Lactation Cookies + Video
It works! These lactation cookies help boost your milk supply thanks to 3 key ingredients. Freezer friendly, and super delicious, these lactation cookies are a breastfeeding mama’s best friend.
We’re getting personal in here today! Haha. If you’ve followed my blog regularly, you know I have a baby boy, who is 8 1/2 months old now. So I’ve been nursing him, but when I started my health challenge in January, about 2 weeks into it, my milk supply dropped dramatically!
He was waking up constantly in the night to nurse, but he would try to eat and just cry. Repeat that during the daytime, and I felt so awful, but I really wanted to lose weight while nursing, so I had to figure out a way to do both. I know I was getting plenty of water (I was drinking 12 cups a day), and I had tried increasing my caloric intake by 300 calories (to about 1600 calories a day), but nothing was working. It’s been said that as long as the baby stimulates the breasts, your body will make more milk, but I got desperate.
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I scoured the internet for a lactation cookie recipe that sounded legit, and I tweaked it to have less sugar, chocolate chips instead of raisins, and I used half coconut oil & half butter to incorporate some healthy fats (compared to just using all butter). Those adjustments created super delicious (and almost healthy) oatmeal chocolate chip lactation cookies. My husband and kids all love these too, and you don’t have to freak out. It’s not going to give them milk making abilities just by eating them. Everyone can enjoy these tasty cookies!
I ate 2 cookies the day I made these, and 1 each day after that. My supply was back and even better than before by the 2nd day, roughly 24 to 48 hours later! I continued my 6 week health challenge, eating 1 cookie a day for my milk supply, and I still lost 11.8 pounds by the end of it. Success!
The 3 milk boosting ingredients in these lactation cookies are: flaxseed, brewer’s yeast, and fenugreek. I found everything but the brewer’s yeast at Walmart. I had to go to a health store for the brewer’s yeast, which is the most effective ingredient out of the three. (I hear if you have a Whole Foods, they have it there. Or you can buy brewer’s yeast on Amazon.) All-in-all, I spent around $22 on those three key ingredients, which isn’t bad when you think about having to continually buy formula.
The old fashioned oats in these cookies also help with milk production, but I was eating oatmeal and that alone wasn’t helping. The combination of all 3, or rather all 4, saved my milk production! I even gave some to another one of my nursing friends, and she said they tasted better and worked better than a different recipe she had tried, so there you go!
Breastfeeding can have so many ups and downs, making milk shouldn’t have to be one of the stresses. Thank goodness I have these cookies! My favorite thing is to individually wrap them and put them in the freezer. I pull one out each day after lunch and nuke it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It’s a delicious treat that helps me continue feeding my cute baby boy. Win-win!
Print or pin the recipe now! You won’t want to lose it! Share this post with your breastfeeding friends, it’s a great resource to have in case of emergencies. 😉
Lactation Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal
- ¼ cup (59 ml) water
- 2 cups (304 g) whole wheat flour, (stir, spoon, & level)
- ¼ cup (60 g) brewer's yeast, (this is the main ingredient for milk production)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 9 fenugreek capsules, (empty capsules and discard)
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, softened
- ½ cup (113 g) coconut oil, softened
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (150 g) light brown sugar, gently packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (240 g) old fashioned oats
- 1 cup (170 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix flaxseed meal and water; set aside.
- Stir together the flour, brewer’s yeast, salt, baking soda and fenugreek, set aside.
- Blend butter, coconut oil, and sugars well. Blend in eggs. Stir in flaxseed mixture and vanilla; mix well.
- Add dry mixture. Mix until just combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
- Scoop 2 Tbsp of dough, 1 to 2 inches apart, onto a silicone lined baking sheet. (About 8 cookies per tray.)
- Bake at 375˚F for 9 to 10 minutes, until matte on the top.
