Every week I facilitate a breastfeeding support drop-in group at The Cotton Penguin, a local children’s store. After struggling with breastfeeding myself (and then triumphantly working through those struggles to come out the other side, where I am currently nursing a wily toddler) I realized a few things:
- It can be easy, but it can also be really difficult. The first 6 weeks are the hardest. They seem like forever, but if you can get through that…
- It’s one of the best decisions you’ve ever made; best learning curves you ever traveled; best example of where your stubbornness pays off. There is nothing like being able to calm your babe’s cries and, sometimes, your own jangled nerves, with your very own boobs. It’s totally magical.
- You need help. Whether it’s the help of your partner, keeping you well-fed, watered and cushioned, the help of a friend who’s breastfed her baby, or the help of a lactation specialist with the more technical issues of latch and milk production. There are lots of supports out there.
- There is nothing…nothing!…like the sound of your little one’s contented sighs as she gulps back her dinner; the milk-drunk half-shut eyes and chin-dribble of milk; the pat-pat-pat of little hands on your collarbone. (there is also the twisting toddler who bares her teeth and looks up at you with a mischievous grin, who pulls down your shirt the second you pick her up at daycare yelling “boob! boob!” But we’re going for magical and ethereal here, folks. Stay with me.)
The other day I experimented with some lactation cookies, sometimes known as boobie biccies. I fed them to my husband, my daughter, myself, and my “Breastfeeding for Pregnant Moms” workshop participants. They are delicious, and they might just work. The brewer’s yeast in them is the magic ingredient, and it’s purported to increase milk supply. I conducted a randomized control trial not on their milk producing capabilities, but on their tastiness, and found a direct correlation between satisfaction and high chocolate chip ratio, and an inverse correlation between time and the number of cookies in the Tupperware container on the counter.
So if for no other reason, make them to enjoy them!
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 4 tbsp. water
- 2 tbsp. ground flaxseed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose white flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 2-4 tbsp. of brewers yeast
- Preheat your oven to 325F.
- Combine the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar using an electric mixer until soft and fluffy - about 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between additions. Now add the flaxseed mixture and vanilla. Stir.
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
- Place cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake until they begin to brown on the bottoms, about 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
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