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.
Save This recipe
Enter your email below to get a link to this recipe emailed straight to you to save later! Plus be signed up for all new recipes.
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?
Don’t forget to leave a rating below and make sure to follow on Pinterest and Instagram for more!
Hi! Will be ok to substitute the sugar for swerve? And can I substitute ww flour for almond meal/flour? Idk if it would destroy the cookie flavor. Thanks!
Swerve for sugar should be fine, but almond meal/flour for whole wheat flour might not work so well. It’s more dense, so you may want to try a gluten free all-purpose flour instead.
I am already taking Motherlove More Milk Plus Capsules and i was told to make sure i don’t use the same ingredients in cookie etc. while taking the pills, so i would not be able to use the fenugreek in this recipe, is there any thing that you recommend i could use in place of this ingredient?
Volume wise, there is not a lot of fenugreek, so I would just leave it out and make the recipe as is. It should be fine.
Thank you for this recipe!! It really does work! I made these the week of my due date and froze them and started eating 2 per day (one in the morning and one at night) as soon as I got home from the hospital. My baby never lost weight and was back up to birth weight in a week which I’m pretty sure is due to the cookies. I stopped eating them to lose weight and my supply seemed great. Then my baby girl just turned 6 months and my period started again so my supply started dropping. Back to the cookies! Within 48 hours of eating the cookies my supply doubled! I am not eating dairy and soy free so I used a full cup of coconut oil and omitted the butter and used dairy/soy free chocolate chips and they were still so so good!! Thank you!!
I’m so glad to hear that this recipe helped you! Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Hi, I only have whole Fenugreek, not the capsules. How do I make the substitution?
Thank you,
Eleni
It would be about 5.49 grams of whole Fenugreek. I would try grinding it with a coffee grinder or in a food processor before using it in the recipe.
I made these cookies, but I couldn’t handle the smell/taste of the brewers yeast. Any ideas?
Molly
Extra chocolate chips? Unfortunately, it’s just something you have to get used to. You could try taking it out of the recipe, but it may not work as well to help boost your milk supply.
These cookies are amazing!!!! Thank you so much for this recipe! I wish I would have made a double batch =]
Glad you are enjoying them! Definitely double the batch next time. 🙂
I made these cookies and they are fabulous. Definitely helped my milk supply. I didn’t use the white sugar and I found the cookies to still be delicious (wanted to take out some unnessasary sugar if it was possible & and it was). I also froze them all together in a freezer friendly container which worked great (didn’t individually wrap). I would eat one cookie per day right from the freezer and they are soooo good … in fact I’m making another batch right now for a friend and myself! One batch makes a generous amount! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for sharing your alterations with us! Glad these cookies are working out well for you!
Hi! This recipe is awesome! Thanks so much! I was wondering if you could share the health challenge that you went on? Thank you!
Hi Sarah! Thanks for your comment! I have done several rounds of The Game On Health Challenge. It always helps me get back on track when I start to get off balance. Love it!
Hi! I am currently taking organic moringa pills right now. You think it’s okay to mix it in like the Fenugreek? Thanks!
You’re going to have to ask your doctor that one. I’m not sure. Sorry!
I just wanted to say thank you. I had a hard time with my supply and found these cookies on pinterest and they helped a lot. Fast forward to two months I broke two toes and was on some pain killers and we just switched to formula I was 10 days into not breastfeeding and my LO was on formula, and I decided no I’m not quitting. Pulled the cookies I had left in the freezer out, read every article I could find on relactating, and within a day of me eating these cookies I went from pumping drops and crying because I didn’t think I could reestablish my supply to now pumping 4 ounces again, still eating two cookies a day. Thank you so much for all that you do.
I’m so happy this helped you Tiffiany! Thanks for sharing your story!