Natural Remedy for Increasing Your Milk Supply While Breastfeeding
How to Increase Milk Supply with Oatmeal and Guatemalan Mosh Recipe
If you have to stop breastfeeding for a while, you will need a way to increase your breastmilk supply quickly once you start up again. This can be difficult for many women and myths and theories abound for how to boost your milk supply like taking herbal supplements like blessed thistle and fenugreek, eating lactation cookies or encouraging the baby nurse all day and night until the milk comes back. How tiring and frustrating that would be to both mother and baby!
These methods can take several days to weeks to work, and really it is a guessing game of trial and error to find the method that can work for you.
I have a much simpler way that worked for me when my son was a baby. So here is my story and natural remedy for increasing your milk supply:
When I was a young mother and my second-born was only about a month old, I got a severe toothache. Of course, it occurred on the weekend and I had to endure until I could get an appointment for a root canal. The only thing I could do to keep the pain at bay was to take naproxen sodium every few hours. Okay, I’m not recommending that, but it worked. Of course, that meant I had to stop nursing my baby immediately and for several days.
I was able to get a root canal and the pain went away, but when I started nursing again, my milk supply was down to nearly nothing. That was really frustrating for my little baby and I didn’t want to have to work for weeks having him frustrated while the milk gradually increased and I didn’t want to have to supplement with formula. I didn’t know what to do, This was in the mid-'90s and we didn’t have internet in the house yet for me to research ideas. So my husband called his mother in Guatemala and mentioned the problem. She promptly told him to try “Mosh”.
Mosh, I had learned, was oatmeal boiled in water to make a mushy, goopy oatmeal drink that they sometimes drink in Guatemala. The measurements for the mosh don't have to be exact for it to work, but I've included the recipe below. Basically you put some oats in milk and I simmered it for 30 minutes and then added a little sugar and cinnamon to make it palatable. If you or your baby are lactose intolerant, try substituting oatmilk or coconut milk or just make it in water.
It was late in the evening when I drank the mosh and I had only one or two mugs full. I doubted that it would work but I tried it just in case. Boy, was I surprised! By the morning, my milk supply was flowing so strong that there was too much! It was amazing!
I never had to try oatmeal again to improve my breast milk supply, but I learned to listen to my mother-in-law's natural remedies! Wonderful home remedy for low milk supply from a sweet mother-in-law.
Guatemalan Oatmeal Mush Recipe
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup oatmeal, (preferably old fashioned rolled oats)
- 2 1/2 cups milk, **
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar, (or honey or agave syrup)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ****
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, stir the oats and cinnamon into the 2 cups milk. Reserve 1/2 cup milk for later.
- Bring the mixture to a low boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer stirring frequently for 30 minutes.***
- Remove from the stove and add the remaining ½ cup milk or enough to make the mosh drinkable. Stir in the cinnamon and serve in a mug.
- **If you are lactose intolerant, you can use oat milk or coconut milk instead of milk. If you're out of those, go ahead and make it with water. The milk isn't the key ingredient, the oatmeal is, so you can substitute whatever you would like for the milk.
- ***Simmering the oatmeal for a long time as suggested in this recipe helps to draw out the nutrients your body needs and makes them easier to absorb. I don't recommend microwaving or cooking oatmeal quickly if your goal is to increase your breastmilk supply.
- ****You could substitute the ground cinnamon with a cinnamon stick. Just add a small cinnamon stick in with the simmering oats and milk. I'm sure that is how my mother-in-law made mosh.
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© 2010 Carmen Alexander Rosales