Low breast milk supply according to Chinese Medicine

Low levels of milk supply is often due to Liver Qi Stagnation, an issue where Qi gets blocked in the Liver and cannot flow freely to the breasts.

The Liver and nipples are connected through the Liver Channel. To deal with low lactation due to this specific pattern, the Liver needs to be pacified and Qi needs to be moved by eliminating Stagnation. Only when the Stagnation is removed from the Liver Channel that connects to the breasts can the new mum can be encouraged to promote lactation.

A nursing mother is often emotional and stressed after delivering her baby because she need to adopt new habits and a new schedule around the newborn. This is the main reason causing Liver Qi Stagnation. On top of that, lacking of sleep or worries about milk supply worsen the situation. It is suggested that the nursing mother avoids emotional problems and try her best to be isolated from any source of irritation or worry.

Milk Boost Tea is an ideal formula to tackle this pattern as it contains many herbs that promote Qi movement such as Flowering quince fruit (Mu Gua) or Rose flower (Me Gui Hua). 

Read more about Liver Qi Stagnation here

The main cause for the formation of Phlegm is Spleen Deficiency since the Spleen rules the transformation and transportation of Body Fluids. If the Spleen doesn't transform or transport Body Fluids they will accumulate and change into Phlegm, which often stay in the Spleen and Stomach.

The accumulated Phlegm then impairs the Stomach's function of ripening and rotting food as well as the Spleen's function of transforming and absorbing food. This leads to a situation where those Organs do not properly extract Grain Qi (Gu Qi) and Essence out of what we eat and drink. In turn, insufficient Qi and Blood are produced which impacts the body's ability to produce breast milk. 

This theory is very similar to the Western medicine concept of "low metabolism". The body is not good enough at processing and absorbing food and drink. The body of the nursing mothers affected by this can not produce sufficient breast milk due to the Phlegm in the Spleen and Stomach. They are often overweight and it is very hard for them to lose weight. It is because food and drink can not be digested and transformed properly so it just accumulates in the body. 

Out of the three patterns that cause low breast milk supply, Phlegm is the most difficult one to deal with and it requests the most amount of time to resolve. It it normal because Phlegm often accumulates over a long period of time.

Milk Boost Tea is a recommended formula for this pattern since it contains herbs that remove Phlegm and Dampness such as Poria-cocos mushroom (Fu Ling) and Amomum Fruit (Sha Ren). 

Read more about Phlegm here

Traditional Chinese Herbalism believes that a lack of milk or a low quality milk supply is often due to low level of Qi and Blood. It's normal, a nursing mother needs much more Qi and Blood than usual and her supplies have been depleted during the act of birth-giving. Qi and Blood are the main ingredients of all Body Fluids, which include breast milk. Therefore, Qi and Blood Deficiency will naturally lead to very little or no breast milk after delivering the baby. 

When breast ducts are empty or with little flow, the breast is often soft and there is no distension or fullness feeling. Pale face and lips indicate Blood Deficiency, since not enough Blood can reach the head. Low breast milk due to Qi and Blood Deficiency will also lead to a pale tongue with very little coating. Weak (Ruo 弱)or Thin (Xi 细) pulses are also indicators, because Blood Deficiency results in a failure to fill the blood vessels and Qi Deficiency results in its lacking in strength.

It is important that the nursing mother eats easily digestible but also nourishing foods and especially foods that nourish Blood such as beef or chicken. If the mother is vegetarian, she should pay great care and attention to eating enough protein of vegetable origin.

Milk Boost Tea is our top recommended formula for this pattern since it contains many herbs that invigorates Qi or Blood such as King solomon's seal root (Huang Jin), Yam (Shan Yao), Dong quai (Dang Gui) and Longan (Long Yan Rou). King solomon's seal root and Yam are used to boost Qi while Dong quai and Longan are to nourish Blood. It also contains Platycodon root which is often added to direct these ingredients upward to the Upper Burners. Liquorice (Gan Cao) is also used to harmonize all these ingredients.  

Read more about Qi and Blood Deficiency here