Agalactia(lack of milk), and Homeopathy
If there is something incalculably important as regards your baby's health, it's breastfeeding. Nowadays we read pamphlets about the importance of breastfeeding but when it comes to practical application of the same, we as doctors are coming across more and more cases of low breast milk supply. In a single day in our clinic yesterday, I encountered 3 such cases, felt it's essential to write in depth about this issue, as it's certainly in the interest of our future generations.
It does not need much to understand that breast milk is the complete food for the babies. Nothing can replace breast milk. More importantly, no mammal in this entire world feeds its offspring on other's milk. It's only human who unnecessarily uses his freedom to choose in a wrong manner.
Agalactia is the lack of milk after parturition or birth, it can be due to a failure in the production of milk, a failure of milk let down. A condition in which milk is not secreted in the mother's breasts after her child has been delivered.
Low milk production can occur due to nutritional deficiencies in the mother or due to infrequent feeding. Yes, the more you feed your baby, the more breast milk you will produce. Mothers often worry often worry about how to increase breast milk. Establishing a good milk supply, in the beginning, can make a difference in how long the relationship continues.
Pediatricians recommend that babies be breastfed for a minimum of one year while the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months with continued breastfeeding up to two years and beyond. According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (USA), only 16.3 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed at six months, with 25.5 percent still receiving breast milk at 12 months.
Here are some of the reasons why a mother Must breastfeed:
Benefits to the baby:
. Assures baby's health, immunity, growth, and development
. Averts problems like childhood obesity
. Resistance to infections and allergies is far better in breastfeed children than in bottle feed children.
. Ensure a very close bond between mother and child.
. Breast babies have comparatively fewer incidences of diarrheas and vomiting during teething
. Breastfeed babies have a better shaped dental framework (especially incisors).
. Reduced chances of adulthood diseases like hypertension, diabetes, arthritis etc.
. Breastfeeding has also shown to reduce ear infections in children because of which they need to be on antibiotics recurrently.
. Breastfeed children have fewer dental cavities throughout their life.
. Fewer psychological, behavioral and emotional problems.
Benefits to the mother:
. A mother who breastfeeds her baby well is capable of reducing the fat gained during pregnancy faster(Breastfeed releases a hormone in the mother (oxytocin) that causes the uterus to return to its normal size more quickly).
. One of the most important benefits is breastfeeding mothers are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life and also have a lower risk of developing breast, uterine and ovarian cancers.
. A strong emotional bond with the baby.
Considering these huge benefits, any mother should definitely breastfeed the child. But why so many patients come to us saying they don't have enough milk flow and therefore the child has to feed with a bottle?
Let's face the fact that less breast milk is the biggest myth women try to tell themselves. It is not possible for a woman who has given birth normally or by cesarean section, to produce less or no milk for her baby unless there is some obvious physical/pathological reason.
Then why so many mothers complain of low milk supply? yes, here they are-
Causes of Agalactia(No/less Milk):
. Waiting too long to start breastfeeding is by far the commonest cause of low milk production. A mother should start to feed her baby right after the birth.
. Breastfeeding with strict gaps in between- Many mothers tell us that they give strict gaps of at least 3-4 hour between two breastfeeding sessions. Not done! breastfeed as often and as frequently as you can, or we can say breastfeed as often as your baby needs. Your growing bundle of joy may need the milk every half an hour or 1 hourly or 2 hourly. When he/she cries for milk, feed them, at least for the first few months. That will surely work as a booster for the enhanced milk production.
. Unawareness of the proper feeding techniques- Though this is rare nowadays, considering the hospital staff taking ample care about the proper feeding technique to be thought to the newborn, having a thin pillow in your lap , etc are some of the important tricks that will allow your baby to suckle properly, which in turn will enhance milk production.
. Some medicines like (over the counter) cold or flu medicines can reduce milk production. Also, oral contraceptives should be avoided as far as possible, which also can have an adverse effect on establishing a good milk flow.
Some reasons for low milk production include:
. Not getting a good latch in the beginning
. Baby continuously falling asleep due to under stimulation or the medication the mother may be on
. Jaundice
. Premature babies that lack muscle tone
. Low thyroid
. Lack of nutrition or hydration
A healthy diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, omega 3 fatty acids and ample water can help in increasing breast milk.
Here are the signs of proper baby's nourishment on breast milk:
. Baby is waking for feeds
. Baby is settling between most feeds
. Passing yellow soft stools at least once a day
. By approximately 2 weeks, the baby is back to the birth weight. Thereafter the baby gains approximately 150 grams or more per week for the first three of life.
. The baby at least signs to a later extent, do not worry. He is being nourished well by mothers milk and does not need any external means of nourishment.
