When my son was born, I made a commitment to myself to try my best to breastfeed him for a year. In the beginning, it was easy (well, relatively speaking). We had a few latching issues, along with super sore nipples, but I persevered through until we found our stride … even if it did involve a few a lot of tears.
Fast-forward five months. I was still exclusively breastfeeding my son and back at work full time. I had settled into a comfortable routine of pumping during the day and feeding my son at the breast while home. Baby was happy. Life was good. My supply was plentiful.
Then I hit a snag. A snag in the form of a “monthly visitor.”
All of a sudden, my supply plummeted and I wondered if it was the end of our nursing relationship. I frantically searched the Internet for ways to increase breastmilk production and ran across the all-so-mighty lactation cookie. Why had I never heard of this little lifesaver before?
I have to admit, at first glance it looked a little daunting. Brewer’s yeast? Flaxseed meal? Making cookies from scratch and not a box? I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. But I was desperate and willing to give it a try. I printed off the recipe and headed to Whole Foods to collect all the not-so-common ingredients. I rushed home, put the baby to bed, pulled out my mixing bowl and cookie sheets, and was ready to go!
The recipe was surprisingly easy … the clean-up, not so much. But as I watched the cookies rise from the heat in the oven, so did my expectations of what they could do.
And you know what? They did not disappoint!
I went from pumping 2 oz per breast to 5 oz per breast in LESS THAN 48 HOURS. It was amazing, my fears were calmed, and this little recipe became a regular part of my kitchen routine every 3-4 weeks.
And the great thing is, they are actually REALLY GOOD. As in, I couldn’t wait to eat them, had a hard time limiting myself to a reasonable amount, and even my husband thought they were delicious (when he unexpectedly thought I was just “baking cookies” and not a concoction to increase breastmilk supply … although rest assured, they are safe for people who are not lactating. No worries about engorged breasts or sudden leaking boobs from anyone partaking. But you do want to make it clear to anyone in your household their purpose. And trust me, once you mention the words “increase breastmilk production, supply, etc.,” no one will want to get within 10 feet of them in fear of what they could possibly do to them!).
Super Milk Boosting Lactation Cookies
There are LOTS of recipes you can find out there on the Internet for lactation cookies (aka Mother’s Milk Cookies) but this is my personal favorite, mainly because it includes a larger quantity of the three milk boosting ingredients — flaxseed, thick cut oaks and brewer’s yeast — than any of the others I came across. (Go big, or go home … right?) And you can add in some fenugreek, an herb used for increasing milk supply (found in capsule form at places like Vitamin Shoppe), for even more of a powerful punch.
I have to admit, I didn’t have a lot of these ingredients freely on hand (except raisins and fenugreek). All ingredients (excluding fenugreek) I was able to find at Whole Foods, but it did cost me upwards of $50+. But rest assured, this is a hefty initial investment and making cookies moving forward will not be as costly since brewer’s yeast, flaxseed meal, baking soda and other ingredients will not have to be purchased again (I made cookies for 2 years and did not have to purchase these ingredients but one time). So prepare for your visit, and keep in mind the investment you are making to boost your supply that will feed your baby for many days, months, years to come.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (preferably with olive oil or flaxseed oil), softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup organic brown sugar
4 tbsp of water
2 tbsp flaxseed meal
2 large, omega 3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups of thick cut oats
1 cup of raisins
4 tbsp of brewer’s yeast (this is the main ingredient for milk production)
9 fenugreek capsules (empty capsules and discard)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix flaxseed meal and water, set aside. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, brewer’s yeast, salt, soda and fenugreek), set aside. Blend butter and sugars well. Blend in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flaxseed mix and vanilla, mix well. Add dry mixture in three equal parts. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop on baking sheet 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes. Once cooled, package 5 cookies into a Ziploc bag as an easy way to keep track of your daily intact. Try to space out eating cookies throughout the day (one for breakfast, one for mid-morning snack, one at lunch, one for mid-afternoon snack, one at dinner). Enjoy!
Words of Encouragement:
I hope you find this recipe as beneficial as I have. Fast forward 3 years later and my son is still breastfeeding at 3 1/2 years. Controversial? Maybe to some people. But to me, I am providing my son with important nutrients only mama can provide (even if it’s for a few minutes before bedtime and upon waking up at this point). For you? Make the best decision that works well for you and your family. And equip yourself with information and tools to maximize your breastfeeding experience.
You got this mama!
How many cookies does this recipe yield? Thanks!
Great question! Approximately 25
Mine made 40! They’re a little on the dry side and I only baked for 13 min. Anything I can add to make them less “dry” tasting?
