05/12/2025
🍹Would you pay R663 for ingredients for a drink that CANNOT make breastmilk? 🍹
That's the total cost of buying all the ingredients needed for this recipe of "Jungle Juice", found on a Capetownian OBGYN's website. Similar recipes can be found on local hospital websites.
Recipes like these claim to help increase milk supply in the early days postpartum, but fail to recognize one crucial step in the breastmilk production process :
Building supply has nothing to do with what you eat, drink or medicate with 😁
👌🏻Even if you used absolutely no homeopathics, no medication, no juices or cookies or "lactation supplements", you can easily have enough breastmilk for your baby by following simple biology : the more milk removed from the breast, the more you will make. Baby frequently nursing in those first weeks is ALL it takes to make milk. There's really no secret! You don't need to do or take anything but feed your baby! Milk REMOVAL is what creates the supply. You empty the breast, and it fills up again.
The colostrum you started making during pregnancy is ready and enough for your baby, and you don't need medication or herbs to "speed up" the change from yellow colostrum to mature, white milk. This process is started when progestererone and estrogen falls after the placenta is delivered, not when you have a glass of jungle juice 😉.
"Hormones prepare the mammary gland during pregnancy by multiplying the ducts, alveoli, and other structures in preparation for lactation (Macias & Hinck, 2012). This contributes to an increase in breast size and breasts may feel fuller (Hale & Hartmann, 2017).
+
Effective and frequent removal of milk, by an infant or if needed by expression, will build and maintain milk production (Lawrence & Lawrence, 2016; Pollard, 2011). "
👉🏻The hormones and structures you need to make milk ALREADY EXISTS 😁 all you need to do is feed your baby!
Let's analyze recipes like these and why people believe they make or help with milk :
ROOIBOS TEA : rooibos is often a base for other "lactation teas" and mixtures. It doesn't offer any benefit other than hydration and the health properties of rooibos. There is no magical play on lactation hormones that happens with this herb.
WATER and REHIDRAT: You do need good hydration to function in general! Often after birth we forgot to drink during labour, and may be tired and in need of extra liquids. This can be fixed with good old water or if you wish, added electrolytes. Milk supply however does not solely rely on you needing to drink liters of extra liquids every day.
JUICE : Fruit juices offer no nutritional benefit other than the obvious (energy, vitamins) if they are fresh pressed and not reconstituted syrups with added sugar. The reccomended amount of fruit juice adults should consume a day is 120-240ml. This recipe uses double that.
BLACKTHORN BERRY ELIXIR : There is no scientific evidence to support this herb's supposed effects on lactation. Some other claims are that it supports "vitality" and energy levels. Milk production can take place even with low energy levels!
RESCUE REMEDY : According to Natura's website, "Natura Rescue is a homeopathic-flower essence combination which helps you cope with: Emotional Shock, Anticipatory nervousness, Grief and Sleeplessness from worry." Homeopathy is safe both in breastfeeding and pregnancy, and may provide relief for the mentioned conditions when used in correct dosages. But does it do anything to the lactation process? Nope. Oxytocin may flow better when you are calmer and more relaxed, but "being relaxed" doesn't simply create supply.
🌸Mothers deserve evidence based information on how breastfeeding and birth works. Perpetuating misinformation even with good intentions hurts mothers in the long run. You CAN trust your body to make milk for your baby.🌸
Annette Nel, LC. PerleMama Lactation 2025 🪩
https://breastfeedingresourcesontario.ca/resource/breastfeeding-protocols-health-care-providers