But in the polluted lifestyle that we live these days, there are still chances that the mothers are suffering from less breast milk for their babies, in such cases, our savior Homeopathy plays the big role of re-establishing mother's milk flow.
Important while prescribing Homeopathically for Agalactia (Lack of milk flow in mothers):
. A proper history taking is of most important. While treating many such cases, we have seen that majority of women with low milk supply have some psychological/ mental/ emotional baggage. With the rightly chosen homeopathic remedy, if we are able to brush aside this causative factor, we can establish milk flow in the women again.
. The physical attributes of the women prior to delivery of the child and after the delivery are very important. Her bowel movements, urine output, water consumption, eating habits and mental picture need to be considered before we prescribe.
. Another important aspect is to study family history. In sycotic family traits, often less milk flow has been observed. People with a positive family history of diabetes, asthma, some allergic disorders, etc also suffer from such problems at times.
. Individualization- Like in every case, one has to be very cautious not to generalize your remedy for agalactia. Take the entire case properly, analyze the constitution study the remedies, repertorize when necessary and only then prescribe for that Patient.
Homeopathic Rubrics:
Kent: chest, MILK absent: calc, zinc
Chest, MILK disappearing: Dulc, urt-u
chest, MILK suppressed: bry, caust, puls
Homeopathic remedies for Agalactia(lack of milk):
. Agaricus mus: Complaints after the suppression of milk.
. Agnus castus: Absence of milk or scanty milk coming down slowly on lactating the child.
. Post-partum sadness is one of the most important causative factors that lead to agalactia in Agnus mothers
. The women just cannit be made happy.
. She also suffers from hysterical palpitations.
. She just hates sex while having totally relaxed genitals.
. There is yellow leucorrhea.
. She is so sad that feels she is going to die soon.
. Asafoetida: Milk appears late after labor and diminishes in quality.
. Deficient milk with oversensitive breasts
. Almost always associated with great flatulence and regurgitation of fluids.
. Associated with gurgling sounds in the abdomen which eventually are passed out with a loud and difficult erection.
. Can be due to suppressed eruptions during pregnancy, when associated with above-mentioned stomach complaints.
Bryonia:
Stitching pains and tightness in breasts with sudden decrease of milk
. Deficient milk in the mother after a fit of anger.
. Breasts are so swollen and painful that the mother cannot walk without pain in breasts
. Due to stagnation of milk, there might be an infection of breasts, leading to fever.
. Causticum: Suppression of milk due to anger.
. China: Child refuses to take breast within few hours of delivery
. Cimicifuga: Milk ceases to flow after starting.
. Lac-can: Loss of milk while nursing without any known cause.Breast inflamed, painful <at least jar and towards evening, must hold them firmly when going up or downstairs.
. Lactuca ver: For increasing milk supply
. There is tightness in the chest with reduced milk secretion
. One of the empirically used drugs for enhancing milk production
. Associated with absolute sleeplessness in the nursing mother
. Dull circulatory system, leading to tremors, the coldness of the extremities, restlessness.
. Millefolium: Remarkable remedy for agalactia, milk does not come after labor.
Pulsatilla: This is the first remedy thought of in suppression of milk. The breasts are swollen and painful and the flow of milk is absent or scanty. The patient is apt to be depressed and tearful. When no cause is discernible for the non-appearance of milk, Urticarias has been found useful, and if suppressed from a fit of anger Chamomilla is the remedy. Casusticum, too, has been used successfully in rheumatic women to increase breast milk.
Ricinuscommunis: Is also an excellent remedy given in the lower potencies for the non-appearance of milk or to increase breast milk. It also increases its flow in nursing women. Castor oil should never be given to prepare a woman for labor, nor for constipation in pregnancy at any time. Agnuscastus is also a remedy for suppression of the milk where the patient is low spirited.
Sabal ser: In cases of agalactia, for producing milk supply when suppressed, breast shrivel.
Secale cor: Nursing women do not get sufficient milk in their breast, or there is suppression or nonappearance of milk after delivery of the child and the breasts do not fill adequately.
Sticta pul: the Scanty flow of milk, it increases the quantity of milk and milk and removes suppression.
Urtica urens: Diminished secretion of milk, excessive swelling of breasts, well-known medicine for agalactia.
. The women have swollen breasts with lack of milk
. There are an almost a very excoriating leucorrhea and itching of private parts.
. The diminished secretion of milk may be the bye product of suppressing urticarial or similar rashes during pregnancy.
. Patient with gout and uric acid diathesis, women with rheumatic pains
. Excessively swollen breasts but no secretion.
Yohimbinum: Cure's agalactia by stimulating the function of lactation glands, causes hyperemia of milk glands.
