Julie

Boobfood: Lactation Cookies

I’ve made a recent discovery that I would feel guilty not sharing. While mining through the internet working on another piece for this blog about breastfeeding, I struck gold. GOLD, ladies! Well, actually, I struck chocolate, and a bunch of other ingredients it turns out are really good for nursing moms. I even learned a new word! Say it with me: Galacatagogue. It means a substance that increases lactation. You, like me, may be thinking, “Wait, whaaaa? There are foods I can eat to increase milk supply? Cookies, you say? Do tell!” Well, fret not, dear mommies. That’s what I’m here for.

 
The Fontana di Nettuno- Bologna, Italy

The ingredients of Lactation Cookies work in a variety of ways to help mother & child. …and since they’re called “Lactation Cookies”, it might just be enough to steer Daddy & any other cookie monsters you may have clear! If that doesn’t work, let your DH know that there is a term called “Galactorrhea“,  that can happen to men, who have the same mammary glands as we do. (You know, in case we’re lost in the wild and get eaten by a bear and the new baby is left to fend with father. Thanks, Nature!) Okay, so milk probably isn’t going to spontaneously spurt forth a la The Fontana di Nettuno. (which would actually be kind of awesome, if you ask me- and also an easy way to tell who has been sneaking cookies while Mommy has her back turned! A warmer, stickier version of Pinnochio?) But you don’t have to tell him that. 


So what makes these “Lactation Cookies” and not just insanely yummy ones? Well, a lot of reasons, really. It has everything to do with the ingredients! Some, like baking soda & powder, water (duh) and vanilla need not be specific. Some, like the oats, do. I’ll explain to you what is important and why, if only so you can sound intelligent and justified while talking with your mouth full and licking chocolate off of your fingers. 

 

Let’s start with the #1 ingredient, galactagogue extraordinaire: Oats. Not oatmeal. There is a difference between oats & oatmeal, just like there is a difference between corn & cornmeal. See? So why do they work? You probably already know that oats are filling- but they work here because they fill us with iron, a key ingredient in boosting milk supply- and also energy! Another fantastic & filling thing about oats is the fiber, which has been a known galactagogue for years. (Farmers even use it to help milk supply in dairy cows!) Call me Granny, but I LOVE fiber. Let’s take a minute to bring up postpartum talk, where this is all kinds of good. 

 

You may, like me, have decided after childbirth that you will never, ever push anything out of your poor self EVER again. I cried when I had to poo after my first child, no joke. But pop a few cookies in after popping out a kid and your poo will practically pop out too! (Too much? I suppose that’s the “Punk” part of my parenting- better than pussyfooting, I’ll tell you that. If frank fecal facts don’t float your boat, just wait until your little nurser hits the toddler years!) Another postpartum little-known-secret about the fiber in oats is that is aids in weight loss. HELLO! Not only does the fiber keep us full of the good stuff, it grabs the bad stuff (including cholesterol!) on its way out, leaving our intestines cleaner, thus allowing them to absorb the nutrients that make their way down even better. Spring cleaning for your insides? Score. Not to mention it helps keep baby’s pipes clean, too! (Good digestion = happy baby! These cookies have even helped with my son’s colic. Seriously. When baby seems uncomfortable/gassy, the response these days is, “Babe, do you need a cookie?” This might be worth another entire post.) What better way to start this new chapter than with a healthier you? 


There are plenty of ways to add oats to your diet, aside from eating a bowl for breakfast or making cookies. You can use sites like Epicurious or AllRecipes, trusty ol’ Google or the ever blossoming Pinterest. (Follow me here!) I encourage you to check them out- variety is the spice of life, no? Okay: back to the cookies.


The second ingredient also known for its fibrous and milk making properties, is milled flax seed. Milled flax is different than whole flax seeds, which essentially count as raw fiber go & go right on through without being digested much, if at all. Milled flax is already broken down to allow for better absorption. Not only does flax share the fibrous & galactagogue properties of oats, it is also full of *highly necessary* Omega Fatty Acids for mother and baby both. Omegas are critical for the brain development & growth of little ones. (Back off! I’m eating these for my baby’s brain, thankyouverymuch…”) You may have seen or heard all the buzz a few years ago when companies started adding DHA into formula. However, studies have shown that the DHA in formula can cause diarrhea, which has led to dehydration, even seizures! Yikes. I’ll stick with eating cookies and breastfeeding, thanks. 