By dry, do you mean hard? I always baked mine for not as long so they would be soft (because who wants a hard, dry cookie?). 😉
Apple sauce
How big did you make yours? Mine were about 3 inches in diameter once cooked (so not small, but not huge either) and I got 68 cookies out of 1 batch. I probably could have easily stretched it to 70-75. Would the size affect the number you should eat per day? I still eat the recommended 5, but haven’t seen that big of an impact on my milk production and it’s been almost a week. I know everyone will probably respond differently.
Also to the comment about the amount of calories taken in by eating 5 per day. I put the recipe into Myfitnesspal and based 1 serving on getting 70 cookies out of a batch (like I did with mine), so 1 batch is 70 servings. It equaled out to be 66 calories per cookie. So 5 a day would only be 330 calories a day. You would easily burn off those calories by doing nothing but nursing anyway. Pretty cool!
I would say mine were about the same size. I still continued eating 5 per day regardless of size. You could try eating more to see if that has a better effect for you. I also had someone say they added extra fenugreek tabs and an extra scoop of brewer’s yeast. You may want to try that out. Interesting fact about the calories for the cookies too! Thanks for figuring that out and sharing!
Thank you for figuring the calories out as I’m using MyFitnessPal too! 🙂
I also felt that there was a lot more batter than for 25 cookies. I’m going to make a batch again tomorrow 🙂
Can I use all purpose flour.?
You could probably try, but I would recommend the other. The main milk boosting ingredients are oats, brewer’s yeast, flaxseed, and fenugreek.
hi tiffany, how much fenugreek seeds can i use? its easier for me to get the seeds than the tabs.
Hmmm… I don’t have any experience with the seeds themselves. Would you typically grind these up and make them into powder? Or just add them as straight seeds? If they are straight seeds, I would think 1 tsp would be equivalent to one fenugreek capsule.
Thank you Tiffany,
Im and exclusive pumper, since my little one refuses to latch. Ive tried almost everything to up my supply so Im going to try these as well. Wish me luck!
Good luck! These were DEFINITELY a staple for me. My little one is 3 1/2 now, and surprisingly enough, I am in the one initiating weaning now. I would have never thought our nursing relationship would be this way. Sending positive vibes your way!
Made the cookies tonight but mine don’t look like yours, mine spreaded out and look more like an oatmeal raisin cookie. Should I have made them into balls? Also your directions mention salt but I didn’t see salt on the ingredients list. Excited to see if they work for me.
Mine look like Oatmeal raisin cookies too after they cool and are ready. Funny enough, often times each batch looks different. Let me go back and look at the recipe for the salt part. I believe there is a small amount (like maybe a teaspoon) but if it’s not included it doesn’t affect the milk boosting properties of the cookies. Let me know how they work for you! Fingers crossed!
I was wondering if you ever checked if the salt is needed for this recipe and the amount. I am getting ready to make these for my sister who is struggling with her supply Thanks so much!
Thanks for the reminder! Gimme 30 minutes and I’ll let you know.
It’s 1 teaspoon of salt. Updating recipe now. Good luck!
Also, have you ever made extra batches of these and put them in the freezer instead of having to make them every week?
Thanks for the great recipe by the way!
I have not, but what a great idea!
Thank You so much for taking the time to reply! I hope my sister enjoys these! 🙂 Merry Christmas!
You’re welcome! Hope your family has a nice Christmas as well! 🙂
You should try the medela latch. I had the same issue but the latch helped. Its easier for her to sick on because its longer than the nipple. Good luck!
I made these today and am super excited about them. How many should I eat per day to see an increase?
I recommend 5 per day, but you can eat more if you’d like. Good luck!
I was curious if you thought only eating one or two a day would have the same benefits. The recipe looks delicious, but at 5 a day, you’re talking nearly 1200 calories, 45.5 grams of fat (nearly 25 grams are from saturated fat), and 87 grams of sugar!!! I want the increased milk supply, but also want out of my maternity clothes 😉 Trust me, I’m not bashing the idea, but I dont want to solve one issue by gaining another (no pun intended).
Trust me, I totally know what you mean! Although I wanted the effects on the milk supply, I also didn’t want to feel it increasing my waistline. For me, I just chalked it up as a point in my life that I was sacrificing my body for my son – and I definitely don’t want to come across as implying those who make a different choice are less of a parent. I think we all have to decide what’s best for us personally and as a mother. I didn’t gain weight eating that many cookies a day, but I definitely didn’t lose either (and I had A LOT to lose post-baby). And I always felt a twinge of guilt pouring all that sugar into the batter and eating a lot of cookies on a regular basis, especially knowing my pre-pregnancy weight was far off in the distance.
I think it would be worth a shot to try 1-2 cookies a day. Five a day is just the suggested max, and I was usually looking for the fastest possible results, which is why I always ate that many at once. If you decide to try 1-2, let me know how it works out!
