valerian capsules for anxiety?

I don't know about how it affects nursing but I can say that my experience with valerian was erratic. Sometimes it really helped with anxiety attacks, sometimes it didn't. For sleep, sometimes it worked wonderfully, other times it left me very groggy in the morning.

IIRC, the published research does suggest that it needs to be used daily for at least a month in order to really help with anxiety. I didn't use it that way, because my periods of anxiety tend to last only 2-3 weeks.

A site that has good information about the scientific study of valerian is www.consumerlab.com.

i have never used it but my main stream hmo doctor highly recommends it. she says to use a tincture and to try and get it from i think isreal or another country i forget what country but she said they have stricture laws about purity and it can be hard to get good quality stuff from the united states and so it might or might not be potent enough to work. she said it grows naturally all over the world and just about every group of indigenous people have been using it for thousands of years and it is extremely safe to use. then she warned me not to take it while pregnant and then said especially not in he first trimester. she knows i plan to breast feed and said nothing about using it while breast feeding. lately i am calmer and sleeping better than i ever have before so i haven't had a need for it. after my baby is born if i get anxious again i will certainly try it.