If there is something incalculably important as regards your baby's health, it's breastfeeding. Nowadays we read pamphlets about the importance of breastfeeding but when it comes to practical application of the same, we as doctors are coming across more and more cases of low breast milk supply. In a single day in our clinic yesterday, I encountered 3 such cases, felt it's essential to write in depth about this issue, as it's certainly in the interest of our future generations.
It does not need much to understand that breast milk is the complete food for the babies. Nothing can replace breast milk. More importantly, no mammal in this entire world feeds its offspring on other's milk. It's only human who unnecessarily uses his freedom to choose in a wrong manner.
Agalactia is the lack of milk after parturition or birth, it can be due to a failure in the production of milk, a failure of milk let down. A condition in which milk is not secreted in the mother's breasts after her child has been delivered.
Low milk production can occur due to nutritional deficiencies in the mother or due to infrequent feeding. Yes, the more you feed your baby, the more breast milk you will produce. Mothers often worry often worry about how to increase breast milk. Establishing a good milk supply, in the beginning, can make a difference in how long the relationship continues.
Pediatricians recommend that babies be breastfed for a minimum of one year while the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months with continued breastfeeding up to two years and beyond. According to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (USA), only 16.3 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed at six months, with 25.5 percent still receiving breast milk at 12 months.
Here are some of the reasons why a mother Must breastfeed:
Benefits to the baby:
. Assures baby's health, immunity, growth, and development
. Averts problems like childhood obesity
. Resistance to infections and allergies is far better in breastfeed children than in bottle feed children.
. Ensure a very close bond between mother and child.
. Breast babies have comparatively fewer incidences of diarrheas and vomiting during teething
. Breastfeed babies have a better shaped dental framework (especially incisors).
. Reduced chances of adulthood diseases like hypertension, diabetes, arthritis etc.
. Breastfeeding has also shown to reduce ear infections in children because of which they need to be on antibiotics recurrently.
. Breastfeed children have fewer dental cavities throughout their life.
. Fewer psychological, behavioral and emotional problems.
Benefits to the mother:
. A mother who breastfeeds her baby well is capable of reducing the fat gained during pregnancy faster(Breastfeed releases a hormone in the mother (oxytocin) that causes the uterus to return to its normal size more quickly).
. One of the most important benefits is breastfeeding mothers are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life and also have a lower risk of developing breast, uterine and ovarian cancers.
. A strong emotional bond with the baby.
Considering these huge benefits, any mother should definitely breastfeed the child. But why so many patients come to us saying they don't have enough milk flow and therefore the child has to feed with a bottle?
Let's face the fact that less breast milk is the biggest myth women try to tell themselves. It is not possible for a woman who has given birth normally or by cesarean section, to produce less or no milk for her baby unless there is some obvious physical/pathological reason.
Then why so many mothers complain of low milk supply? yes, here they are-
Causes of Agalactia(No/less Milk):
. Waiting too long to start breastfeeding is by far the commonest cause of low milk production. A mother should start to feed her baby right after the birth.
. Breastfeeding with strict gaps in between- Many mothers tell us that they give strict gaps of at least 3-4 hour between two breastfeeding sessions. Not done! breastfeed as often and as frequently as you can, or we can say breastfeed as often as your baby needs. Your growing bundle of joy may need the milk every half an hour or 1 hourly or 2 hourly. When he/she cries for milk, feed them, at least for the first few months. That will surely work as a booster for the enhanced milk production.
. Unawareness of the proper feeding techniques- Though this is rare nowadays, considering the hospital staff taking ample care about the proper feeding technique to be thought to the newborn, having a thin pillow in your lap , etc are some of the important tricks that will allow your baby to suckle properly, which in turn will enhance milk production.
. Some medicines like (over the counter) cold or flu medicines can reduce milk production. Also, oral contraceptives should be avoided as far as possible, which also can have an adverse effect on establishing a good milk flow.
Some reasons for low milk production include:
. Not getting a good latch in the beginning
. Baby continuously falling asleep due to under stimulation or the medication the mother may be on
. Jaundice
. Premature babies that lack muscle tone
. Low thyroid
. Lack of nutrition or hydration
A healthy diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, omega 3 fatty acids and ample water can help in increasing breast milk.
Here are the signs of proper baby's nourishment on breast milk:
. Baby is waking for feeds
. Baby is settling between most feeds
. Passing yellow soft stools at least once a day
. By approximately 2 weeks, the baby is back to the birth weight. Thereafter the baby gains approximately 150 grams or more per week for the first three of life.
. The baby at least signs to a later extent, do not worry. He is being nourished well by mothers milk and does not need any external means of nourishment.
