Although herbal supplements are generally safe provided any written precautions are followed, herbal supplements for nursing mothers may or may not be recommended. Before a woman who is breastfeeding partakes of any herbal supplement, she should consult with her health care professional. Some herbal supplements do enter the breast milk, and if there are no FDA approved classes for these, only the doctor should be the one to advice.

As with any product that is ingested into the body, herbal supplements for nursing mothers should be taken in limited quantities unless proven over time to be safe for a baby or is one that has been proven not to enter breast milk. The safety of many herbal supplements for an unborn baby or infant has not been proven due to the fact that their widespread use has only become prevalent over perhaps the last two or three decades. In the past vitamins were the only dietary supplement taken even by the elderly, but as the use of herbal supplements has increased, so has the use of herbal supplements for nursing mothers who desire to return immediately to the same nutritional regimen they had been following.

What is the answer to the dilemma? First and most importantly, a woman should question a health care professional about herbal supplements for nursing mothers before taking them. If there is serious doubt, the best course of action is to avoid any product that your doctor did not recommend during pregnancy until you have finished breastfeeding. If possible, the use of herbal supplements for nursing mothers should be limited to products designed specifically for pregnant or lactating women or have been classed by the FDA as safe for that class.