Last Updated on March 27, 2023 by Jada Glover
If you’re looking for a way to increase your breast milk supply, drinks may be a solution that are easily accessible for busy moms. The most obvious and best drink for breastfeeding moms is high quality water.
Sometimes we get tired of drinking plain water 100% of the time, and sometimes our body needs a little something extra in the form of electrolytes or milk boosting ingredients. Breast milk is made up of 80% water, so hydration for your body is important when making milk.
Before we dive in though, here’s a tip for you. When moms are struggling with milk supply, sometimes it is just a perceived sense of low supply because your baby is nursing more, going through a growth spurt, or maybe feeling ill.
Or maybe a caregiver is throwing away an ounce of milk after a feeding or not paced bottle feeding. My point here is, make sure you investigate further before you assume a low milk supply.
Try doing a pump test and/or keep an eye on your baby’s diaper output if you are concerned. The more milk you remove from your breasts, the more your body will produce. You could also try cluster pumping while you sip on one of these drinks that increase breast milk supply.
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Are There Drinks That Increase Breast Milk Supply?
Yes there are drinks that contain ingredients in them, like coconut for example, that may help to increase breast milk supply. Keep in mind that all moms respond differently to these ingredients.
It may take a couple of hours to a few days for your body to respond by creating more milk. For some of these drinks you may need to have at least 3 servings per day for them to be effective - like lactation teas.
Whether you like to sip on sweet drinks, hot teas, or cold beverages, I will give you plenty of ideas to choose from with many ingredient options that are known to increase milk supply for breastfeeding moms.
What Ingredients Are In Drinks That Help with Increasing Breast Milk Supply?
Milk supply can often be increased by eating or drinking ingredients that are known to act on hormones and other bodily functions to help your body make the right amount of milk for your baby. These ingredients are called galactagogues in the lactation world.
They have been used for many years to help moms increase breast milk supply naturally. Since I practice natural health, I’m a big believer in what we eat and drink can impact our body (for the good or bad).
So, I would recommend giving some of these a try. You can even look to purchase a recipe book like the one inside my 21 Day Meal Plan which is packed full of yummy lactogenic recipes and foods.
Look for ingredients like some of the examples of herbs and foods below in your drinks to increase breast milk supply. There are many more milk-boosting ingredients, but here is a list of some of the more common ingredients/foods.
- Almonds
- Beets
- Brewer’s yeast
- Carrots
- Cherries
- Chicken broth/soup/stock
- Coconut
- Fennel
- Fenugreek
- Flax seeds
- Ginger
- Goat’s rue
- Hibiscus
- Lemon balm
- Moringa
- Nettle
- Oat straw (oats)
- Papaya
- Pumpkin
- Spinach
- Thistles
The Best Hot & Cold Drinks That Increase Breast Milk Supply
The best hot and cold drinks that increase breast milk supply will offer milk boosting ingredients to help your body’s hormones. They also give you key vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy milk supply.
These come in many forms from lactation hot teas to lactation super smoothies. Pick your favorite ingredients and pair them with the beverage temperature you prefer!
Drink #1 - Moringa Smoothie
Moringa is a superfood leafy green and a very good milk booster. I have used moringa myself and noticed a big difference in my supply.
It is often included in lactation herbal supplements for this reason. Here is a moringa smoothie recipe I recommend to moms that I discovered inside Eat to Feed.
1 cup of coconut milk or almond milk
1 frozen banana
1 cup of spinach rinsed well
1 teaspoon of ground moringa
1 tablespoon of almond butter.
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy immediately.
This recipe book is a great resource for lactogenic recipes. This particular smoothie recipe has spinach, moringa, and almond butter which are all breast milk boosting foods.
You’ll notice this recipe calls for a frozen banana, which are great for any smoothie recipe that calls for a banana. A tip is to peel them and put them in the freezer when they start getting a few brown spots on them. They’ll give you the perfect amount of sweet and cold temperature for your smoothies without watering them down with ice cubes.
Drink #2 - Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake
This one is so yummy any time of the year. It gives you the extra protein you need as a postpartum mom as well as ingredients like pumpkin, oats, vanilla hemp protein powder, and almonds to increase your breast milk supply.
Ingredients
1 frozen banana
1 serving of vanilla hemp protein powder
1 tablespoon of almond butter
2 cups of vanilla almond milk
1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup of pumpkin puree.