- Once cooled, individually wrap cookies in plastic wrap and place them in a container the freezer. Eat at least 2 cookies the first day, and one each day afterwards. (I have one every day after lunch. Just unwrap it and nuke it in the microwave for 30 seconds.) Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Hello! I’m wondering if I’m able to use real fenugreek leaves instead of the capsules???
I have not tested the recipe that way, so I cannot say for sure.
These are so delicious and made such a difference in my milk supply!! I have tried other lactation treat recipes and they did not do what these cookies did for me. Such a notable difference! Thank you! Do you have any other lactation recipes?!
Hi Katie! I’m so glad this recipe worked well for you! But unfortunately, it is my only lactation recipe. 😕
I just had my second baby and I’m so happy I found this recipe again. I remember helping me a lot with my first! My husband also eats these too lol thank you so so so much for this 🙂
They are yummy for everyone. I’m so glad you have found it useful for building your milk supply Kelly! Thanks for sharing your experience with the recipe.
Just made these. I just didn’t have the fenugreek. Hope they still helps my supply. They taste so good!
By freezer friendly do you mean the dough can be frozen or the cookies after they are baked? I am assuming the dough but have to ask.
Hi Macie! I freeze the cookies individually after they are baked. I wrap them in plastic wrap and then place them in a zip-top bag. Then I just nuke them in the microwave when I need to eat one.
Love the recipe, they have helped with milk production for baby 1 and baby 2!! But how did you loose 11lbs while nursing and eating these?! What eating plan did you follow? Last time I didn’t loose the weight until after weaning (14mo) and this round I haven’t lost any weight and my baby is 6 months already!!
Hi Tasha!
I’m so glad that this recipe is helping you! I think I got lucky with losing weight while nursing my daughter. I was just counting calories at the same time, but it didn’t work for me while I was nursing my youngest (son). I only recently (early this year) lost all of the baby weight from him. It took me a year to lose what I wanted and he was 3 years old when I finally hit that goal.
I have found counting macros to be my favorite. I feel like I can still have treats and foods I love within reason, and my body composition is better than when I just counted calories because it’s a high protein diet. If you’re interested I would look up @themacrogals on Instagram. (Their separate accounts are @butteryourmacros and @thatashtonbarrett) I did their macro challenge and it jump started me towards my goals. You can see my final results in my instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/By6JhSBAT4Q/
The best part is that you have a plan for every step of your weight loss journey. You can’t be in a cut forever, so you take some time in a cut (say 6-8 weeks) and when you feel burnt out, you reverse your calories up to a higher amount called “maintenance” and you stay there to reset your metabolism. Then go back to a cut and so on until you’ve reached your goals. I have been able to keep the weight off and I am not counting every single day anymore. Just here and there to see if I’m doing ok or when I want to tighten things up. I would highly recommend counting macros, just know there is a learning curve. You have to figure out what foods you love that will fit your macros, or like any “diet” you might give up. But it’s totally worth figuring out! Good luck!
Try to not pump for long periods but shorter periods more often. As soon as your breasts are fully empty (massage than squeeze them to get all the milk out) stop (so after 5-20 minutes) and then pump to be empty again 1-2 hrs later all day. This will tell your body that it needs to produce more milk. Or try power pumping 2-3 times a day. This (along with supplements) helped me with my supply
Is it okay that I used ground flaxseed instead of flaxseed meal? I didn’t realize it until after I made the cookies!
I’m sure it’s fine. Might just be a crunchier texture.
Hi Amber.. I would like to try ur cookies but worried that i cudnt find the most important ingredient of this cookies-brewer yeast. Can i subsitute it with normal dry yeast? Thank you..
You can get it on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2AFbEKg (affiliate link). Normal dry yeast is an active yeast, whereas brewer’s yeast is inactive. It would mess with the chemistry of the cookies and I’m not sure if it would be effective with lactation. If you absolutely can’t get brewer’s yeast, I would leave it out and hope the fenugreek and flaxseed is enough.