I’m just a milk machine

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I’m a lot of things: a mother, a writer, a wife, an artist, a bookworm, an anxious optimist, a forever learner, a restless soul, and most recently, a milk machine.

I wrote about getting back into the swing of full-time work and the joys of pumping, and the efforts I’m taking to increase and maintain my supply. Fortunately, it seems to be paying off.

My baby boy is almost four months old (I don’t even know how that is even possible) and getting chunkier and chunkier. Unlike my first born who turned his nose up at the bottle while at daycare, this guy can toss ’em back! He eats at least 12-16 ounces at daycare, so I keep that in mind as the bare minimum to produce while pumping at work.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been drinking at least two cups of Traditional Medicinals Organic Mother’s Milk tea a day, taking Fenugreek supplements once or twice a day when I remember, and drinking 70-90 ounces of water a day. I had also been buying Milkmakers Lactation Cookie Bites and eating one pouch a day. These are good and are a great snack for work.

But I finally made it to the store last weekend to purchase ingredients to make my own lactation cookies. I found this recipe that sounded good and hopeful. Saturday rolled around and I found some downtime to whip these up. And they were delicious! Because of my scoop, it ended up making three dozen. While I intended to keep these for myself, it’s a little hard to hide freshly baked cookies from my husband and three-year old, so they got a taste.

I have been eating about three cookies a day and I truly think they have made an improvement in my supply. Now, I know what you may be thinking: Why is a type 1 diabetic eating three cookies a day? My initial reaction is mind ya business. Just kidding (kind of). Turns out, this cookie is “healthier” than a regular ol’ chocolate chip cookie.

First off, the bulk of the base is made of rolled oats which has a lower glycemic index so it doesn’t spike blood sugars like white flour would. Even though the recipe does have flour (1.5 cups), it’s a lot less than a traditional cookie recipe.

Also, flaxseed and Brewer’s yeast offer excellent health benefits. Brewer’s yeast actually helps lower blood glucose levels thanks to its chromium content, improving glucose tolerance and reducing the amount of insulin needed.

So, in general, this cookie has been beneficial to my milk production, and when I bolus correctly, doesn’t hurt my blood sugars. Win-win in my book.

While I am not too concerned with counting calories or actively trying to lose weight, I’m also trying to be conscious of my choices and would eventually like to lose the remaining 20 pounds of baby weight.

My friend boasted of a recipe she found for low-carb cookies that she made that actually taste good and I was intrigued. My plan is to combine this low-carb recipe with the lactation cookie recipe and see what happens. The main thing is that I would swap the regular flour for almond flour, and the sugar for stevia. I’m hoping to try my little experiment this weekend and will keep you guys posted on how that turns out.

I mean who doesn’t want to eat cookies every day? Especially when it is helping feed your baby.