# Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle - need advice please



## tuscany123 (Feb 15, 2004)

My DS had problems when I took fenugreek when he was 6 wks old. He (and I!) was super gassy and unhappy, and very restless. So I stopped right away. I took fenugreek alone, and have since learned that taking it in conjunction with blessed thistle might have tempered the gas and fussiness. Now that DS is 6 mo, I would like to start it again in the hopes of increasing my supply. Does anyone know the recommended ratio of fenugreek to blessed thistle I should take? Should start slowly, and then ramp up? Any advice will be gratefully appreciated, thank you!


----------



## srneda78 (Jun 4, 2008)

I want to know about this also. The fenugreek alone is making DD really gassy, but it does increase my supply quite a bit. It's a catch-22. I eat oatmeal and cheerios, but those don't seem to do nearly what the fenugreek does.


----------



## tuscany123 (Feb 15, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *srneda78* 
I want to know about this also. The fenugreek alone is making DD really gassy, but it does increase my supply quite a bit. It's a catch-22. I eat oatmeal and cheerios, but those don't seem to do nearly what the fenugreek does.

_You are so right about the catch-22! When I took the fenugreek my supply increased dramatically, but it upset DS so much it was not worth it. My DS was a very unhappily-gassy baby, and the fenugreek made it worse. Now he is older his gassiness has more or less gone away, or at least he is no longer upset by it. So, I want to try again. I hate supplementing with formula, I don't trust it, and want to be able to exclusively BF. (or pump and nurse). I work f/t outside the home, and can't add any more pumping sessions, so I really am hoping the feugreek and blessed thistle will help.

We may get some responses tomorrow, after Thanksgiving. I hope yours was good!_


----------



## russianthistle (Jul 19, 2005)

I took both fenugreek and blessed thistle three times daily. I don't remember if I took 1 or 2 capsules. I will refer back to a thread I remember writing and see if it give any good info. I did not have a gas issue nor did my son, and my supply was nice increased.

Be back.


----------



## russianthistle (Jul 19, 2005)

I wrote in that other thread (I think that the recommendation I orignally got was in a pm), that I took 3 capsules of each blessed thistle and fenugreek 2-3 times daily.

I had no side effects except that I smelled like Indian cuisine and I had more milk.


----------



## tuscany123 (Feb 15, 2004)

Thanks!


----------



## Bleu (Mar 6, 2004)

Fennel is supposed to help with gassiness. HTH.


----------



## srneda78 (Jun 4, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bleu* 
Fennel is supposed to help with gassiness. HTH.

Oooh, maybe we should add fennel and see if that helps with gassiness. I wonder if it will.


----------



## srneda78 (Jun 4, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tuscany123* 
_You are so right about the catch-22! When I took the fenugreek my supply increased dramatically, but it upset DS so much it was not worth it. My DS was a very unhappily-gassy baby, and the fenugreek made it worse. Now he is older his gassiness has more or less gone away, or at least he is no longer upset by it. So, I want to try again. *I hate supplementing with formula, I don't trust it,* and want to be able to exclusively BF. (or pump and nurse). I work f/t outside the home, and can't add any more pumping sessions, so I really am hoping the feugreek and blessed thistle will help.

We may get some responses tomorrow, after Thanksgiving. I hope yours was good!_

I also hate supplementing with formula. Since DD is really gassy, everything seems to upset her stomach. The only formula I know she doesn't react to is Similac Alimentum, which is a nasty, nasty hypoallergenic formula that smells like cat food (and even worse coming out). Thankfully, she usually has only 1 bottle of it a day (about 4 oz), so it's not too terrible. But sometimes she cries when I try to give it to her because she doesn't like it. I tried a few different formulas and they all seemed to hurt her stomach. The fenugreek really increased my supply. I went from pumping about 20 oz. a day to at least 26-28 oz. a day. I usually didn't have to supplement when I was on the fenugreek...but then she was gassy. So I think I will try the other person's suggestion to use the fennel as well.

Right now I am exclusively pumping because DD doesn't latch well, has a high palate, has an inefficient suck (LC determined she only got 1/2 oz. in 30 minutes), and is really irritable if I try to nurse her most of the time. She didn't gain any weight the first couple weeks, so I had to start giving her EBM in a bottle. She's been like that since the beginning (we got off to a really bad start because of a very long c-section since she was transverse). But she screams when she's hungry -- even the slightest bit hungry (I really think it's because of the c-section taking so long and she had to wait a really long time to nurse). And that can be from 2-4 hours from her last feeding, so I never know when she's getting hungry because she doesn't really exhibit the other telltale signs. So, we have decided at this point that using EBM in bottles is the way to go because she won't calm down at the breast. I do offer to nurse her usually a couple times a day, but it's still a challenge because she doesn't latch properly, doesn't suck properly, etc. And we worked with an LC for a month. It's also a challenge because I have huge breasts (42 H) and she has a small mouth. I just feel like everything is wrong with our breastfeeding relationship. I hope that if I keep offering the breast, we can eventually get back to nursing. (I know that many people on here will say "Cut out the bottles totally, use an SNS, take the baby to bed with you, etc" and while I appreciate their help, I have been through hell with recovery, breastfeeding, etc.). My baby won't go to bed with us; she just screams. She's really antsy and can't stand it. She also hates skin to skin -- she'd rather have those footed pajamas on. So I have a complicated, colicky, gassy baby.

Anyway, I didn't mean to make this about me. I just meant that I hope we can find answers about the gassiness so that we don't have to supplement with formula! I hate doing it, especially such a small amount. But she screams if I don't give her food when she wants it, so I have no choice if I can't increase my supply.


----------



## srneda78 (Jun 4, 2008)

I just read that you can soak fenugreek seeds in water and drink it all down. I have to look up the dose. I wonder if this would cause less distress. Not sure, but it's definitely cheaper! I might try this.

Maybe I could soak fennel and fenugreek seeds together and that might reduce the gassiness. ??


----------



## srneda78 (Jun 4, 2008)

This product has fenugreek, blessed thistle, fennel, and nettle leaf. It's quite expensive, though.

http://www.motherlove.com/product_more_milk_plus.php


----------



## Bleu (Mar 6, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *srneda78* 
This product has fenugreek, blessed thistle, fennel, and nettle leaf. It's quite expensive, though.

http://www.motherlove.com/product_more_milk_plus.php

That product _rocks_. I can't recommend it highly enough.


----------



## silencia (May 20, 2008)

I really recommend More Milk Plus, it has all the herbs you are looking for. It might be expensive for a bottle, but you are only going to take 4 caps per day rather than 9-12 like you would need to with fenugreek. So in the long run it is cheaper. Give it a try. I know you can get it online or from health food stores.


----------

