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
Did you make this?
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I couldn’t find brewers yeast but the lady at the store said nutritional yeast was similar. Will the recipe still come out?
I’m betting it will still be okay. Good luck!
Just for the future- I found some brewer’s yeast at my local Sprouts. So maybe try a health food store next time since I don’t think most grocery stores carry it!!
Hi Amber! So I’m planning to bake this cookie tonight. I’m just curious since I’m watching out my sugar consumption can I just use the 3/4 brown sugar and eliminate the other sugar in the recipe? Or what can you recommend? Also is it supposed to be chewy in terms of texture? Thanks a lot! I’m looking forward to have my milk supply up with this cookie.
You are always free to try and alter the recipe if you want to. I fear that without the extra sugar, it will be more crumbly and not spread as much. Maybe try doing 1 cup of brown sugar and then eliminate the granulated sugar. This cookie is pretty chewy, compared to crunchy. Especially if you freeze and microwave it. Good luck!
Thanks! Will let you know how it goes
Will be baking my 4th batch of this cookies today and it totally increased my milk supply. Took my first cookie and it immediately increased my supply. So my husband was so inpressed with the output that he’s funding all my baking needs to make this cookie!
By the way, can I replace the chocolate with raisin or a cashew nut? How many would I need if that’s the case?
I’ve only made with raisins and I used the same 1cup quantity. Also added 2tsp cinnamon!!
I’m so glad this recipe is working for your Lyna! You can absolutely substitute the chocolate with equal amounts of raisins or nuts. Feel free to customize it the way you would like. 🙂
They didn’t seem to “flatten out” hopefully they are cooked enough and my supply increases with them!!
They’re definitely a thicker cookie. Maybe press them down a little bit next time. As long as they work though! Fingers crossed for you!
Omg these cookies are to good!! I love them but with all the calories I need to be careful. Hopefully they help with my milk supply
I hope so Desiree!
Hi! I’m gonna try them tomorrow. Can i substitue almond and coconut flour for the whole wheat flour? What ratio would you suggest? ….will it be the same texture without adding the capsules? Thank you!!!
Hi Adriana,
Almond and Coconut Flour cannot be swapped cup for cup with Whole Wheat Flour because they are very different. Coconut Flour especially requires a LOT more eggs to keep your baked goods from drying out. You can use a gluten-free all-purpose flour (affiliate link) if you need it to be gluten free.
It will also be fine without the capsules. There’s not enough of it to make a difference with the texture of the cookie.
I tried it by substituting the ww flour with 1cup oat flour and 1 cup almond flour. Turned out a little more on the cakey side but just fine. I also made them like bars instead of cookies since the batter was a bit runny. Loved your recipe.
Glad you got it to work out with your alterations. 🙂
Oh my goodness, these are so SO good! My husband really likes them too. 🙂 I used all purpose flour instead of whole wheat. (Only because I didn’t notice it in the recipe and didn’t have any) my daughter is almost 7 months old and my supply has dropped big time despite my best efforts (hormones.ugh) I’ll be sharing these with my breastfeeding friends and coworkers!!
So true! Amber, You are doing amazing work! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes. I think the combination of this Lactation cookies and Domperidone had the best effect. Until I started the domperidone my baby may well have fed on blood from a stone. We tried the skin-to-skin, the constant feeding, the teas, the massages, but basically my milk never came in in sufficient quantity. Just as I was about to quit, a friend suggested domperidone (So happy ❤️ I found “Make24milk” 😊 in Google and got Dom). I was able to stop the domperidone after a while and supply held more or less steady.
What if you dont have coconut oil? Can you use vegetable oil?
You can use butter or shortening.
How much butter would you use?
The same amount as the coconut oil you are swapping it for, so 1/2 cup. (That makes 1 cup of butter total for this recipe.)
Perfect thank you
What if you only have 1/2 cup of butter?
Then go ahead and half the recipe.
I made these cookies and they are soooo yummy. And I feel like they really are working for me. But I was wondering my 2 month old has been cranky since I started pumping and eatting these cookies about a week ago and I was just wondering if there was something in the cookies that could be causing her crankiness
Sometimes the Fenugreek makes them gassy. If it seems to be a problem, you can try the recipe without it, and/or double check with your pediatrician to see what they think. I am not a health professional by any means, so it’s better to be safe and ask the doctor if you’re worried about it.
Thank you. I started to look at other things and eliminating them. And it wasn’t the cookies. They are so good I could eat the whole batch in a day.
I’m glad you figured it out and it wasn’t the cookies! Thanks for the update Melissa!
I just made these cookies just as the recipe instructs and OMG they are Delish!!! I throughly enjoyed eating my 2, now the not eat more then 1 a day will be the hard part!! I’ll let you know if they work for my milk supply!! Today I really felt as if it was deminished so I’m praying they work fast!!
Glad you like the taste Ashley! I hope they boost your supply! *fingers crossed*
Could i use regular flour instead of whole wheat flour?
Absolutely!