Olivia Munn Gives a Peek into Low Milk Supply Reality — My Top Takeaways from Her Experience

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One of the hardest aspects of chronic low milk supply is that we can feel so alone on this journey. It is estimated that 10-15% of moms may experience low milk supply for a multitude of reasons. (1) While that number is no blip on the charts, it’s still very isolating to know that most, if not all of your mama bear friends are reaching their breastfeeding goals.

Which is why when actress Olivia Munn took to Instagram to share that she was experiencing low milk supply blues, it was the solidarity that many of us need to feel more seen in the breastfeeding community.

On January 19, 2022 Munn gave us a little look inside her low milk supply journey on her Instagram stories. We were able to get a lot of insight from the two stories that she posted and there were many learning opportunities to take away from what she shared.

Munn shared in her first story, “[I’m] 8 weeks in and I’ve taken a million vitamins, countless teas, lozenges, tinctures and worked with two lactation consultants. Breastfeeding. Is. Hard.” The second clip of her stories showed a display of the supplements she’s taking and then it says, “Any other moms taking allll the supplements and teas and tinctures yet barely make milk?” followed by a poll for her followers to respond to.

When you are struggling to make enough milk, you need specialized support. Let’s clarify what this means…

Munn shares she has gone and seen two lactation consultants, which is great! Every mom struggling with low milk supply should be seeing someone who works within the lactation industry. Don’t go to just your general pediatrician or to your OBGYN because believe it or not, they don’t have lactation training.

However, “two lactation consultants” doesn’t tell me anything about the scope of knowledge these providers have when it comes to low milk supply. There are an array of lactation professionals in the industry including IBCLC, CLC, and CLEs, but regardless, none of these designations actually teach about low milk supply in detail.

Low milk supply is a specialty that isn’t taught to even the “gold-standard” of lactation professionals (an IBCLC, AKA an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant). I’ve completed a course that trains up new IBCLCs and the amount of education and training that covered low milk supply is laughable at best.

So one of my questions is did either lactation consultant know what they were doing? We don’t know based off of this, and I hope they did. I hope they were able to guide her and give her the input that she needed, but unfortunately, its not likely.

I know this to be true because I saw five lactation consultants myself. The first three all IBCLCs and were super nice. They knew a lot about breastfeeding generally speaking. Unfortunately, they didn’t know low milk supply and they couldn’t help me. It wasn’t until lactation consultant number four that I was able to get some actual tailored help to my breastfeeding challenges.

One thing I encourage moms to ask a lactation professional when seeking low milk supply support is to ask, “Have you studied this? Have you looked into this? What research have you done?” and get to know what their background is.

The first step to low milk supply basics

If I was working with Munn or I’d share with her that you have to advocate for bloodwork. There are so many reasons why low milk supply happens. Primary low milk supply, also known as when the reason for the low supply is stemming from the mom herself, is really hard to overcome if you don’t pinpoint why your body isn’t producing milk to begin with. If you’re doing all the things for proper milk management, including proper milk removal, you’ve checked baby’s latch, and even may be taking supplements, and it’s still not increasing then something is not working.

You now need to go and advocate for bloodwork because there’s something going on internally that is preventing your body from producing milk. The biological design is for us is to be able to produce milk, and then when something gets in the way of that, that is where problems can occur. So, get bloodwork.

If you are unsure if you truly have a low milk supply or if you are unsure what could be causing your low milk supply, I do have a free resource that you can grab here. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it covers the main things that can cause a low milk supply to help you further investigate those different topics.

Picking galactagogues that are most likely to work

So when it came to her second story, I noticed there are a lot of supplements pictured. I don’t blame her because I’m guilty of the same thing. But I am now a firm believer of using galactagogues, which are lactogenic herbs and supplements that are used to promote and increase milk production, wisely.

“Galacta-” is the Greek root word for milk. These foods are known for having properties that really can help with lactation. Research surrounding the nuanced details of the how and why is limited but there are not plenty of studies showing their efficacy. Since we don’t know all the good and the bad of using galactagogues, they can sometimes have both pros and cons. This is why you must use them strategically.

