Lactation cookies

Ellie is 4 1/2 months old - 19 weeks - tomorrow.

She's become a very active, interested, distractible little person in the last few weeks. Any noise, flashing light, movement, anything new, she had to investigate. 

She'll often stop in the middle of nursing to grin at me and chat. Which is super adorable and everything, but we don't always have hours to get through meals. 

At first I thought she was becoming a  really efficient nurser, but in the last week I've noticed a decrease in my milk supply. Or at least I think I've noticed that. 

At her 4-month appt, we discovered she hadn't gained any weight or grown in 2 weeks. The pediatrician didn't seem concerned. Ellie's not abnormally small (actually she's in the 90th-percentile for her height!). But me, the mother, sees no change and of course I freak and think I'm failing her. 

So, in an effort to ensure my baby is getting enough food for her not-starving body, I've been trying to drink more water, eat healthier, and I made myself a big batch of lactation cookies. 

Lactation cookies are pretty much just oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with brewers yeast and flax meal in them. Apparently those extra ingredients are what give you milk with your cookies (yuk yuk). 

Basically they're delicious and I've eaten a ton of them today. 

We'll see if they work!

 

Recipe borrowed from Milkin Mamas:

2 Tablespoons flax seed meal
4 Tablespoons water
1 cup butter, soften to room temperature
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (all-purpose or white whole wheat)
3-4 Tablespoons brewer’s yeast
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a small bowl, combine the flax seed meal and water. Let stand for 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl or stand-up mixer, beat butter and brown sugar well.
4. Add eggs and beat well.
5. Add flax seed mixture and vanilla, beat well.
6. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, brewer’s yeast, baking soda & salt.
7. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mix well.
8. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
9. Scoop by rounded tablespoons onto baking tray.
10. Bake 12 minutes.
11. Cool on baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.