11 Best Lactation Supplements in 2026

Show ContentsHide Contents

Buying Guide Questions

What are some Pharmaceutical/Prescription Lactation Drugs?

The three most common ones are: Domperidone (Motilium, Motilidone), Metoclopramide (Maxolon, Reglan), and Sulpiride (Dolmatil, Sulparex, Sulpitil, Eglonyl, Equemote)

When to take lactation supplements?

Lots of new mothers think that they have a problem with their milk production, but they don’t. Maybe it’s just because they haven’t known they're pregnant or post-pregnant very well, so it is important to know and get familiar with your own body.  You can start taking lactation supplements after labor — don’t begin before you have the baby. Some evidence suggests some supplements, like fenugreek, could potentially induce labor. You definitely should take your pregnancy conditions as the priority and you would not want to trigger labor before your baby’s time to come out to the world. So, the best time to take your lactation supplements is during your breastfeeding journey, when you have finally gotten comfortable with your body and became familiar with the supply and demand of your precious breast milk.  

What are the Possible causes of low milk supply?

source: Tina Louise Buie – Lactation consultant

1.       Insufficient Glandular Tissue

Although very rare, some women’s breasts don’t develop normally and may not have enough “milk-making” ducts to meet their baby’s needs. Ducts do grow during each pregnancy and breastfeeding stimulates the growth of more ducts and tissue, so this may be less of a problem with a second or third baby. There are certain steps you can take to maximize your milk production but you may also need to supplement with formula. It’s worth the effort to continuing breastfeeding, though, as even a small amount of your milk will help support your baby’s immune system, brain development, and nutritional needs.

2.      Hormone or Endocrine problems

Perhaps you have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a low or high thyroid, diabetes, hypertension or hormonal problems that made it difficult for you to conceive. Any of these issues may also contribute to low milk production because making milk relies on the hormonal signals being sent to the breasts. What can you do? In some cases, treatment of your health problem will help you to boost milk production, although supplementation may be needed. A visit to a breastfeeding clinic or Lactation Consultant can help you find an approach that will work with your specific condition.

3.      Previous Breast Surgery

Breast surgeries can be done for both medical and cosmetic reasons. Breast reductions or enhancements, for example, are increasingly common. Nipple piercings can also be considered a kind of breast surgery and may damage milk ducts in the nipple. How much these surgeries affect breastfeeding varies widely, depending on how the procedure was done, how much time has passed between the surgery and the birth of the baby and whether there were any complications that might have caused scarring or damage to the breasts. Some women, especially those with breast enhancements rather than reductions, may be able to exclusively breastfeed without any difficulty. Others will need extra help and may have to supplement.

4.      Using Hormonal Birth Control

Many Mothers who breastfeed and take birth control pills find their milk production doesn’t change, but for some, any form of hormonal birth control (the pill, patch or injections) can cause a significant drop in their milk. This is more likely to happen if you start using these contraceptives before your baby is four months old, but it can happen later as well. The first step to increasing your milk supply again is to stop the medication, but talk to your doctor before you do and be prepared to change birth control methods.

5.      Taking certain Medications or Herbs

Pseudoephedrine, methergine, bromocriptine or large amounts of sage, parsley or peppermint can affect your milk. If you find your supply has dropped, and realize you have taken one of the medications listed here, ask your doctor about an alternative treatment for your cold or health ailment. Increased breastfeeding and possibly pumping will help you build up your milk production again.

6.      Sucking Difficulties or Anatomical Issues in Baby

The problem may lie with your little one; it may be difficult for him to get the milk from your breasts. He may, for example, have a tongue-tie. That means the thin membrane of tissue at the bottom of his mouth is holding the baby’s tongue too tightly so that he’s not able to use it properly to extract the milk. (A baby doesn’t really suck the milk out of your breast, he uses his tongue to help compress the breast and push the milk into his mouth.) In many cases, this is fairly easy to see, but for some babies, the restricting membrane is at the back of the tongue and harder to identify. Check to see if your baby is able to stick his tongue out (over his bottom lip) and that he touches it to the roof of his mouth when crying. If your baby is tongue-tied, the membrane can be clipped by a doctor and the baby’s ability to breastfeed will improve quickly. Other problems can also cause sucking difficulties (such as cleft lip and cleft palate), so if you suspect your baby isn’t feeding well, check with an expert or your doctor.

7.      Not Feeding at Night

There are many books and programs that offer sleep-training methods to get babies to sleep longer at night without waking for feedings. While these techniques can work for some families, the loss of those night feedings can mean problems with weight gain for some babies. Why? Mothers vary a lot in how much milk they are able to store in their breasts between feedings. With no feedings overnight, their milk supply starts to drop. The level of prolactin (the hormone that signals the breasts to make milk) is also higher during night feedings, so the lowered overall prolactin can also contribute to a drop in milk. It’s hard to resist the lure of more sleep, but for many mothers, those nightly feedings are essential to keep milk production high. If you have started sleep training and find your milk supply going down, consider reintroducing one or two-night feedings.

8.      Scheduling Feedings and/or using a Pacifier between Feedings

Your breasts make milk continuously, but the rate at which milk is made depends on how empty they are. You’ll make more milk when your breasts are close to empty and less milk when they are already filled up. When your baby is feeding infrequently, because you have put him on a three- or four-hour schedule for example, or because you are giving him a pacifier to stretch out the time between feedings, your breasts are fuller for longer periods of time. That means milk production slows down. When babies are breastfed in response to their cues, they tend to have shorter, frequent feedings and this means the breasts are emptier most of the time and so they continue to produce plenty of milk. One feeding cue while breastfeeding is sucking.

9.      Birth Medications or Jaundice

Mothers don’t always realize that medications used in labor, such as epidural anesthetic or Demerol, can affect the baby’s ability to latch on and breastfeed effectively. Some studies show these effects last as long as a month, depending on the medication used in the epidural and the length of time the mother received it. Jaundice, a common condition in newborns, can also make your baby sleepier than usual so that he doesn’t wake up to nurse as often as he would otherwise. In both cases, you may need to pump your milk to build up a good supply. Once your baby has cleared the medications from his system and jaundice has been treated, he will probably begin nursing well and you’ll be able to reduce and eventually stop pumping.

10.  Baby Formula Supplementation

Especially in the first couple of weeks, supplementing with formula tricks your breasts into producing less milk. “In the early weeks, the breasts’ capacity for milk production is calibrated in response to the amount of milk that is removed,” says lactation consultant Diana West. “If less milk is removed, the breasts assume that less milk is needed, so the capacity is set at a lower point.” Your baby naturally eats less at the breast when given formula milk. And the breasts respond by making less milk. If supplementation is necessary, pumping as well as breastfeeding can help to promote a higher volume of milk production. Important: If your baby is showing signs of not getting enough milk please see your Lactation Consultant. Or other breastfeeding experts who can help you figure out and treat the cause of your low milk supply.