Postpartum Insufficient Lactation
Postpartum insufficient lactation refers to the absence of milk secretion or extremely low milk volume within 2–10 days after childbirth, or a reduction or complete cessation of milk flow during the puerperium or breastfeeding period, making it inadequate for feeding the infant. This condition is collectively known as "insufficient lactation" or "failure of milk discharge."
The most obvious manifestation of insufficient or absent milk is stagnation in newborn growth and weight loss. Therefore, it not only affects the infant's growth and development but also brings various difficulties and troubles to the family. Hence, active and effective prevention and treatment of postpartum insufficient lactation are essential. The following are mainly secret remedies and folk prescriptions proven effective in treating postpartum insufficient lactation.
[Prescription One]
100 grams sesame paste, 4 eggs, small dried shrimp, green onion threads, monosodium glutamate, and a little salt. First, mix sesame paste with water into a thin paste, then beat in the eggs, add appropriate water and stir well. Add seasonings, place in a pot, steam until cooked. Consume the steamed porridge in one serving. Take twice daily; usually effective within 3 days.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to postpartum deficiency of qi and blood, with no milk production.
[Prescription Two]
120 grams tofu, 30 grams rock sugar, 1 small cup yellow wine. Combine tofu and rock sugar with 600 ml water, boil over low heat until about 400 ml remains, then add yellow wine and serve. Eat tofu and drink soup.
This prescription is particularly suitable for insufficient milk caused by postpartum blood deficiency and fluid depletion, especially beneficial for those with heat symptoms.
[Prescription Three]
4 pig trotters, 100 grams tuberous root of *Cynanchum wilfordii*, 100 grams *Bulbophyllum* (Tongcao), 100 grams *Eupatorium fortunei*, 500 grams rice (or glutinous rice). Wash the trotters, cut each in half, place in a pot with 3000 ml water, boil vigorously until reduced to 1500 ml, remove trotters, then add tuberous root, Tongcao, and Eupatorium, simmer again to extract 900 ml juice. Strain out residue, add rice to the juice, cook into porridge. Drink warm while eating, consume until satiated. Best if accompanied by slight sweating and mild fever. If ineffective, repeat.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to pre-existing spleen-stomach deficiency combined with liver qi stagnation and unsmooth meridians.
[Prescription Four]
500 grams papaya, 30 grams ginger, 500 grams rice vinegar. Use a clay pot, eat in portions to facilitate absorption.
[Prescription Five]
500 grams ginger, 2 pig trotters, 1000 ml sweet vinegar. Peel and chop ginger, cut trotters into pieces, combine with vinegar and cook until tender. Consume over several days. For better effect, let sit for one or two weeks before eating.
[Prescription Six]
10 grams cotton seeds, 2 eggs. Boil both ingredients with 2 bowls of water. After egg is cooked, remove shell and simmer briefly. Add appropriate amount of sugar for flavor. Drink the broth and eat the eggs.
[Prescription Seven]
100 grams lettuce seeds, 50 grams glutinous rice, 50 grams common rice, 25 grams licorice. Combine all four ingredients with 1200 ml water (3 large bowls), decoct to obtain 700 ml juice. Strain, divide into three portions, warm and take once daily. Effective after 1–2 doses.
This prescription is highly effective for insufficient milk due to postpartum spleen-stomach weakness leading to blood deficiency and lack of milk.
[Prescription Eight]
50–100 grams red adzuki beans. Wash beans, add 700 ml water, boil until beans are soft and soup formed. Remove beans and drink the soup.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk caused by breast distension and obstruction of blood and qi in the mammary vessels after childbirth.
[Prescription Nine]
1 pig trotter, 50 grams peanuts, 15 grams dried mushrooms, a little seasoning. Cook until done and consume.
[Prescription Ten]
500 grams crucian carp, 9 grams Tongcao, 1 pig front trotter. Simmer together into soup. After cooking, remove herbs, eat meat and drink soup.
[Prescription Eleven]
30 grams sesame, 3 eggs, a little salt. Toast sesame until fragrant, grind into fine powder, mix with a little salt. Boil eggs, peel them, and dip in sesame powder for consumption, up to digestible limit.
[Prescription Twelve]
5 blocks tofu, 250 grams loofah, 25 grams dried mushrooms, 1 pig front trotter. First boil the trotter and mushrooms with salt and ginger for flavor. When meat is tender, add loofah and tofu and cook together. Consume all in portions within one day.
[Prescription Thirteen]
1 piece of placenta (Ziheche). Clean thoroughly, charred, ground into powder. Take 3–9 grams per dose.