If you are just taking everything and anything, you’re shooting an arrow in the dark. This is where your bloodwork results will come in handy. If any of your results come back showing there might be some sort of problem, then you need to address that root problem because that’s probably why your supplies not going up or even remotely changing.

Why fenugreek-free can make or break a low milk supply journey

After seeing Munn’s stories, I’m really concerned with seeing all of these supplements because there’s a lot of contradiction with these galactagogues. The one that is most prevalent here is Legendairy Milk, and while they’re a good brand, one of the things is they’re known for being fenugreek-free.

Fenugreek is probably the most well-known galactagogue out there. It’s been used for centuries, has really risen in popularity over the past few decades, but most recently has been very controversial. It is a good galactagogue, it does increase milk supply, and it is probably the most researched and tested galactagogue on the market. However, it’s just not right for everybody and this goes back to knowing your root cause because it has side effects or negative outcomes for certain individuals.

If you have a history of being hypothyroid or even if you have no thyroid condition going into pregnancy, but then you have a baby and now you are diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis, you now might have a problem with using fenugreek. This is because it is known for suppressing your thyroid and we know that thyroid dysfunction is one of the root causes when it comes to low supply.

Is fenugreek the only thing we should be worried about?

Now if we go to Legendairy Milk’s website you can see that one of the other ingredients that they have in their supplements is moringa. Moringa is great for sensitizing insulin, however, it is speculated to also being capable of suppressing the thyroid like fenugreek can.

There’s one study where it was done on rats and they were given moringa. The study resulted in a suppression of thyroid function. (2) So it’s possible moringa can produce similar outcomes to fenugreek. Despite that it was done on rats, we can apply this information and acknowledge it’s possible that this could happen to another mammal.

Here’s the thing, we don’t know where that dosage threshold is for humans or otherwise. We need to question at what point does that end up being too much of a supplement? So because of that, any time I see somebody who is working with a low supply and has a possible hypothyroid it can be an issue.

Actually, anyone with a hypothyroid condition I strongly advise against the use of fenugreek, moringa, and lemon balm, as these all have properties that have been shown to suppress thyroid function.

Looking back at Munn’s stories we see that two of her Legendairy Milk supplements are Milkapalooza and Cash Cow. On Legendairy Milk’s website we see that moringa is an ingredient in both of these products, so if she has a hypothyroid issue this could be a problem.

It makes no sense to take contradicting galactagogues

But then the irony here is all of the other non-Legendairy Milk products she is taking have fenugreek in their ingredients. These other brands are Alvita, Earth Mama, and Pink Stork. This contradiction really makes me question the kind of education and information she is receiving when it comes to selecting her galactagogues.

To me, it seems like she’s just taking anything and everything, when there appears to be a lack of logic here. Of course without knowing everything that she’s gone through and medical history, from what we can see here, I see some possible red flags and I see some things that could be done differently. I hope she’s getting the help that she needs, and I want this to be an opportunity for anybody who is struggling with a low milk supply to learn from.

The biggest takeaways from Munn’s experience

I am a fan of galactagogues but if you are unsure where to start with them, know that the first step is figuring out your root cause. There’s a lot of things I want you to rule out before taking supplements because not everyone’s root cause(s) are the same. You can grab my free resource on the top root causes for low milk supply from both a primary and secondary standpoint here.

If you know what your root cause(s) are and you are ready to explore different galactagogues, you can check out my Galactagogue Guide. However, you need to know your root cause first, because this reference guide tells you which galactagogues are the best for various root cause issues. Also keep in mind there is no single magic pill for low milk supply but this guide will give you the best galactagogues to optimize your odds of increasing your supply.

Misuse of galactagogues can result in wasting time, wasting money, and possibly jeopardizing your milk supply by taking the wrong supplements for you. I don’t want that to be you so if you need help, please reach on out. You can connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Citations

1. Lee, S., & Kelleher, S. L. (2016). Biological underpinnings of breastfeeding challenges: the role of genetics, diet, and environment on lactation physiology. American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism, 311(2), E405–E422. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00495.2015
2. Tahiliani, P., & Kar, A. (2000). Role of Moringa oleifera leaf extract in the regulation of thyroid hormone status in adult male and female rats. Pharmacological research, 41(3), 319–323. https://doi.org/10.1006/phrs.1999.0587