 
Next up in our galactagogue ingredient list is Brewers’s Yeast. Once again, Brewer’s Yeast (or Nutritional Yeast) is different from other types of yeast- this is not for helping your cookies rise! You’ve probably heard the old wives’ tale about beer helping increase milk supply. While partially true, I don’t need to remind you that cracking a beer before each time you feed your baby isn’t a good idea. Brewer’s Yeast is a cousin to Hops, the galactagogue found in beer. Not only touted for its lactation increasing properties, Brewer’s Yeast is good for protein, selenium (known for it’s anti-cancer properties) & chromium, which is used in weight loss supplements -and in the body naturally- to help convert extra carbs into energy. (So uh… that cancels out the sugar, right? Well, just pretend with me, anyhow.) Brewer’s Yeast can help balance the immune system, reduce respiratory problems & seasonal allergies, treat skin conditions such as acne & eczema and even cradle cap on babies! Best of all, it is high in B-Vitamins, which are important for energy (Have you ever noticed how the 5 Hour Energy Drink has 2000% of your daily Vitamin B-6 and 8333% of your Vitamin B-12?? Crikey!) and can help prevent postpartum depression by boosting mood, brain power and happiness. Sure thing! I’ll take two. Dozen. (Don’t worry, the recipe makes three. 😉
After some trial & error, I created a base recipe and even tried some lower fat & vegan options that I will leave at the bottom of the page. Some recipes I originally found call for peanut butter, but I found it made the cookies too heavy and filling while adding unnecessary fat and salt. Instead, I’ve loved using raw almonds, cashews or macadamia nuts, all of which are lactogenic and add to the hearty texture of the cookies. I have added molasses for even more iron, (once again, good for postpartum mommies) plus magnesium, potassium & calcium and makes for a slightly darker, chewier cookie. I love cinnamon (check out the health benefits here) and have tried ginger (another galactagogue, also good for circulation & digestion) to spice things up, too. I use organic, local and raw ingredients whenever possible! You are welcome to (and are encouraged to) adjust or omit to your likes & dietary needs. (and let me know how it goes!) 
 
Without futher adieu…
 
Boobfood: Lactation Cookies
(shameless plug: check out Boobfood on Facebook!)
 
 
 
You will need: (in order of use, according to which bowl it goes into- I’m strange like that. If I was more on top of it, I would have taken more pictures. But I’m not. So there.)
  • one small (ramekin-size) bowl, one medium & one large mixing bowl
  • to preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Combine in small bowl & set aside to be added into wet mixture:

  • 4 tablespoons water
  • 2 tablespoons milled flaxseed (or flaxseed meal)

Beat together, one at a time into large bowl:

  • 1 cup (two sticks) of butter (If you need dietary justification for this, click here and read where it suggests breastfeeding mothers, “get regular and substantial amounts of butter.” Seriously.)
  • 1 cup of (packed) brown sugar
  • 2 eggs (I use cage & antibiotic free)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 tablespoons of molasses (or to taste, if that’s not you’re thing)
  • the flax & water mixture you just made
Stir together dry ingredients one at a time in medium bowl :

  • 2 cups flour (I use half whole wheat, half pastry flour)
  • 4 tablespoons (this is the good stuff, ladies!) of Brewer’s Yeast
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon (l5 shakes-ish) of cinnamon
Then combine everything into the large bowl and stir in:
  • 3 cups rolled (thick cut) oats
  • 1 cup (or up to a whole package if you’e not adding nuts) of semisweet chocolate chips (if you need a dark chocolate disclaimer, click here 🙂
  • 1 cup of chopped macadamia nuts, cashews or almonds 
I used a soup spoon and scooped balls (Wads, really. Let’s not be pretentious.) about 3 tablespoons big into onto wax paper. (I use wax or parchment paper because I’m lazy- you can use more butter or whatever you’d like to line the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking)

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and let them cool before moving so they don’t get crumbly.
And then, you have…
 
 
*Vegan substitutions like ones from Earth Balance are available at health food stores and online. There are a lot of dairy replacement options at Vegan Baking Secrets to try, too. I’ve had good luck so far using  applesauce, flax & banana.  🙂
 
How did your cookies turn out? How did you alter the recipe? (I always do!)
Did you notice a change in your supply? 

*This post took many, many hours to put together and this entire site is a labor of love.  If you appreciate the work I do and are willing and able, please consider making a small, secure donation via Paypal here.

54 comments

  1. Thank you for all your work putting together this post!! This is my favorite lactation cookie and when I bake them, I have to hide them in the freezer or my family will eat them up. I found this recipe when my first was born 7 years ago and have sent all my female friends and family to this post since then. Working on building up a supply for baby #3 now before going back to work and happy to still have this resource.
    I make a few changes: I add an extra flax egg (2 T water, 1 T flax), increase the butter to 1.5 c, 3 t of cinnamon, and 2 c chocolate chips.
    Delicious!! I would love to donate but the Paypal link seems broken. If you still accept donations, let me know where to send it!

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  2. Added shredded coconut and left out the vanilla. I love them. Haven’t had an increase in supply yet though. Any nutritional info for these?

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  3. Can I use baking powder instead of baking soda? I only have baking powder and really can’t go to shops again with 2 kids at 38 weeks pregnant!!!!