Put all ingredients in a high powered blender and serve immediately.
Drink #3 - BODYARMOR
BODYARMOR is a well known sports drink. BODYARMOR can be used to increase breast milk supply in some moms.
Not all moms will respond the same, but it is worth a try if you need a boost of milk supply. In addition to coconut water, it also contains electrolytes and vitamins and minerals for a healthier body. My favorite flavor is strawberry banana.
A small note about BODYARMOR drinks. They taste extra sweet to me for some reason, If you feel this way after trying one, you can water it down or add coconut water to make it last longer and reduce the sweetness.
There are other electrolyte drinks that are even better in my opinion taste-wise. This is especially true if you’re looking for something refreshing and healthy, rather than super fruity and sweet like these taste.
My favorite sports drink right now is the Gatorade organic passion fruit. I buy these by the cases on Amazon. I typically drink one a day and my son also loves them.
Drink #4 - Lactation Hot Chocolate
All you need for this Milksta yummy beverage is a cup of hot water. This easy to mix beverage boasts seven lactation boosting ingredients, including moringa leaves, nutritional yeast, oat milk, dates, carrots, and papaya.
Drink #5 - Bone Broth
Bone broth is an excellent recovery food for moms that just had a baby. It contains gelatin and amino acids which are critical for recovery.
In addition to being a lactogenic food, it is also important for strong bones, connective tissue and thyroid hormones in breastfeeding moms and infants. Warming it up and sipping on it can be soothing also.
If you can’t make your own, you can find chicken bone broth online and at the grocery store. Choose organic and pasture-raised varieties.
Drink #6 - Mother’s Milk Lactation Tea
There are a variety of lactation teas that you can drink hot or cold. Lactation teas are a combination of different herbs that are known to increase breast milk production.
The most common herbs used in these teas are fennel, blessed thistle, fenugreek, stinging nettle, and moringa. As an added bonus, these may help calm you after drinking them.
My two favorite brands are Traditional Medicinals and Earth Mama. Both are organic and support healthy milk production.
If you prefer iced tea, just make it hot and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. Or, you can make it a little stronger and pour it over ice. When I was pregnant and it was hot outside, I made cold pregnancy tea by putting 3-4 bags in a large mason jar. Then I would pour hot water over them, add some honey, and refrigerate overnight.
If you don’t like unsweetened tea, sweeten it up with some real honey, coconut sugar, Stevia, or monk fruit extract. These honey mini packets are perfect for hot tea.
The Best Juice For Breastfeeding Moms Trying To Increase Breast Milk Supply
If you like to drink juice as a breastfeeding mom, you can make your own which will give you added fiber and fresh ingredients. Also, anti-inflammatory juices can even be made to help your body stay in an alkaline state.
This can help your body perform at its best, including making the best quality milk for your baby. Making a juice drink for yourself is easy with the right tools.
You’ll want to buy a juicer to make it easy on yourself because it removes most of the pulp, adds more nutrients with the skin of some fruits, and makes it more of an automatic process. I have the same juicer linked here and use it daily.
By leaving the skin/peel on some fruits you get the added benefit of the fiber and nutrients. You can actually juice the entire fruit in most cases which gives you the extra benefit of the skin of some fruits like lemons and oranges.
The fruit or vegetable needs to have a high water content though for the highest juice amount (fresh carrots work okay, just cut them into long sticks to put through).
If you’re buying juice, just make sure it is 100% juice with no added sugar or sugar substitutes to ensure you’re getting the best vitamins and minerals for your body. You can find a lot of healthy cold pressed juices in the cold juice section of the grocery store now. They often contain ginger and turmeric to increase milk supply.
Juice #1 - Coconut Water
I’m considering this a juice because it can come straight from the source which is the coconut fruit and be 100% juice. You can even drink it straight from the coconut if you’re in a tropical climate.
Or you can buy individual serving cartons to drink from the refrigerator. Coconut is a milk-boosting food by itself, so no need to add anything to it.
You can find multi-flavored varieties if you don’t like the taste of coconut water by itself. My favorite is pineapple-coconut water.
Juice #2 - Carrot Juice Drink
Carrot juice by itself is yummy, but my favorite carrot juice combination is carrots, turmeric, and tangerine or orange juice. Tangerine juice does give it a sweeter, better flavor in my opinion.
