The effect of Shuneez (Nigella sativa) as galactogogue on mothers complaining of insufficient breast milk: A single-blind clinical trial

Abstract

Despite the fact that exclusive breastfeeding has many health advantages for both mother and baby, only a small percentage of mothers actually adhere to this ideal practise leaving majority of infants without access to it. Most mothers (roughly 30–80 %) who stop exclusive breastfeeding for the first half year of baby's life complain about insufficient milk production. Therefore, this study was conducted on 100 mothers enrolled from Obstetrics and Paediatrics OPD of dept. of Amraze-Niswan wa Atfal Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College and Maternity Ward of Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, AMU, Aligarh from March 2021 to September 2022 on mothers complaining of insufficient breast milk secretion having child not more than a month in the absence of any systemic disease to the mother and her baby.The effect of the test drug on maternal serum prolactin and neonatal anthropometric measures (weight, length and head circumference) was significant with P < 0.0001. Furthermore, it did not exert any adverse effect on maternal Hb, ALT, AST, ALP and S. creatinine (‘P’values 0.9178, 0.3146, 0.2242, 0.3282, 0.7320 respectively) and found safe on the above parameters.Therefore, it has been concluded from the study that the test drug (Nigella sativa) was effective and safe in enhancing breast milk secretion.