The Effect of Herbal Tea Containing Fenugreek Seed on the Signs of Breast Milk Sufficiency in Iranian Girl Infants

Abstract

Background:One of the important reasons behind termination of breast-feeding in the first six months after childbirth is insufficient production of breast milk.Objectives:The aim of this study was to determine the effect of herbal tea containing fenugreek seed on the signs of breast milk sufficiency in Iranian girl infants aged 0 - 4 months, at the medical health centers of Tehran university of medical sciences.Patients and Methods:This study was a clinical trial with a control group. Seventy-eight girl infants, 0 - 4 months old that were exclusively breastfed by their mothers, were randomly assigned to the intervention group (received herbal tea containing 7.5 g fenugreek seed powder in addition to 3 g of black tea, three times a day) and the control group (received herbal tea containing 3 g of black tea powder, three times a day). Before and during the four weeks of study, the signs of breast milk sufficiency were evaluated through measurement of growth parameters and use of follow-up forms for measuring the number of wet diapers in one day, frequency of defecation and infant breast-feeding times in a day.Results:Before the intervention there was no significant difference between weight, height, head circumference, the number of wet diapers and frequency of defecation between the two groups (P > 0.05), yet the number of breast feeding times of the control group was more than the Fenugreek group. At the end of the fourth week in proportion to the pre-intervention conditions, the weight of the infants in the fenugreek group increased significantly from 5282.0513 ± 1021.51121 to 6383.0769 ± 952.06190, while head circumference increased from 38.3103 ± 1.62736 to 39.9256 ± 1.50660, number of wet diapers from 5.2821 ± 0.93044 to 8.1648 ± 1.20620, frequency of defecation from 1.8846 ± 1.08495 to 2.7326 ± 0.94771 and the number of breast feeding times from 9.1795 ± 1.39778 to 15.9597 ± 1.45056 (P < 0.001). However, there was no significant effect on height variation (P = 0.078). While in the control group there was no significant difference between the mentioned variables (P > 0.05).Conclusions:Herbal tea of fenugreek seed in comparison to the control group improves the signs of breast milk sufficiency.

Effectiveness of fenugreek as a galactagogue: A network meta‐analysis

“…However, in the light of the current NMA, the clinical efficacy of fenugreek as a milk enhancing supplement was superior to the placebo 11.11 [CI 95% 6.77, 15.462, p < .001] in one‐on‐one comparison, and fenugreek was observed to be better than control in pairwise comparison WMD −3.38 [CI 95% −4.80, −1.96]. In Middle Eastern region, where women like to use fenugreek as a galactagogue, palm dates are more frequently consumed, and they might have a better effect on the amount and supply of breast milk in the early postpartum duration than fenugreek (El Sakka et al, ; Ghasemi et al, ; Turkyilmaz et al, ).…”

“…After final scrutiny, only five randomized control trials were found eligible (Figure ). The results reported in these studies were collected from the participating women from Egypt (El Sakka, Salama, & Salama, ), Iran (Ghasemi, Kheirkhah, & Vahedi, ), USA (Reeder, Legrand, & O'connor‐Von, ), Turkey (Turkyilmaz et al, ), and Indonesia (Damanik, Wahlqvist, & Wattanapenpaiboon, ; Table ). For assessing the effect of fenugreek on lactation, various types of interventions were included in studies.…”

“…Overall, most of the mothers recruited by El Sakka et al () were from the age group 24–26 years. Ghasemi et al () conducted a double blind randomized clinical trial to estimate the galactagogue effect of herbal tea containing fenugreek seed powder served as an intervention group versus black tea powder as a control. The study duration for this trial was 30 days, and the mean gestation age was from 28 to 29 weeks.…”

“…WMD was estimated for the all the galactagogues reported in the studies included for the final analysis ( n = 4, study by Ghasemi et al, was excluded from the final analysis; Table ). When the reference arm was set as a placebo in the analysis, the milk production was found to be significantly higher for palm (25.72, CI 95% 15.99, 35.45), CA (26.10, CI 95% 21.35, 30.84), and fenugreek (11.11, CI 95% 6.77, 15.46) groups versus the placebo group (Table ).…”

Potensi cookies substitusi tepung biji kelabat (Trigonella foenum–graecum) dan jantung pisang batu (Musa balbisiana L.A.Colla) untuk meningkatkan volume ASI

“…Kemungkinan kondisi ini dapat terjadi karena pengolahan yang kurang tepat (5)(6)(7). Biji kelabat (Trigonella foenum˗graecum) dan jantung pisang batu (Musa balbisiana L.A.Colla) merupakan tanaman yang mengandung galactagogue yang mudah ditemui di Indonesia (5,6,(8)(9)(10). Biji kelabat mampu berfungsi sebagai galactagogue yang baik.…”