As Abram has grown and started eating more, I have constantly been worried that my milk supply is not enough to keep up with him. This may be an irrational worry, as he usually seems to be able to make it about three hours in between feedings. However, the many times that he is absolutely out of control while eating makes me question my supply nearly every day. I have tried fenugreek and mother's milk tea and herbal drops for water and lots and lots of water and no caffeine and none of it seems to have made a permanent change. I thought I had reached the end of my options and would just have to wean him sooner than I had wanted if it didn't improve.
Last Wednesday, however, as I sat in the NICU with my friend and her ever-growing, soon-to-be-home baby girl, a male hospital worker interrupted our conversation about breast feeding trials.
"Have you heard of breast milk cookies?"
The surprise of the big Hawaiian man entering our conversation was startling enough, but his question really caught us off guard.
"Ummm... what?"
"Breast milk cookies. Google it. They help with milk production. They have, like, oatmeal and flax seed and brewer's yeast and they totally help. My wife eats them. They call her the cow at work."
More not knowing quite how to respond.
"It's just, whenever I hear women talking about it, I have to tell them because they helped my wife so much. And I figure, if we know a trick, why not share it?"
The conversation concluded with some thank yous from my friend and I and the exchange of a interested, yet weirded out look between us after he left.
So I googled it. And they do exist. There is even a company that makes them and sells them as monthly subscriptions to nursing mothers (www.milkmakers.com) But as the recipe is readily accessible online, I decided to make them myself and see how they worked. Here is the recipe I used:
Ingredients:
1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
4 T water
2 T flaxseed meal (no subs)
2 Lg eggs
1 t vanilla
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 C Thick cut oats
1 C Chocolate chips
2 T Brewers Yeast (no substitutions)
Preparation
Preheat oven at 375.
Mix 2 T of flaxseed meal and water, set aside 3-5 minutes.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs.
Stir flaxseed mix into butter mix and add vanilla.
Beat until well blended.
Sift: dry ingredients, except oats and choc chips.
Add butter mix to dry ing.
Stir in the oats and then the choc chips.
Drop on parchmant paper on baking sheet.
Bake 8-12 minutes.
They say that it makes 12 dozen. I am unclear about whether or not this is a typo, because they also say to eat four a day. Perhaps they are intending the baker to make very small cookies. When I told my husband what the recommended dosage was, he said: "If you really had to eat four a day, they shouldn't call them breastmilk cookies. They should call them get fat quick cookies". I opted to make two dozen very large cookies and only eat one a day.
Brewer's yeast is a key ingredient. I had to buy a $12 14oz canister to use 2 tbsp for one batch. Part of me hopes they work just so I don't waste the brewer's yeast.
They are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that rival the best ones out there. My non-nursing friend had one the other day and say they tasted great (and she would let me know if anything happened on the lactation front).
I am on day #2 and I have noticed an increase in my supply. This is said with a caveat, however. I remember high school science. And I do know that they only way to know if the effect is directly related to that variable is to hold all the other variables constant. Since that is impossible in this instance, I cannot be 100% sure. My water intake has been about the same and I've had about the same amount of caffeine, but Abram has been nursing a little longer and so his demand may have been most of the cause for the supply increase.
But whatever!! Right now I am overjoyed to be able to justify eating rather delicious cookies "for the sake of my baby". And no one can stop me. Until they start to become get fat quick cookies and then I may rethink my position.
On another, more directly related baby note: Abram is officially rolling over from back to front!
This is a little ironic to me because he really hates to be on his tummy. So you'd think he would be trying to figure out how to get OFF his tummy, not ON his tummy. But I'm sure that will happen soon enough. And when it does, he'll be more mobile and I'll have to start rearranging the house. So if he takes a little longer, I'm ok with that.
Last Wednesday, however, as I sat in the NICU with my friend and her ever-growing, soon-to-be-home baby girl, a male hospital worker interrupted our conversation about breast feeding trials.
"Have you heard of breast milk cookies?"
The surprise of the big Hawaiian man entering our conversation was startling enough, but his question really caught us off guard.
"Ummm... what?"
"Breast milk cookies. Google it. They help with milk production. They have, like, oatmeal and flax seed and brewer's yeast and they totally help. My wife eats them. They call her the cow at work."
More not knowing quite how to respond.
"It's just, whenever I hear women talking about it, I have to tell them because they helped my wife so much. And I figure, if we know a trick, why not share it?"
The conversation concluded with some thank yous from my friend and I and the exchange of a interested, yet weirded out look between us after he left.
So I googled it. And they do exist. There is even a company that makes them and sells them as monthly subscriptions to nursing mothers (www.milkmakers.com) But as the recipe is readily accessible online, I decided to make them myself and see how they worked. Here is the recipe I used:
Ingredients:
1 C butter
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
4 T water
2 T flaxseed meal (no subs)
2 Lg eggs
1 t vanilla
2 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 C Thick cut oats
1 C Chocolate chips
2 T Brewers Yeast (no substitutions)
Preparation
Preheat oven at 375.
Mix 2 T of flaxseed meal and water, set aside 3-5 minutes.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs.
Stir flaxseed mix into butter mix and add vanilla.
Beat until well blended.
Sift: dry ingredients, except oats and choc chips.
Add butter mix to dry ing.
Stir in the oats and then the choc chips.
Drop on parchmant paper on baking sheet.
Bake 8-12 minutes.
They say that it makes 12 dozen. I am unclear about whether or not this is a typo, because they also say to eat four a day. Perhaps they are intending the baker to make very small cookies. When I told my husband what the recommended dosage was, he said: "If you really had to eat four a day, they shouldn't call them breastmilk cookies. They should call them get fat quick cookies". I opted to make two dozen very large cookies and only eat one a day.
Brewer's yeast is a key ingredient. I had to buy a $12 14oz canister to use 2 tbsp for one batch. Part of me hopes they work just so I don't waste the brewer's yeast.
They are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that rival the best ones out there. My non-nursing friend had one the other day and say they tasted great (and she would let me know if anything happened on the lactation front).I am on day #2 and I have noticed an increase in my supply. This is said with a caveat, however. I remember high school science. And I do know that they only way to know if the effect is directly related to that variable is to hold all the other variables constant. Since that is impossible in this instance, I cannot be 100% sure. My water intake has been about the same and I've had about the same amount of caffeine, but Abram has been nursing a little longer and so his demand may have been most of the cause for the supply increase.
But whatever!! Right now I am overjoyed to be able to justify eating rather delicious cookies "for the sake of my baby". And no one can stop me. Until they start to become get fat quick cookies and then I may rethink my position.
On another, more directly related baby note: Abram is officially rolling over from back to front!
This is a little ironic to me because he really hates to be on his tummy. So you'd think he would be trying to figure out how to get OFF his tummy, not ON his tummy. But I'm sure that will happen soon enough. And when it does, he'll be more mobile and I'll have to start rearranging the house. So if he takes a little longer, I'm ok with that.
I don't know what Abram is saying in this picture. It's just one of the only ones of me we've gotten in the last few months and I thought I'd include it for posterity's sake.
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