how can you know if mother's milk is tainted?

If, on an off chance, we do have another child, we do have a few questions:

- What herbs help milk come in? (it never did before, but considering the toxicity of it, that was lucky)
- Since my wife has had radiation & is perpetually taking thyroid meds, will her milk ever be safe? (it's been 8 years since radiation)

Thanks! I know it's a really specific situation. It's totally fine if you don't have much info.

MP

There are a whole host of herbs that can help encourage milk production... some of my favorites are hops (Humulus lupulus), blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus), nettle (Urtica dioica), raspberry leaf (Rubus ideaus). You want to look for herbs that are galactagogues... of course if you win my book you won't have to look too far.

As far as the radiation. You can purge that out of the body with a few different foods and herbs. Yarrow flower essence is really good and I highly recommend miso for the job. I don't like "detox" methodologies, preferring to do more gentle building up of new tissue rather than tearing things down. This goes especially for moms. Here's what I would say about the whole tainted milk thought... the baby grew in the body that holds the toxicity... mother's milk is pretty awesome stuff and its specific for the child of the body where it is being made. There is much more passing over the placenta than there is passing through the milk. I think you'd be better off trying to slowly eliminate toxicity before getting pregnant again and then consider the breastmilk better than anything going even with remaining contamination in the body.

From my research, it can kill babies.

Have you seen this TED talk? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-omq_-WBDlo

In dolphins, the mother's milk kills the firstborn, but once they are purged using their milk & killing their firstborn, they can have babies that survive.

There was no evidence that it was possible to have babies after her thyroid was removed. We were glad to have our 2nd son, but now understand why the first baby we tried to have after radiation didn't make it full term.

I agree with the sentiments expressed in your message, but I do not think it is universally safe given the evidence.