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  5. I love this recipe and have made many many cookies, but I have a little one on the way and was wondering if I could freeze the batter? Normally I make them fresh and eat them right away, but I don’t think I will have time for that.

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  6. Hi there! I made my first batch of cookies last night and I think I put too much brewers yeast. I used heaping table spoons, and I’m not sure if I had the reduced bitter kind to begin with. My cookies are good except for a gross, bitter aftertaste. Is there anything I can do AFTER baking to resolve this issue so I don’t lose a whole batch of perfectly good cookies??

    Thanks!

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  7. Curious if you can grind whole flax seeds into meal at home? Like, say in a coffee grinder? Thoughts?

    I can’t wait to try these!

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  10. I have made these yummy cookies about 6 times since the summer. My first few batches I mixed by hand and they came out in heaps. Still tasted really good, not dry, but they did not spread out like the picture. *I followed the recipe exactly, just omitting nuts since I don’t like ’em.*

    These last few times, I used ROOM TEMPERATURE ingredients and my KA to beat the heck out of the ingredients when it came to this part.
    “Beat together, one at a time into large bowl:

    ◦1 cup (two sticks) of butter (If you need dietary justification for this, click here and read where it suggests breastfeeding mothers, “get regular and substantial amounts of butter.” Seriously.)
    ◦1 cup of (packed) brown sugar
    ◦2 eggs (I use cage & antibiotic free)
    ◦1 teaspoon vanilla
    ◦2 tablespoons of molasses (or to taste, if that’s not you’re thing)
    ◦the flax & water mixture you just made ”

    Then, I mixed in the choc chips really well and folded in my oats by hand. I used my 1/4c icecream scoop and placed them on my cookie sheet to bake. My cookies spread out perfectly. 🙂 I enjoy baking treats and desserts on a regular basis and I’ve learned that the temperature of ingredients makes all the difference in a hit or miss outcome. Hope this helps.

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  11. Hello, I noticed up in the comments that someone claimed they found iherb.com had better prices than amazon and I just did a comparison in that was innacurate. Both flax meal and brewers yeast on amazon was cheaper- same brands. I cant wait to try these cookies will be baking them tuesday!

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  14. Made these yesterday: super easy and really tasty. I used debittered brewer’s yeast and only about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. (I had already eaten some of the bag when I was pregnant!) and about another 1/4 cup of almonds (I’d been snacking on them,too) I think they’d be incredibly addictive if I put in the proper amount of chocolate chips. In the last 24 hours I’ve eaten about five of them and they really do seem to have increased my milk supply already. In fact, I think I’m going to slow it down and only eat one or two a day to avoid some crazy overproduction! 🙂 Note: I found the yeast and flaxseed meal at iherb.com for cheaper than I could find them at Amazon. abesmarket.com is also a good place to pick up awesome natural ingredients.

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    • Oh, I also substituted coconut oil and applesauce for the butter and I have frozen about two dozen of them. I’ll try to comment when I pull those out the next couple of weeks as to whether or not it affects their tastiness 🙂

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  15. Great post. Just a side note: Brewer’s Yeast is not the same thing as Nutritional Yeast! Nutritional Yeast has a cheesy flavor and would not be good in these cookies!

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    • I know this is an old post…but just in case anyone else is reading….yes you can freeze. I made a whole batch (I’m 39 weeks) and popped them in the freezer for after baby comes. (Have eaten a couple since…just defrosted in Micro for 25 secs.) Yum. Hope they increase my milk supply. Didn’t do well breastfeeding the first time.

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  18. I used 1 C. coconut oil instead of the butter and 1 C. natural (no sulfites) dried coconut instead of the nuts. I used an ice cream scoop to make big mounds. 12 minutes = perfect, chewy, thick, moist cookies. Thank you!

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    • I also used a cup of coconut oil instead of butter and 3T of maple syrup instead of the molasses and the cookies came out delish! I just finished making them so can’t comment on whether or not they work.

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    • Mine are on the dry side, too. And they didn’t spread out like your picture above. They’re tasty, but dry heaps of cookie nonetheless.

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  23. I just made a batch of these! I used 1 and 1/2 bananas instead of eggs as my son has an egg allergy. I also added about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil. I doubled the chocolate chips instead of putting nuts in (my son has a nut allergy, as well). I was wondering about the dark chocolate disclaimer, the link it broken and I’d like to know what’s so bad about dark chocolate.
    Thanks!

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  24. I accidentally left out the water and just threw the flax meal in. The cookies taste fine but lactation-wise, should it matter?

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  25. Ooh! One more question….I have never really loved molasses, but I think it’s good in some things. I’m worried to use so many ingredients and at a large quantity and end up not liking them because of the molasses. I know I wont mind it if it’s fairly mild. Can anyone tell me, who has tried this recipe, if because the 2T of it is disbursed in such a large amount of cookies if whether or not it’s as potent?

