Booby Biscuits

Otherwise known (to grown up people) as Lactation Cookies

You may be like me and think that all the talk about eating things to make you produce more booby milk is hocus pocus but I found out it wasn’t simply by accident.

I was attending a BAMBI playgroup at Steps with Theera one Sunday morning and happily munching on a plate of biscuits, they were gorgeous, oaty, crunchy yet soft, sweet but with some background bitterness, they were so yum I ate at least 4 of them. Then I found out they were so called ‘lactation cookies’, I rolled my eyes and thought nothing of it. Until I pumped later that day and, to my surprise, pumped 30mls more than I normally would….since then my husband has been making booby biscuits (as they are called in our house) every week and he’s getting rather good at them.

He uses a well known recipe from www.bellybelly.com.au which he has tweaked a little, and I provide links below of where to find the less than obvious ingredients. We try to find the best quality products possible, but I appreciate this isn’t always possible. I’m also quite certain that there must also be a placebo element to this, but if my placebo is a yummy cookie, then hey ho, bring it on! The raw dough is meant to be a bit more potent than the cooked cookies, but obviously be careful about raw egg products and definitely don’t eat raw cookie dough if you are pregnant.

Prep time: approx. 15 minutes

Oven temp: preheat to 170C or 338F

Makes approx. 14-16 cookies

Ingredients and Method:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together

½ cup butter 

¾ cup of brown sugar

Add

1 egg 

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Mix well

In a separate bowl, combine

2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal 

2-3 tablespoons of water

Let them sit for a few minutes before adding to mix

Add the following dry ingredients

1 cup Flour 

½ teaspoon Baking Powder 

½ teaspoon Himalayan salt 

1-2 tablespoons Brewers yeast

Mix well again

Finally, stir in

1 ½ cups of oats 

½ cup of chocolate pieces 

½ cup of raisins

Make the biscuits (roughly a dessert spoon as a rough size guide) and place them onto a lightly greased or lined baking tray

Flatten them a little with your fingers or a spatula – if you like a soft centre, don’t squash them down too much

Bake for around 10-12 minutes, depending on how well cooked or crunchy you like your biscuits

What is so special about Lactation Cookies?

Some of the key ingredients in these cookies are individually believed to help increase milk supply i.e. they are believed to be Galactagogue’s

Oats: Although there is no scientific evidence regarding oatmeal and milk supply, oatmeal does seem to work for some (myself included). Oatmeal is a source of iron, and low iron levels can result in decreased milk supply, so it makes sense that eating something high in iron might increase milk supply. It is also thought that there may be a link between decreasing cholesterol levels and increasing milk production. Oat bran, which is in oatmeal, is also known to help lower cholesterol. (1) 

Flaxseed: Flaxseed meal has been included as an ingredient in the lactation cookies recipe because it's high in omega-3 and dietary fibre. It contains calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and potassium (2). However please note that there have been studies (in rats) that suggest flaxseed can affect the adrenal glands of offspring if taken by the mother during lactation. It might be worth noting that the rats had consumed the equivalent of what would be 9 spoonfuls (200g) a day and this recipe only calls for 2 spoonfuls (30g) for approx. 14 biscuits (3).

Brewer’s Yeast: This contains protein, iron, and B vitamins, as well as chromium, selenium, and other trace minerals. It comes from a fungus called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It can be used for baking, brewing beer, and making wine, is thought to be a galactagogue and increase energy levels, and elevate mood. I haven’t found any specific studies to explain why (or even, if) brewer's yeast increases lactation but I also haven’t found any studies that disprove this. Many women (including midwifery and lactation specialists) report that it helps. But, it might not work for everyone. It is also worth noting that it has been proven to reduce the incidence and duration of the common cold, so if nothing else that has to be a good thing (4). Some studies show that it may help lower cholesterol levels (5), which again might explain the link to improving breast milk supply.

You can tweak the amount of brewers yeast if you would like to try to better results, although it does add a bitter taste so you may need to adjust the sugar or chocolate and raisins to accommodate.

The bottom line for all lactation queries is your lactation professional.

Speak to your Doctor or your lactation specialist.

If you live in Bangkok I highly recommend attending Bangkok Breastfeeding Café and speaking with Lia Segall

Click here for Lia's Top 6 Breastfeeding Tips

(1) kellymom.com
(2) www.bellybelly.com.au
(3) www.nutraingredients.com
(4) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

(5) www.verywell.com

Personal Notes on Ingredients and Where to get them - Click on the links below:

Quantity	What	Notes
1 cup	Cake or All Purpose or Wholemeal Flour	If can get Self Raising you don’t need the Baking Powder
½ teaspoon	Baking powder	Not needed if using self raising
½ cup	Butter
¾ cup	Brown sugar	We like to get the best quality soft brown sugar we can
2 tablespoons	Flaxseed meal	We grind flaxseed’s in a coffee grinder
1	Egg
1 tablespoon	Vanilla extract
½ teaspoon	Himalayan Salt	Any good salt would do, but I don’t think table salt would be nice
1 ½ cups	Oats	We use Rolled Oats, but I’ve been told that there are healthier Oat alternatives like Steel Cut etc.
½ cup	Chocolate broken into pieces	Good quality is best. We use Green & Blacks from back home.
½ cup	Raisins
1-2	Brewers Yeast	DO NOT SUBSTITUTE for any other type of yeast We use Solgar powder.
2-3 tablespoons	Water	Mix to get the right texture