[Prescription Fourteen]
200 grams peanuts, 20 grams rock sugar. First roast peanuts until crisp, crush into powder, mix with rock sugar, and dissolve in hot water to form a paste for consumption.
[Prescription Fifteen]
100 grams placenta, 200 grams lean pork, 3 stalks scallions, 50 ml yellow wine, a little refined salt. Clean placenta, cut into strips 3 cm long and 1 cm wide. Cut lean pork into 3 cm long and 2 cm wide slices. Place all five ingredients into a pot with 800 ml water, stew over high heat until meat is tender. Eat placenta and lean pork, drink the soup. Usually effective after 3–5 doses.
[Prescription Sixteen]
1 catfish (300–400 g), 4 eggs. Clean catfish, remove internal organs, place in pot with 700–800 ml water, bring to boil over high heat, reduce to low heat, beat eggs into fish soup, wait a moment, then return to high heat until fish is fully cooked. Consume fish, eggs, and soup twice daily. Usually effective within 3–4 days.
[Prescription Seventeen]
30 grams ginseng, 30 grams astragalus, 60 grams angelica root, 15 grams ophiopogon, 9 grams *Akebia stem*, 9 grams *Phragmites rhizome*, 2 pig trotters (remove claws). Decoct in water, take twice daily.
[Prescription Eighteen]
120 grams roasted barley sprouts. Add 500 ml water, boil briefly. Wash both breasts for 20 minutes, then use a wooden comb to gently stroke from outer edges toward the center.
[Prescription Nineteen]
5 walnuts, appropriate amount of yellow wine. Remove walnut shells, extract kernels, mash, and mix with yellow wine for consumption.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to blocked milk ducts.
[Prescription Twenty]
100 grams red-skinned peanuts, 100 grams corn grits, 100 grams rice. Boil corn grits and peanuts until half-cooked, add rice, add appropriate water, simmer slowly until porridge forms. Add sugar according to taste and consume.
[Prescription Twenty-One]
15 grams trichosanthes root, 100 grams cowpea. Wash both ingredients, boil together with oil and salt. Drink soup, eat cowpeas.
[Prescription Twenty-Two]
250 grams sweet potato leaves, 200 grams pork belly, appropriate seasoning. Wash sweet potato leaves, chop finely. Wash pork, cut into 2 cm long and 1 cm wide pieces. Place both in a pot with scallions, ginger, salt, and monosodium glutamate. Bring to boil over high heat, then simmer over low heat until meat is tender. Eat meat and drink soup.
[Prescription Twenty-Three]
250 grams mutton, 1 pig trotter (~500 g), appropriate seasoning. Scour and clean the trotter, soak in wine and soy sauce for 1 hour. Cut mutton into cubes, sauté garlic paste lightly in oil, add mutton and stir-fry until dry, pour in rice vinegar and continue frying until all odor is removed. Then add scallions, ginger, cinnamon stick, and seasoning, reduce heat and stew until tender. Remove bones, reduce sauce until thick.
Consume mutton and trotter paste, several times daily.
[Prescription Twenty-Four]
350 grams tendons, 50 grams chicken breast, 3 egg whites, appropriate amounts of cooking wine, refined salt, chopped scallions, starch. Cut tendons into segments, blanch briefly, drain. Remove tendons from chicken breast, pound into fine paste, place in bowl, mix with water, add cooking wine, salt, starch, and egg whites to form a thin paste. Heat oil in pan, fry until golden, add tendons and seasonings, stir until flavorful, gradually pour in chicken paste, drizzle with scallion oil.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to postpartum deficiency.
[Prescription Twenty-Five]
9 grams codonopsis, 20 jujubes, 9 grams rubus fruit, 60 grams rice. Wrap first three ingredients in gauze bag, decoct with water, remove residue, add rice to make porridge. One dose daily, consume continuously for 4–5 doses.
[Prescription Twenty-Six]
100 grams peas, appropriate amount of rock sugar. Soak peas in warm water for several days, simmer over low heat until mushy, add rock sugar, consume at any time.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to disharmony of spleen and stomach.
[Prescription Twenty-Seven]
1 large carp, 50 grams red adzuki beans, 6 grams tangerine peel, 6 grams Sichuan pepper, 6 grams apple. Clean carp, remove scales, gills, and internal organs, cut into pieces, combine with all herbs, boil for about 40 minutes, season, and take on an empty stomach while warm.
