Trialling the Effectiveness of Lactation Cookies by Measuring My Milk Supply

[Pholi]

I have low milk supply as a result of breast reduction surgery, and against all odds and expectations, I am still managing to produce approximately half the milk needed by my 5 week old baby. I know exactly how much he is taking from me because we are weighing him on a borrowed set of baby scales before and after each side, and recording the amount of the EBM or formula top-ups. With the support and guidance of a Lactation Consultant and his Paediatrician, I am already feeding three-hourly, double-pumping after feeds, using massage and breast compression, on the maximum dose of motilium, etc, etc. Our feeding routine has been relatively unchanged in the last week.

I have finally managed to buy the ingredients for Lactation Cookies, as per this recipe, and have made up a batch today, with 4Tbs brewer's yeast. By comparing my milk production in the week prior to eating the cookies with the week after starting to eat the cookies, I will find out for sure if the cookies work for me, and therefore, if it's worth the effort (and extra calories) of making and eating them.

Can anyone tell me how many I'm meant to be eating to be effective? Two a day? One every feed? Three every feed? The recipe made about 55 cookies, and I have already eaten enough raw dough to make another 5 or so. Can anyone give me any other advice re the cookies? I know it's meant to be more effective if you eat it raw, but I have a limited tolerance for raw dough - I wouldn't want to eat it raw ore than once a day.

In case anyone is interested in the figures, my average milk production has been 364 ml/day over the last 7 days. The range has been from 647 ml to 848 ml. I get this number from weighing him immediately before and after he feeds from each side to calculate how much he takes direct from the breast, and weighing the milk I pump after the feed, and adding the figures together over 24 hours. I'll keep up the weighing routine for the next week and see if the average increases. I reckon it would have to increase by at least 30 ml to be statistically significant, but I'd want to see a bigger increase than that to justify continuing to make and eat them. Does that sound about right?

[No.5]

Will be interested to see if they work..

Never tried them before though so no advice.

Good luck hope they do work for you..

[chody47]

I'm interested to see your results. I made them once but found it hard to see of there was a difference.

[~TT40~]

would also be really interested if you notice a difference. I've never eaten them because I've never had an issue with supply. but I do hear they are very yummy.

[LuluHB]

I made some this morning and have eaten dough and cooked. This afternoon is the first time in a long time that I've felt full and needed pads. Oh, and verrrrry yummy.

I hope you have some success with them

[Kmn]

All the best with your experiment.

[kelsbels]

I has great success with them this time round, although it took about 3 days to notice.

Unfortunately my little man is intolerant to something in them though so haven't been able to use them again.

Good luck!

[Pholi]

I thought that there might be a few people who would be interested in what I'm doing. I know most people are not lucky enough to have the opportunity to actually measure the milk they're producing... or unlucky enough to have the need to do it!

So far, so good - most of the time I get a very small yield at the afternoon feeds (often just 8-10 ml per side, compared to the 20-30 he usually gets, or the 40-50 ml that he gets at 4am) but this afternoon he's been getting 20-30 ml per side at the afternoon and early evening feeds as well. But I'm not going to read anything into it until we've done a few days worth, at least.

[onthefly]

Great stuff getting 50%!
Very interesting experiment - subbing for your research findings

[~ Mylitta ~]

I've made them up a number of times and I "think" it had a positive effect, but I'm, very interested to see how you go

[AngelPants]

Very interesting! I made them when I had low supply with DS1 and it was noticeable with 3 or 4 hrs. Looking promising! Can't wait to see how you go over a week!

[BellyBelly]

I started a poll based on the recipe posted on BB and people have voted in there, only a small percent noticed no difference.

[Pholi]

So far, though it's great that people are interested in my findings, no-one's given me any idea of effective 'dosage' - Please, if you think they helped you, how many cookies did you eat, and how often? Or, how long did it take you to get through a batch? 3 days? a week? two weeks?

At the moment I'm having one cookie per feed, but I don't know if that will be enough.

Kelly, it was seeing the poll that made me decide to try them myself. But I bet that almost no-one had the chance to know for sure by measuring the difference - they just 'think' it helped.

[BellyBelly]

Its hard to measure when youre breastfeeding and shouldnt be worrying about mls unless youre bottlefeeding! But a few posted about leaking and squirting after the recipe

[PumpkinZulu]

Yeah, I know they worked for me, because I squirted after eating them for a bit, and I hadn't done that for months. Interested in what you find in terms of them working for you.

[Pholi]

Of course, most people have no way of measuring their milk supply, and believe me, it's a real hassle to be weighing between sides, not to mention having to top him up with variable amounts from the bottle after each feed. I can only dream of leaking and squirting, at the moment! I guess I'm in a unique situation where I have had to be weighing him anyway, and will continue to do so for a while, at least, in order to maximise my milk supply at the same time as making sure he gets enough milk to grow. It would be fantastic if I had enough milk to be able to dispense with the pumping and the formula top-ups, and be a normal breastfeeding Mum, who doesn't need to worry about mls, but reality says that's unlikely to happen for me.

[BhoysGirl]

It's probably one of those things that there's no real "answer" to, because most of the evidence is anecdotal, along the lines of what others have posted, there isn't any scientific proof as far as I know. Which isn't to say they don't work, just that it's never been research. It's also going to be hard to be precise with dosage because everyone's breasts are different - one or two biscuits a day might work brilliantly for one girl, but do nothing for the next.

If I were in your position I'd eat as many as I was able to eat in a day, without making myself sick, or becoming totally sick of the biscuits, and not going broke cooking up biscuits. I'd stick with this level for about 5-7 days, to see if there was consistent improvement. Then look at cutting back to find the optimum level.

Beyond that, you are awesome for even trying to BF! Bloody awesome!

[Pholi]

Thanks, Bhoysgirl.

I guess if a range of people who had success with them told me roughly how much they ate, I'd choose an amount part way between the average and the top and start there. You're right about having lots to begin with and cutting back... that's a better way to go than stating with just a little and then increasing. Perhaps I'll go for 2 every feed - that'll be about 15 a day, which sounds like a lot to me. But then I normally don't eat biscuits and cakes and things except on special occasions.