Top 6 Breastfeeding Tips

Guest Post - A huge thank you to Lia for writing this insightful article and letting me share it with you

By: Lia Segall Pasternak – Lactation Consultant

It’s really hard for me to summarize when it comes to breastfeeding, I am so passionate about the subject that each time I try I end up writing five pages and I hope that people will read it and get all the information they need, but in the bottom of my heart I know they won’t, which mom has time to read five pages? Suddenly this morning I woke up inspired and it hit me, I finally found the way to write only the basics by thinking what are the top points that keep coming back with most of the mothers I work with, and I did it, I was able to downsize to six points! And here it is. 

I am hoping this quick article will help you avoid some struggles, and understand the basics a little better.

1. Latch and position – baby needs to open a big mouth in order to latch properly, and to be able to do so they need to be in a straight position, looking forward and up, same as we adults drink from a water bottle. To achieve this position try holding your baby from their upper back by supporting the head with your wrist (as if it is a shelve) and making sure there’s an imaginary straight line between the top of the head, the back and the bottom. Also, before the latch, the nose should be in front of the nipple, this will force the baby to look up and open a big wide mouth (the theory is the same for any other position like football hold or vertical position)
2. How often and for how long to feed – Every time the baby shows hunger queues. It is a good practice to encourage day feeding often, to avoid many night ones, especially as babies will eat 8-12 times a day and will compensate at night if they don’t receive their caloric need during daytime. Feeds should be active, as long as they are they should last between 20-40 minutes each. Skin to skin sessions help to motivate the baby, encouraging them to feed more
3. How to take care of nipples – before the baby latches you can hold your breast besides the areola as a sandwich, parallel to baby’s mouth, this will push the nipple inside baby’s mouth and help promote a better latch to protect your nipples. At the end of each feed you can express a few drops of breast milk and spread it over your nipple and areola to protect the skin. If some redness or soreness appear you may apply 100% lanolin after each feed, no need to wash or wipe before feeding your baby
4. How to know baby is getting enough – this is simple, starting from day 3 and until 6 weeks we expect 3 soiled diapers daily, 5 wet diapers, a happy baby who eats actively (you can hear the swallowing) every feeding session and a baby that wakes up to eat. If you’re still in doubt you can always check the weight gain, there should be no loss of more than 10% of the birth weight, by 2 weeks baby is back to birth weight and gaining a minimum of 135 grams a week thereafter
5. How to give supplementation when needed – When supplementation is needed give either expressed breastmilk or formula only. It is recommended to avoid bottles and give supplementation with a spoon, cup or syringe. If a bottle is needed then it is recommended to use paced bottle feeding technique to avoid nipple confusion, which means imitating (as close as possible) the action of the baby when suckling on the breast, the bottle should be in a horizontal position and the milk should cover half of the nipple only, the baby, in an upward position, will have to make an effort to extract the milk from the bottle, will be able to breathe better and take breaks as necessary, this kind of feeding will take longer, which is good and healthy
6. Red lights and what to do – a lot of things can be rough or not go as expected. No matter what it is that you’re struggling with the first thing you should do is call for help from a lactation professional. Do not try to figure it out by yourself, use Dr. Google, or ask friends or family since they don’t have the latest research based information and even with the best intentions they could cause some harm. Anything that doesn’t feels right is a red light, but here’s a list with some of the most common ones: baby cannot open a big mouth, baby cannot latch, nipples are cracked and/or hurt, baby feeds for very long or very short periods, baby falls asleep whilst feeding, baby isn’t peeing/pooping enough, baby isn’t gaining enough weight, baby isn’t waking up for feeds

Well, that’s all for now, and if you have any questions, something isn’t clear or you just want to stay updated please feel free to like and contact me through my Facebook page: 

Breastfeeding Bangkok

A note about Lia and I
I first met Lia at Bangkok Breastfeeding Cafe, she was relatively new to Bangkok and I was a brand new mum. Breastfeeding in public scared me, hell, just breastfeeding at all was scaring me. Breastfeeding, for me, will always be the most sacred, amazing, fulfilling but downright painful, difficult and at times heartbreaking thing I have ever done. My baby girl and I always found breastfeeding easy, her latch was, and is, good and my milk came in quickly but I've still had sore nipples, milk clogs, on clogs on clogs, I've had milk blebs, I've had mastitis...you name it and I think I've dealt with it, and am still dealing with it, but I don't think I would have continued to breastfeed this long without the help of Lia. She's my boob angel, what she doesn't know about boobs isn't worth knowing. She's kind, gentle, passionate and selfless. She continued to attend Breastfeeding Cafe after the birth of her daughter, when she was only one week old, because Lia likes to help people.

If you are struggling with breastfeeding, if something doesn't feel quite right, if anything about it hurts, or if you just want to ask some questions before the birth of your baby, please reach out and ask for help. It will be one of the best things you can do for yourself and your child.

Photo courtesy of Heather Latva-Kiskola Photography