We also have a recipe for a lactation smoothie that gave another one of our mamas great results that isn’t as heavy on the calories, fat and sugar that may be worth trying out as well. Wish I would have known about it when I was trying to increase my supply! Here is the link: https://columbiamom.com/6-ways-to-increase-and-maintain-your-milk-supply/
This increase my supply, but did anyone else find that it increased your baby’s belly aches? I stopped eating them, and u.unfortunately I quit pumping (since my baby won’t take a bottle anyways, and I’m not getting enough to even count), but we are both much more comfortable. Any suggestions on how to have cookies and not have the belly aches?
Oh no! Sorry to hear it caused your baby belly aches. I never had any issues. Is there an ingredient in there that you know of already that irritates your baby’s stomach? The main three necessary components are oats, brewer’s yeast and flaxseed – so I would think any applicable alternatives to the rest of the ingredients would work without compromising the effects. Or you could try not adding fenugreek if you think that is the culprit.
I have heard that fenugreek can cause tummy issues for some babies. Try leaving out the fenugreek and see if that fixes the problem. With oatmeal, flax, and brewers yeast still in there, you should still see a boost in milk production.
Great point! That would be a good place to start. Fenugreek is just an extra boost to put in there, but the other three ingredients are key.
when i ate fenugreek sprouts it increased the supply but made LO and i gassy
Oh no! I don’t know that I have experience with the sprouts.
Have you ever tried replacing the butter with applesauce? Or the sugar with maple syrup?
I haven’t, mainly because I was so worried altering the recipe would cause a negative impact. Looking back, I think it would have been fine to make those substitutions.
Emily, I just made these by substituting the butter with coconut oil (since my baby is allergic to milk and a plus that coconut oil helps your milk be rich in nutrients) and substituting only the white sugar with honey and they turned out great! I’ve tried substituting with honey in baked goods before but this is the first time it’s worked out. I found this article wholenewmom.com/whole-new-budget/baking-with-honey-sugar-for-baking/ and the suggestions for honey ate the same for maple syrup. So when doubling the recipe I decreased other liquids by only using 4T of water (so only using half), I reduced the temp on the oven to 350 degrees, and I added about 1/2 tsp more of baking powder. But that is when doubling the recipe and only substituting honey for the white sugar not all. But if you go by the substitution rules from that website they should turn out! The only think I would watch out for is of you substitute with both applesauce and maple syrup there with be even more extra liquid, so you may need to compensate for that is a different way. Hope you find this helpful and I hope they turn out!
Thanks for sharing these tips!
Can we freeze them? Or just put them in the fridge? Or how did you store them?
You should be able to freeze them just fine. I usually stored mine in Ziploc sandwich bags (5 a piece) and left them out on my counter to grab on the go. I normally ate all mine up so there weren’t any leftover for freezing.
I found fenugreek in powder form at my local health food store. Can you
guess-ta-mate how much you think I’d need in place of the 9 capsules? A tablespoon, more or less? Thank you.
Oh wow! I have never seen it like that! I would guestimate a tablespoon and a half. Good luck!
do you think freezing the dough would have a negative affect on the active ingredients?
I’m a big freezer person especially with cookie dough and would love to stock up before baby #2 arrives.
It should be fine to freeze the dough without having a negative impact. What a great idea to stock up ahead of time! I always dreaded those nights when I had to turn around and make cookies from scratch after a long day and finally getting the baby in bed.
Can you tell me what brand or type of brewer’s yeast you used? I’m not sure if it’s the kind I used, but the cookies I made taste VERY strong of brewer’s yeast and I can’t handle it. I also swapped the raisins for chocolate chips in hopes it would mask the taste more, but it didn’t work. Would they still work if i made a batch with a tablespoon less of it?
I used Lewis Labs Brewer’s Yeast Buds, which I purchased at Whole Foods. I never tasted the yeast in my batches. I would try using a tablespoon less. I would think the benefits of some would be better than none at all. Let me know how it turns out!
Maybe it’s the fenugreek that i’m tasting. I’ll have to make them again without adding them.
That might be it. I know some folks who say they can really taste it.
I’ve been searching around for a good Brewers yeast, what’s the difference between the buds and regular powder?
Here is what I found about the buds: “These tiny buds are formed by an exclusive process called Air Flotation Agglomeration. The result is a more delicious, more uniform and more rapidly dissolving product. This is truly the world’s finest pure Brewer’s Yeast. If you like our regular Brewer’s Yeast, you are going to love our buds. This premium yeast is grown on sugar beets which are known to absorb nutrients from the soil faster than almost any other crop.” I used the Lewis Labs brand and felt it worked well.
I’m a diabetic, do you know if I could substitute the sugar for truvia?
Yes, you should be able to. Good luck!