[Prescription Twenty-Eight]
50 grams red adzuki beans, 250 grams glutinous rice wine, 4 eggs, appropriate rock sugar. Wash beans, boil until soft, add rice wine, bring to boil, crack eggs into soup, cook until eggs set, then add rock sugar. Eat eggs and drink soup.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to blood deficiency.
[Prescription Twenty-Nine]
10 chicken feet, 50 grams peanuts, appropriate seasoning. Cut off claw tips of chicken feet, wash, place in pot with water, yellow wine, and ginger slices, boil for 30 minutes, then add peanuts, refined salt, and monosodium glutamate, simmer over low heat for 1.5–2 hours, sprinkle with chopped scallions, drizzle with chicken fat.
This prescription is suitable for postpartum blood deficiency and insufficient milk.
[Prescription Thirty]
30 grams golden needle mushroom, 60 grams lean pork, a little seasoning. Wash golden needle mushrooms, slice pork, place together in ceramic pot, steam over high heat until cooked, add seasoning, eat meat and vegetables, drink soup.
[Prescription Thirty-One]
1 ox nose, 2 slices ginger. Clean ox nose, remove hair, slice, place in a steaming bowl with ginger and sufficient water, steam until cooked. Season with salt, drink soup and eat meat.
[Prescription Thirty-Two]
50 grams processed astragalus, 10 grams Tongcao, 1 hen, appropriate refined salt and yellow wine. Wash first two ingredients. Kill hen, remove skin, open belly, wash, drain, cut into large pieces, place in porcelain dish. Add herbs, sprinkle 1 spoon refined salt (preferably light), drizzle 3 spoons yellow wine, do not cover, steam over high heat for 3–4 hours. Consume on an empty stomach or with meals. Divide into 2–3 portions daily.
[Prescription Thirty-Three]
1 hen (~1500 g), 2 pork ribs, appropriate seasoning. After slaughtering hen, remove feathers, internal organs, wash, place with pork ribs in boiling water, add scallions, ginger, cooking wine, refined salt, simmer over low heat for about 3 hours until meat falls off bone, add monosodium glutamate, serve as meal, several times daily.
[Prescription Thirty-Four]
60 grams asparagus, 500 grams lean pork. Cut pork into chunks, wash, combine with asparagus, add water, simmer over low heat until meat is tender. Eat meat and drink soup.
[Prescription Thirty-Five]
50 grams fresh dendrobium, 500 grams peanuts, 6 grams salt, 3 grams star anise, 3 grams hawthorn. Cut dendrobium into 1 cm sections, add to pot with water, salt, star anise, hawthorn, and dendrobium. Once salt dissolves, add peanuts, boil, then simmer over low heat for about 1.5 hours until peanuts become powdery. Serve as side dish.
[Prescription Thirty-Six]
30 grams dried shrimp, 100 grams rice. Soak dried shrimp in warm water for half an hour, then cook with rice into porridge. Consume warm twice daily.
This prescription is especially suitable for insufficient milk due to kidney essence deficiency.
[Prescription Thirty-Seven]
100 grams rice, 10 grams leek, 10 grams citron, 15 grams dried orange peel, 10 grams fermented soybean, 8 jujubes, appropriate ginger juice. First decoct leek, citron, and dried orange peel to extract juice, strain, then add rice and jujubes, fermented soybean, and cook into porridge. When porridge is ready, stir in ginger juice, take on an empty stomach while warm.
This prescription is suitable for postpartum weaning-related breast engorgement.
[Prescription Thirty-Eight]
30 grams pangolin scale, 15 grams luffa vine, 200 grams pig tendon, 10 grams fo-ti root. Place the three herbs in a gauze bag, tie tightly, and stew with pig tendon in a clay pot or pressure cooker until tender. Discard the herb bag, add salt and ginger juice. Drink soup and eat meat, several times daily, continue until milk supply increases.
[Prescription Thirty-Nine]
Half bowl fresh orange juice, 1–2 tablespoons rice wine. Mix rice wine into fresh orange juice, take twice daily.
This prescription is especially suitable for poor milk flow, breast redness, swelling, hardness, and pain during breastfeeding.
[Prescription Forty]
6–9 grams ligusticum, 9–12 grams angelica, 45–100 grams pangolin meat. Place in container, add appropriate water, steam over water for 2–3 hours. Drink the broth and eat the meat.
This prescription is suitable for postpartum breast fullness and inability to secrete milk.
[Prescription Forty-One]
250 grams young peas. Add appropriate water, cook until soft, eat plain and drink soup.
[Prescription Forty-Two]
60 grams scorched barley sprouts. Decoct in water, take as tea.
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