If you do want to try lactation cookies, then it is important to keep an eye on sugar content. One issue with (lactation) cookies tends to be added sugar. Baking with banana, mango, very dark chocolate chips (92% cacao or more) and halving amounts of sugar called for in a recipe can help a little sugar go a long way.

If you want to try making some at home to avoid excess sugar, she recommends this lactation cookie recipe:

Homemade Lactation Cookie Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups rolled oats
  • 2.5 TBSP Brewer’s yeast
  • 2 cup dark chocolate chips (92% cacao or higher)
  • 0.5 cups dark coconut sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • pinch kosher salt
  • 1.5 TBSP ground flaxseed
  • 1 TBSP wheat germ
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • Pinch cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond butter

Instructions:

  1. In 2 large bowls, whisk dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately.
  2. Fold wet into dry ingredients and mix with your hands (knead). You may need to add more oats to bulk up the batter.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-14 minutes until golden and toasty on top.

BONUS: You can freeze these and zap them in the microwave for later.

Should you give lactation cookies a try?

The jury is still out on whether lactation cookies will actually boost milk production. But if the cookies are packed with nutritious ingredients, there’s no harm in giving them a go.

Lactation cookies, while perhaps not validated in scientific literature, contain ingredients nursing moms may lack that may optimize their nutrition and contribute integral vitamins and minerals that can help optimize milk supply and nutrition for nursing moms in general.