Lactation Cookie Recipe

When my milk first came in I was pumping anywhere from 8-10 ounces each time I pumped. Do the math on that. If you're pumping eight times a day, that's a lot of milk. 

When everyone returned to work (and left me all alone with these children), I wasn't able to pump eight times a day any more. Can I just tell you how hard it was for me to keep up with that schedule without help?

Between school drop-off, pick-up, soccer practice, soccer games and doctor appointments I was never home. I was given a hospital pump when I was discharged from the hospital. That thing is huge and it's not made for pumping on the go.

Needless to say my milk production began to suffer. My supply dropped to half of what I was pumping before during a good pump session. In an attempt to increase my supply I tried making lactation cookies.

My first batch was disgusting. (even though the pinner assured me they were the "best tasting" cookies EVER) I played around with the ingredients and the recipe below resulted in tasty oatmeal chocolate chip lactation cookies.

I am now regularly pumping five or more ounces when I pump. Not quite where I was before but not as bad as some of my worst pumps. The recipe yields about 3 dozen cookies.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup butter (2 sticks, I know - I know)
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups oats
* LOTS of chocolate chips (Just empty the bag in there)
* 2 tablespoons brewer's yeast 
* 1 tablespoon fenugreek

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the water and flaxseed in a small bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Cream together the butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add the eggs. Add flaxseed mix and vanilla. Sift together the flour, brewer's yeast, baking soda, salt and fenugreek. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips. Bake on parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 12 minutes.

Note- I also made a batch using 1 stick of butter and half a cup of butter Crisco. Those cookies were amazing.

My cookies never come out in perfect little circles. I use a cookie scoop so I'm not sure why that happens. Maybe they're too close on the cookie sheet? Anyway - odd shaped cookies aside - these are really good and they have increased my supply.

Try them and let me know what you think!