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    • The molasses hardly tastes like molasses in the cookies at all (IMHO). Molasses is what is missing from white sugar (generally speaking) and what gives brown sugar its color. Here, molasses gives the cookies a richer brown sugar flavor, while adding a bit of moisture and a decent amount of iron- which is what aids in the milk making. That said, I’ve done this recipe imperfectly nearly every time I’ve made it and forgotten ingredients entirely- the reason I posted it is that it’s VERY forgiving and adaptable to suit personal tastes and baking abilities. 🙂

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      • Hello! I found your recipe and have been soooo happy with it!! I had to alter it slightly the first time because I don’t ever buy molasses. Here are the changes I made, I even fed them to a male friend and 3 other mommies… love how much this recipe can be played with to create variety!!
        Used all the same dry ingredients you have listed. Used Buckwheat Honey instead of molasses, omitted the cinnamon and nuts. For the added pieces: 1 cup milk chocolate chips, 1 cup craisins, 1 cup shredded coconut.
        I baked them until they were more browning slightly around the edges but weren’t solid in the middle… made for a very chewy yummy cookie! And they TOTALLY made a difference in my supply!

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  26. Cannot wait to make these! I need to make them tomorrow. I have some brewer’s yeast if I HAVE to use it 😉 But…it’s not gluten free and I recently learned I have a gluten intolerance so I’d need to either deal with it, or replace it. Is nutritional yeast a (get ready fun word!) Galacatagogue?

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    • That is FANTASTIC! Butter is the one ingredient I wrestled with substituting (though I had some decent batches) and I am sorta-kinda enamored with coconut oil, to begin with. It is so, SO versatile and useful! How much did you use to substitute for the two sticks here? I’m off to go Google a guide, in the meantime. Thank you!

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  28. My little one was losing weight, and I knew I was not making enough milk. I would get up in the a.m. and pump only 2-3 ounces between both breasts. I was taking fenugreek, nursing on demand and pumping, nothing was helping. I made lactation cookies and 3 days later, well, I just got up after only 4 haurs of sleep and pumped 9ounces! I could not be happier, and neither could my baby boy! He isn't fussing at an empty breast anymore!

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  29. My little one was losing weight, and I knew I was not making enough milk. I would get up in the a.m. and pump only 2-3 ounces between both breasts. I was taking fenugreek, nursing on demand and pumping, nothing was helping. I made lactation cookies and 3 days later, well, I just got up after only 4 haurs of sleep and pumped 9ounces! I could not be happier, and neither could my baby boy! He isn't fussing at an empty breast anymore!

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    • Hello.. My little boy is 4weeks old and is not getting enough from me.. After pumping I realized I am only producing 2-2 1/2 ounces combined. 😦 I was wondering how many cookies a day you ate so I know how many I should be eating. Also it was after 3 days that you started producing more or did it gradually increase over those 3 days. Thanks.
      Brittany.

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      • I have only made these cookies twice over the last couple of weeks. I eat them a few times a day (mainly because I want to!) and have not read anywhere how often I should be eating them either. I noticed a difference in the first couple of days. good luck!

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      • Did you ever get a reply on how many cookies a day to eat, following this lactation cookies recipe?

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  34. Thank you for this recipe! I altered it to be gluten-free by using only GF oats, and subbing the flour for 1 cup almond meal and 1 cup GF baking mix. I also omitted the molasses as I am not a huge fan, and ran out of brown sugar so had to use about 2/3 white to get it up to that full cup. And I emptied about 8 fenugreek capsules into it (which smelled faintly like curry). They are in the oven now and I can't wait to try them! It was nice to find a recipe that didn't rely heavily on flour or peanut butter (just wasn't craving the pb). So thanks for posting it!

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  35. Wasn't sure I was going to be able to breast feed my son past six months. I am CONVINCED these cookies are the reason why he is still getting mommy's milk exclusively…at 11 months! Thank you so much for this recipe…I share it with all my soon-to-be mom friends.

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  36. Aw, thank you, Leslie. I'm going to have to put together a piece for and about you soon here, too! 😉 Maybe I'll re-release the same recipe and call them "Menopause Cookies" I bet it would be a hit!

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  39. I LOVE how I can hear your voice, Julie, as you write. There's enough nutritional reasons to eat these cookies, that even a menopausal woman like me can benefit! 🙂

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  41. Wow, this is great! I only wish I had known this two years ago, when I was trying to breastfeed my son. It's good to keep in mind in case another munchin comes around.Thanks for following Spirit, Mind and Body. I'm your newest follower too!Marcia

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  43. Ahhh….I could have used this a while back. I just drank beer, that also increases lactation and I took some pills given to my by my naturopath…it all totally helped. I had such problems with supply. The things we do as Mommies….

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