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

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.