Use a juicer to juice 3 organic carrots, a knob of turmeric, and 2-3 tangerines. Mix and enjoy immediately.
When you juice, it’s best to drink it shortly after you make it to get all the best vitamin benefits. The carrots and turmeric are both considered lactogenic foods.
If you want to use a high powered blender instead of a juicer, use a Vitamix or something similar. You’ll need to use a cheesecloth though to strain the pulp out from the carrots.
Juice #3 - Pineapple, Lemon, & Ginger
Ginger is a milk increasing ingredient, and pineapple and lemon are anti-inflammatory. This combination makes this a delicious juice to try if you’re a breastfeeding mom. You could even add turmeric to it, which is known to increase milk supply as well.
Use about a cup of sliced pineapple, 1 small knob of ginger (about 1/2 inch), and 2 lemons.
Juice #4 - Greens Juice Drink
You could make your own greens juice drink, but I recommend adding something sweet like apples or carrots because greens are often bitter by themselves. Here are two juicing combinations you can try yourself, which contain milk boosting ingredients.
Feel free to experiment with other variations of fruits and vegetables from the lactogenic foods list above.
- Celery, cucumbers, and ginger
- Apples and moringa leaf powder
If you don’t have time to juice, you can buy this greens powder and add it to juice or water. With moringa as one of the main greens included in this drink mix, it will help increase your milk supply and give you extra vitamins.
What Is The Best Milk To Drink For Breastfeeding Moms?
The best milk for breastfeeding moms to drink will depend on what your body responds the best to and why you’re drinking it. Sometimes you or your baby may have reactions to cow’s milk. If this is the case, you can try coconut milk, almond milk, cashew milk, or oat milk.
The best milk for you also depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with it. You don’t need to drink milk if you don’t want to. If you do like cow’s milk, opt for whole milk which contains healthy fats and less sugar than skim or low fat milk.
You can get calcium, protein, and other nutrients from eating a variety of real, whole foods. The best meal plan for breastfeeding moms is one that contains a variety of fresh foods like vegetables, fruits, wild caught seafood, pasture raised meat, and nuts and seeds.
If you want creamer for your coffee, you can try Nutpods, which has almond and coconut milk in it. Or, you could try oat milk creamer if you have a nut allergy. I’ve used both of these for a long time and they are creamy and yummy in coffee or lattes.
The Best Hydration Drink For Breastfeeding & Milk Supply
The best drink to keep you hydrated as a breastfeeding mom and to boost your milk supply is coconut water. It is all natural with no other ingredients, and it’s simple and easy for your body to absorb.
Coconut water contains lactogenic properties from coconut as well as electrolytes. My favorites are the ones infused with other fruits as well. But if you like just coconut water, that’s a great option as well.
Fresh water (without other additives) is also important as a breastfeeding mom. Be sure you’re drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water everyday. Adding in electrolytes is also important, but in natural forms so you don’t end up with an electrolyte imbalance.
Liquid I.V. is another option if you’re looking to add a drink mix to your water. It has electrolytes and vitamins that will help to increase your breast milk supply. You can even add it to coconut water for an extra boost.
What Are The Worst Drinks When Trying To Increase Breast Milk Supply?
The worst drinks you should avoid when trying to increase your breast milk supply will either cause you to be more dehydrated or actually decrease your breast milk supply. Some moms respond poorly to ingredients that include fenugreek as well. Always keep an eye on your milk supply for adverse reactions.
Avoid excess amounts of alcohol, tea, and coffee which can actually dehydrate you, resulting in a potential decrease in milk supply and a fussy baby. Also stay away from anti-lactogenic herbs in large amounts (known to decrease milk supply) such as sage, parsley, and peppermint.
Sage is usually found in holiday dishes at Thanksgiving, and peppermint is found in candies, teas, and bubble gums. Try to avoid these foods in large quantities if you can. However, consuming a little amount does not typically have any effect.
It’s time to try out some drinks that increase breast milk supply and see which ones work best for you.
There are so many great options of drinks to try if you’re looking to increase your milk supply as a breastfeeding mom. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of quality water in addition to some of these other options.
Whether you like hot teas or cold smoothies, there is an option for you. Leave your comments below to let me know which ones work the best for you and if you have other drink ideas to share with other moms.
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