. I've been taking it for 3 days now, and WOW when they say it works within 24-72 hours, it's REALLY true. I am back to producing enough to put Ginger within range of what she needs daily. So I thought I would post this for a few reasons- one, because I want a reminder when we're on our second child that this is what I did, LOL! Second, who knows who reads my blogs but if there is someone who could benefit from reading that it works, then great.

Something I thought was funny is that I read that Fenugreek is used in developing countries to create an artificial maple syrup. When I read more about it, I learned that taking the recommended dose can make your oil glands output a kind of maple syrup smell. And it totally does. I dream of pancakes all day, LOL. I also read that sometimes, your baby can end up smelling like maple syrup too. We haven't experienced that yet, but hey it could be much worse than the smell of syrup. It's kinda one of my favorite smells so I'll take it if I don't have to make the change for now!