Mother’s Milk Tea

Mother’s milk tea is an amazing tool that helps nursing mothers increase milk supply. It’s a simple way to help produce more milk for your newborn. Mother’s milk tea also helps new moms destress and have moments of calm. We all need that! I absolutely loved my “tea time” as a new mom!

This herbal tea is a simple way to produce more milk, but also a great way for a mom of a newborn to relax. 

Keep in mind, we are not doctors, nurses, and this is not medical advice. If you have any questions about using mother’s milk tea, please contact your doctor before consuming.

Why I Love Mother’s Milk Tea

After I had my first child I was invited to attend a weekly mother’s tea sponsored by the hospital where I gave birth. New moms were invited to this special tea service for the first six weeks of their baby’s lives.

Nurses and certified lactation consultants were in charge of the tea. It was kind of like a meeting, if you can imagine a meeting with about 20 nursing moms and their babies! There was a structure to the event, yet it was unstructured enough to accommodate babies’ cries, new mom’s getting up and down to get comfortable, and boppies for everyone!

This is how the class was structured: We’d sit in a room and grab a boppy pillow, get comfortable, and nurse our babies. While this was happening, the nurses would introduce themselves and all the mom’s would introduce ourselves and our sweet babies. We all had comfy chairs or a sofa to sit on and a TV tray for our snacks.

The nurses mad mother’s milk tea and served it with a cookie or biscuit. While we drank our tea and ate our snack (and fed our babies) we could ask all of our pressing, new mom questions.

Questions like:

How long should I feed my baby?

How do I know how much the baby is eating?

It hurts when the baby is feeding! Not a question, but that comment always brought a nurse to attend to the mom and make sure she didn’t have thrush or something else going on.

It was amazing! No shame. No embarrassment. No question was off limits.

The lactation consultants were on hand to make sure we were doing everything right. They could even size you for a nursing bra!

If you’re new to breastfeeding, you might like our proven breastfeeding tips guaranteed to help nursing moms.

I looked forward to these weekly teas and couldn’t have made it through breastfeeding without this information and encouragement.

One of the things I took away from the class is the mother’s milk tea. Not only does it help increase milk supply, but it has calming powers.

My personal nursing story is that I ended up needing to pump breast milk. My son wasn’t getting enough milk on his own. Pumping is a great tool, but it typically doesn’t produce as much milk as when the baby is doing it on his own.

This is where the mother’s milk tea suddenly became VERY important to me. I needed all the help I could get to help me increase milk supply.

What is Mother’s Milk Tea?

Mother’s milk tea is an herbal tea meant to increase a nursing mother’s milk supply. When it’s ingested, it helps produce more milk than before.

What Tea Can I Drink to Increase Breast Milk?

To increase breast milk you can drink simple mother’s milk tea. It’s sold as tea bags that you can brew. Brew a bag at a time, or make a pitcher and reheat for later.

Does Mother’s Milk Tea Work?

From my personal experience, mother’s milk tea does work. I say YES, YES, and YES! I drank two to three cups of this tea a day when I was nursing. Before taking mother’s milk tea, I was struggling to produce enough breastmilk to feed my baby and make it worth all the time I was pumping. Pumping 6 times a day for 18 minutes each time, really was time consuming.

Once I started drinking the tea, I saw an increase in milk production. But, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like my milk supply doubled. I was able to increase it enough to make it worth the effort to continue pumping. It’s what made the difference from me quitting breastfeeding to having enough encouragement to continue. I’m so glad I did.

How Should You Drink Mother’s Milk Tea?

You can drink the tea hot or iced. It’s up to you. I lived in Florida when my babies were nursing, so there were days when I made a larger batch of mother’s milk tea and drank it iced.

How to Make Mother’s Milk Tea

1. Heat 8 oz. of water until boiling.
2. Add one tea bag into teapot with boiling water … or place on tea bag into a teacup or coffee cup.
3. Cover teapot or cup and steep for 10 minutes
4. Squeeze tea bag to release as much of the tea into your pot/cup as possible
5. Drink plain, or add honey or your favorite sweetener

A timesaver is to make a pot of tea in the morning. Drink a cup when it’s ready, and save the rest for later. You can drink your second or third cup cold, or simply reheat.

How Much Mother’s Milk Tea Should I Drink to Increase Milk Supply?

In order to increase milk supply, drink 3-5 cups of mother’s milk tea per day. It will take 24 – 72 hours to increase your milk supply. Just get used to finding multiple times per day to drink the tea and it will become habit and will be easy to get in your cups each day!

How Long Does It Take for Mother’s Milk Tea to Start Working?

Mother’s milk tea usually starts working within 24 hours, but can take up to 72 hours to see results. It’s important to drink 2-3 cups per day to see results.

Mother’s Milk Tea Ingredients

Most mother’s milk tea contain all herbal ingredients that have been known as milk producing helpers. The main ingredient in mother’s milk tea is fenugreek.

• Fenugreek — “seeds contain hormone precursors that increase milk supply. Scientists do not know for sure how this happens. Some believe it is possible because breasts are modified sweat glands, and fenugreek stimulates sweat production. It has been found that fenugreek can increase a nursing mother’s milk supply within 24 to 72 hours after first taking the herb.” – (source)
• Fennel — is an anise (licorice) flavored herb. “Fennel is believed to be a galactagogue which is something that brings about more breast milk.” (source)
• Anise — “contain anethole, which is a Phytoestrogen. This means it has estrogen-like effects. … Increasing breast milk supply … it’s now for treating clogged ducts and other problems in the milk glands, by maintaining a constant milk flow.” (source) Be sure to not confuse anise with star anise. Star anise should not be taken then breastfeeding.
• Blessed thistle — “is believed to be a galactagogue, which is something that you take to help you make more breast milk. It seems to work best when combined with fenugreek.” (source)

If you aren’t a tea drinker, many new moms take fenugreek supplements to increase milk supply.

What is the Best Mothers’ Milk Tea?

While I was nursing, I loved the Yogi Woman’s Nursing Support tea. It was easy to find and I stocked up! But, it’s really up to you. Most brands contain the traditional ingredients of fenugreek, fennel, anise, and/or blessed thistle. Because several of these have a licorice taste, most mother’s milk teas taste the same.

Where to Buy Mother’s Milk Tea?

You can buy Mother’s milk tea at many local grocery stores, Walmart, Vitamin shops, Whole Foods, and of course you can get mother’s milk tea on Amazon.

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If you struggle with clogged ducts or have pain when breastfeeding, read our article about clogged milk ducts and mastitis.