Here’s good news for moms having trouble with their breast milk supply — eating more cookies can help! Whether you want to boost your supply or just want to help your body maintain milk for your newborn baby, eating lactation cookies can be a great (and delicious) way to accomplish both.
Lactation cookies are made up of ingredients which fall under a group known as galactagogues. A galactagogue can either be plant-based or synthetic and is known to help promote lactation. Foods considered to be galactagogues are brewer’s yeast and flaxseed, which are generally two common ingredients in these cookies.
However, you will most likely see oats too. Though not scientifically proven, centuries of nursing mothers will attest to the milk-boosting properties of oats. “The high iron content of oats is one of the big reasons lactation cookies work. Low iron is common in the postpartum mother and is a factor that can contribute to exhaustion and depress the immune system. Low iron can cause a decrease in milk supply,” explains Emily Cohen-Moreira, a childbirth educator, doula and lactation counselor.
So how many cookies should you eat for the first time? Miesha Vargas, a professional birth doula and the owner and baker behind Baby Love Lactation Cookies suggests starting with just one cookie and seeing how it will affect you. As she points out, an oversupply of breast milk can be just as difficult to deal with as a low supply. This is because a disproportionate ratio of foremilk and hindmilk can give your baby digestive issues. The goal is to have just the right amount of milk that baby needs: not too much, not too little.
Try a cookie recipe from this list — you’re sure to find one that suits your tastes:
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Peanut Butter
These peanut butter cookies from Healthful Mama are gluten-, sugar- and dairy-free. This recipe uses nutritional yeast, rather than brewer’s yeast, as it does not contain gluten.
- Milk Cookie Bars
These bars from Playing House Full Time are soy-free, egg-free, gluten-free and dairy-free. This recipe also contains protein-packed ingredients like chia seeds and garbanzo bean flour for an extra energy boost.
- Pumpkin Spice
Premeditated Leftovers shows you how to make cozy pumpkin spice cookies to help with breast milk supply. Pureed pumpkin adds a dose of vitamins, but the addition of pumpkin pie spice will remind you of Thanksgiving, no matter what time of year you enjoy them.
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Sweet Treats guides you through making a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip lactation cookies. Vegetable shortening is used instead of butter to cater to moms who avoid dairy due to possible colic issues with their baby.
- Chocolate Chip Raisin
The blog Veggies Don’t Bite offers a vegan chocolate chip raisin macadamia oat recipe. Dates are used instead of refined sugar to sweeten the cookies, as well as molasses for added iron.
- Flourless
These flourless cookies from Organic Mama Cafe use maple syrup to help sweeten things up. (The added chocolate chips don’t hurt either.)
- No-Bake Chocolate Almond
If raw is your thing, these chocolate almond no-bake cookies are perfect. Small + Friendly uses coconut oil, cinnamon and unsweetened cocoa powder in this recipe, which takes around 10 minutes to make.
- Classic Chocolate Chip
High Heels and Grills teaches you how to make her breastfeeding cookies the good old-fashioned way, just like Grandma would have made. This decadent recipe contains egg, milk, butter and sugar.
- Chocolate Chip and Flaxseed
Breastfeeding advocate The Leaky Boob shares a simple straightforward cookie recipe. If you’d like a healthier alternative to the chocolate chips, try using sunflower seeds, dried blueberries or raisins instead.
- Basic Oatmeal
Cohen-Moreira suggests these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Noel Trujillo as an easy recipe to use as a basic guide, altering ingredients to suit your taste.
- Cookie Bars
The Eco Friendly Family shares a tried-and-true recipe for lactation cookie bars, which are vegan and gluten-free.
If you need a hand with your new baby, consider finding a doula on Care.com.
Elisabeth Vlasic is a mother of one who writes the award-winning, green-inspired parenting blog Willy B Mum. She breastfed her own son until he was 2.5 years of age and knows first-hand what it is like to struggle with milk supply. You can connect with her on Instagram.