But in the polluted lifestyle that we live these days, there are still chances that the mothers are suffering from less breast milk for their babies, in such cases, our savior Homeopathy plays the big role of re-establishing mother's milk flow.
Important while prescribing Homeopathically for Agalactia (Lack of milk flow in mothers):
. A proper history taking is of most important. While treating many such cases, we have seen that majority of women with low milk supply have some psychological/ mental/ emotional baggage. With the rightly chosen homeopathic remedy, if we are able to brush aside this causative factor, we can establish milk flow in the women again.
. The physical attributes of the women prior to delivery of the child and after the delivery are very important. Her bowel movements, urine output, water consumption, eating habits and mental picture need to be considered before we prescribe.
. Another important aspect is to study family history. In sycotic family traits, often less milk flow has been observed. People with a positive family history of diabetes, asthma, some allergic disorders, etc also suffer from such problems at times.
. Individualization- Like in every case, one has to be very cautious not to generalize your remedy for agalactia. Take the entire case properly, analyze the constitution study the remedies, repertorize when necessary and only then prescribe for that Patient.
Kent: chest, MILK absent: calc, zinc
Chest, MILK disappearing: Dulc, urt-u
chest, MILK suppressed: bry, caust, puls
Homeopathic remedies for Agalactia(lack of milk):
. Agaricus mus: Complaints after the suppression of milk.
. Post-partum sadness is one of the most important causative factors that lead to agalactia in Agnus mothers
. The women just cannit be made happy.
. She also suffers from hysterical palpitations.
. She just hates sex while having totally relaxed genitals.
. There is yellow leucorrhea.
. She is so sad that feels she is going to die soon.
. Asafoetida: Milk appears late after labor and diminishes in quality.
. Deficient milk with oversensitive breasts
. Almost always associated with great flatulence and regurgitation of fluids.
. Associated with gurgling sounds in the abdomen which eventually are passed out with a loud and difficult erection.
. Can be due to suppressed eruptions during pregnancy, when associated with above-mentioned stomach complaints.
Bryonia:
Stitching pains and tightness in breasts with sudden decrease of milk
. Deficient milk in the mother after a fit of anger.
. Breasts are so swollen and painful that the mother cannot walk without pain in breasts
. Due to stagnation of milk, there might be an infection of breasts, leading to fever.
§
. Calcaria Carb: Milk is too profuse or deficient lactation.. Causticum: Suppression of milk due to anger.
. China: Child refuses to take breast within few hours of delivery
. Cimicifuga: Milk ceases to flow after starting.
. Lac-can: Loss of milk while nursing without any known cause.Breast inflamed, painful <at least jar and towards evening, must hold them firmly when going up or downstairs.
. Lactuca ver: For increasing milk supply
. There is tightness in the chest with reduced milk secretion
. One of the empirically used drugs for enhancing milk production
. Associated with absolute sleeplessness in the nursing mother
. Dull circulatory system, leading to tremors, the coldness of the extremities, restlessness.
§
. Lecithinum: Excellent remedy in cases of agalactia, to increase the quantity and quality of milk. . Millefolium: Remarkable remedy for agalactia, milk does not come after labor.
Pulsatilla: This is the first remedy thought of in suppression of milk. The breasts are swollen and painful and the flow of milk is absent or scanty. The patient is apt to be depressed and tearful. When no cause is discernible for the non-appearance of milk, Urticarias has been found useful, and if suppressed from a fit of anger Chamomilla is the remedy. Casusticum, too, has been used successfully in rheumatic women to increase breast milk.
Ricinuscommunis: Is also an excellent remedy given in the lower potencies for the non-appearance of milk or to increase breast milk. It also increases its flow in nursing women. Castor oil should never be given to prepare a woman for labor, nor for constipation in pregnancy at any time. Agnuscastus is also a remedy for suppression of the milk where the patient is low spirited.
Sabal ser: In cases of agalactia, for producing milk supply when suppressed, breast shrivel.
Secale cor: Nursing women do not get sufficient milk in their breast, or there is suppression or nonappearance of milk after delivery of the child and the breasts do not fill adequately.
Sticta pul: the Scanty flow of milk, it increases the quantity of milk and milk and removes suppression.
Urtica urens: Diminished secretion of milk, excessive swelling of breasts, well-known medicine for agalactia.
. The women have swollen breasts with lack of milk
. There are an almost a very excoriating leucorrhea and itching of private parts.
. The diminished secretion of milk may be the bye product of suppressing urticarial or similar rashes during pregnancy.
. Patient with gout and uric acid diathesis, women with rheumatic pains
. Excessively swollen breasts but no secretion.
§
Yohimbinum: Cure's agalactia by stimulating the function of lactation glands, causes hyperemia of milk glands.
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