Mother Food: A Breastfeeding Diet Guide with Lactogenic Foods and Herbs - Build Milk Supply, Boost Immunity, Lift Depression, Detox, Lose Weight, Optimize a Baby's IQ, and Reduce Colic and Allergies

As a first time mom trying to breastfeed, I was constantly worried those first couple of months if I was producing enough milk and if it was good quality. This book has tons of information and ideas to implement, and made me feel like I was doing something to help instead of just guessing. I particularly appreciated the information on incorporating healthy fats, foods/ingredients that can reduce production, and the herb guide.

I am taking herbs to increase milk supply, but sometimes I wonder about the dangers of potentially overdosing (yes, you can overdose on fenugreek and fennel for starters). I also prefer to get nutrients through food as opposed to supplements because I think my body would absorb them better. Enter "Mother Food" by Hilary Jacobson. It is a wonderful book that suggests many ways for increasing milk supply. Even if my milk doesn't increase, I am confident that by following some of the suggests, my milk will become higher quality, e.g., higher fat content.There was the temptation of just loading up on all the herbs and foods suggested in the book, but one of the biggest "a-ha"s I took away is that I needed to improve my overall diet. On a scale of 1-10, my diet was probably ~7 since I eat primarily home cooked meals and already avoid processed foods, especially partially hydrogenated oils (transfat) and artificial sugar. I'm trying to bump it up to an 8.5 by limiting my intake of milk and wheat (both are difficult to do!) 'On the food side, the most common one recognized in North American is oats. I was already eating a big bowl of oatmeal a day, but added nutritional yeast and flaxseed oil. In addition, the book talks about lactogenic foods from different cultures. For instance, my mom told me to drink chicken soup, squid soup (I make it with pork), and fish & papaya soup. Sure enough, the book describes these as being some things that Chinese people take to increase milk supply! There is a lot in the book for you to try, so if one thing doesn't work, there are other things you can experiment with.This review is not doing the book justice as I have learned so much more: both foods to take, and foods to avoid/limit. I wish I had known about it before my sons were born, as there is an extensive section on how to potentially reduce the incidence of food allergies in your children. It will work much better if you treat this as a sustaining lifestyle change and not a quick fix. I find that I have a lot more energy now, and I am back to pre pregnancy weight even though I'm taking 90mg/day of Domperidone!

this book has some great tips and a very good listing of lactogenic foods. However, the author is clearly uninformed about some issues, namely colic and techniques for termination of breastfeeding. I found some information to be simply wrong. Also, the herbal listings did not include complete information. I recommend this book as a supplement to other research-perhaps a starting point to get some key words for further internet research. I am thankful to have read it and will keep it in my library but it is by no means comprehensive. Perhaps it was not meant to be.

Fantastic resource for any woman who wants to breastfeed, or anyone working with or close to a woman who is breastfeeding! I own and had read several books about breastfeeding before having my first - which were all helpful for learning the mechanics of breastfeeding, proper latch, etc - but when I had a chronic low supply, probably due to insufficient glandular tissue, I found very limited information. I was fortunate to have a wonderful lactation consultant who pointed me to some herbs to look into, but they only worked to an extent. Now that I am pregnant with my second, I purchased this book and I am so glad I did. There is so much information here; I found myself earmarking pages and underlining sections like I did in college. And to top it off she includes recipes and instructions. I am starting to incorporate some of the herbs and foods recommended during pregnancy now, and will be sure to have the herbs, foods, and recipes on hand after the birth of this little one. Armed with the information in this book, I am confident I can maximize my breastfeeding abilities for this next baby, even if I never get to full supply.

When I was telling my doula about my journey to breastfeeding at our post-birth appointment, she recommended this book to me. I couldn't find it in our state library system, so I decided to buy it so I can pass it along to a friend/family or donate to the library when I am finished using it. What a great recommendation AND a great resource. I have had some challenges with nursing after a pretty tough labor and delivery and my son had a good deal of trouble latching. We went from having me pump and bottle feeding to using a nipple shield (to get him off the bottle) to finally transitioning to nursing without the nipple shield. The nipple shield has the potential to decrease your supply - that possibility PLUS his being a lazy nurser plus I stopped pumping regularly - my supply went from 21 ounces pumped when he was 9 days old to only 11 ounces when he was 5 weeks old. He is almost 10 weeks old now and I think we are back on track. He is nursing about 95% of the time (with just a bit of supplementing) and I feel like this book is helping me ensure that I continue to maintain (and maybe even build!) my supply for my son. I have only had the book for about t week and read sections at every opportunity. Don't hesitate - buy this book and incorporate her advice!

This book is an excellent resource for moms and lactation professionals. I wish I had this book when I was feeding my children. At least now I can educate other moms on their journey. The other cool part of reading this book is actually being in her classes personally where she is bringing awareness in the lost ways of nutrition for healing ❤️‍🩹 for both mom and baby

A must have for all breastfeeding mothers!It covers pretty much everything on breastfeeding to making easy healthy recipes even if you know nothing about cooking! I learned so much and I am so thankful for this book as it eased my mind on many things and kept my supply going strong!Bless this woman who wrote this book! <3

This book has been invaluable to me. I bought this about 1 month before giving birth - I don't even know what prompted me to look for something on this topic, but I'm so glad I did. This book helped me navigate so many problems which arose in that first month or so of breastfeeding and I've recently started to dip into it again as I started look at keeping my milk supply up during weaning.I will be recommending this book to anyone I know that gets pregnant.

I would especially recommend this book to women who struggle with low milk supply while nursing but anyone with an interest in improving their health would benefit from the information contained here. I chose this rating because I felt the author was on my team and was sharing ancient wisdom.

Fabulous book, I wish I had it before / right after birth, it would have saved lots of time & stress. I had already discovered some of the foods / drinks by reading a lot on internet and from my lactation consultant - but this book has it all (and much more) in one place. Very useful lists of lactogenic ingredients and foods you can buy/prepare. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to boost lactation naturally, and to all future mothers - this is the one topic that would benefit from more education & discussion BEFORE birth!

A must read for any mom planning to breastfeed. Read while pregnant because after baby arrives there is no time.