Oats and Milk Supply?
Mom doing a hand (sandwich) compression to increase milk flow
When I was around 12, my mom’s friend had a baby and I remember my grandmother talking to my mom about it in the kitchen. My mom was preparing something quick for supper for her friend’s family (now a family of 7) when my Nannie suggested picking up some beer for the new mom to get ‘er milk flowing’. I thought it was weird that Nannie would say something like that, mainly because she never drank alcohol (or at least I never saw her drink). Fast forward a few decades and as a doula I feel I need to explain why my grandmother believed that and why the nurses gave her a beer after her first born.
Time for a disclaimer, there is no true evidence based information out there on whether consuming beer increases milk supply. But, there is some older evidence suggesting that although the barley present in the beer increased milk supply, the alcohol present in the beer interfered with the milk ejection hormone called prolactin. The interference caused the newborns to take in less milk and have more difficulty maintaining active sleeping. And while its typically okay to have 1 or 2 beers a week while breastfeeding, it’s encouraged by many health professionals to refrain completely during the breastfeeding relationship. So why not skip the beer and a have a bowl of barley instead?
I know what you’re thinking, this has nothing to do the title of the blog post, stay with me for a second, because I was breastfeeding during the ‘eat your oats for your milk supply’ times. And I’ll admit I ate oats (not every day) and I preferred eating steel cut oats made overnight in the slow cooker, especially after my second and third came along and mornings were quite hectic. Did I have a lot of milk? I think so, I rarely pumped so it was hard to know how much each of babes were taking day in and day out. But, again before I go telling families I work with to eat oats every morning if they want to increase their milk supply, I want be sure. And here’s disclaimer #2; there’s no evidence based research out there that I can find that specifically states that eating oats will increase milk supply. However, here are some the reasons I believe that lactation consultants recommend eating oats:
Oats are healthy and are relatively high in iron — a mineral many breastfeeding moms are low on and low iron has been linked to low milk supply.
Oats lower cholesterol, the lower the cholesterol the easier time a mom has with building and maintaining milk supply.
Oats can be eaten many ways, all of which helps a mom maintain a healthy and nourished body while nursing.
As I stated above, there’s no hard evidence on whether oats actually increase milk supply, however I found an interesting blog post in which the writer does a four day oat eating experiment while exclusively pumping and the outcomes are pretty great given that she is in the later stages of breastfeeding (I believe her child is over 12 months old during the experiment).
Do I think oats can increase milk supply? I think that really depends on the person and how much oats they eat. But, it doesn’t hurt to give it try. Now for disclaimer #3; oats can be an allergen for some folks (newborns included). Watch for any wheezing, runny noses, rashes (diaper rash for babe), swelling/hives in both yourself and your newborn.
