Lactation Cookies

I had a chance to go to bed early today but then I decided it would be the perfect time to try to make Lactation Cookies! I was even able to make them sugar free! Well, almost. I was naughty and replaced the raisins with chocolate chips, but next time I will make them the healthier way. The oats, flaxseed, almonds and yeast are supposed help increase milk supply. I literally just made these 30 minutes ago, so I will update this post in a few days to let you know if they helped increase my supply or not.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

4 tbsp water

2 tbsp flaxseed meal

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp stevia extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups oats

1 cup raisins (or chocolate chips!)

1/2 cup slivered almonds

2 tbsp brewer's yeast

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Mix the flaxseed meal and water together, let sit for 5 minutes

3. Cream butter and applesauce together, then add the eggs

4. Stir in flaxseed mix into the butter mix. Add vanilla

5. Beat until well blended

6. In separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients (except oats, raisins and almonds)

7. Add butter mixture into the flour mixture

8. Stir in the oats, raisins and almonds

9. Scoop onto cookie sheet (i placed parchment paper on them), bake for 11-12 minutes

These cookies are delicious! They have a fluffy texture, probably from the applesauce. Stay tuned for the update!

Remembering to just breathe ...

Tonight I had a little bit of a freak out. I know that this isn't as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be in my head, but I seriously can't help it. Last month I wrote an entry on Increasing Breast milk Supply , I had started to take fenugreek to increase my milk supply and it was working. Well it worked for about a week and a half. After that the only thing it did was make me smell like maple syrup. Since then I've barely been pumping enough for baby M's next feeding, let alone having extra at the end of the day to freeze. I know me stressing isn't helping the matter either .....
Anyway if you remember, I need to add a little bit of powdered formula to the breast milk so that baby M can keep his food down. If I don't do this, he WILL spit up A LOT. Yesterday, I strictly breastfed him and he was a mess all day. The formula must really help weigh it down in his tiny tummy. Which is frustrating because I know the best way to increase your supply is to simply breastfeed more often!
Now I'm trying a few other things in hopes that something will work soon! I'm eating oatmeal every morning. Oatmeal has been very helpful for many women; it's a great source of iron and a healthy natural galactogogue (a galactogogue is any substance that increases milk supply). I've found recipes for Lactation Cookies that use oatmeal, but I haven't had a chance to make them yet. I also need to spend some time and alter the recipe a little to replace the sugars with Stevia. I unfortunately haven't noticed much of a difference with the oatmeal, but I will continue to eat it. It actually forces me to sit down and eat a healthy breakfast, something that usually gets pushed back till lunch time.

I am also starting to drink Mother's Milk Tea. I only started doing this yesterday, so I can't say much about it yet. I'm used to drinking teas without any sweetener at all, so the taste doesn't bother me. However, if you are used to putting sugar or honey in your tea you may need to do that with this one too. A close friend of mine had great success with this tea, but I'm impatient and can't wait a few more days to see if this alone will work.

So today at dinner I had half of a beer. I've read that the hops in beer is also a galactogogue, and that it's a good idea to drink a beer a couple times a week to maintain and/or increase milk supply.

Oh, and I also started taking Blessed Milk Thistle three days ago. My doctor said to give it at least a week and if I don't notice a difference then increase the dosage.

Back to my 'freak out'. D, baby M and I went to Best Buy this evening to pick up a few things and I had to feed baby M in the car. Of course he spit up a few times immediately after I fed him. Since we were out and I barely pumped enough for today's feedings, I didn't have any milk in the fridge for his dinner. When we got home I had to change him (bath was skipped) and feed him and put him to bed since it was already two hours past his bedtime. That meant I didn't have time to pump so I made him a bottle of straight formula. I know it's not a big deal, but it really is a big deal to me. I hate myself for doing that. Ever since I saw this blog post that showed the microscopic views of formula and how it's basically a 'dead' food product, it reinforced our beliefs and efforts in breastfeeding baby M for at least a year.

As I'm giving baby M his bottle and mentally beating myself up ( logically I know I shouldn't be doing that), I then remember there are a few bags of breast milk in the freezer!!!

SERIOUSLY??!??!?!?!?!?!

I think I need a nap!

Increasing Milk Supply

I've recently started pumping a couple times a day. Because of Baby M's spit up problem I've read that you can add 1tsp of formula to 3oz of breastmilk. Now D and I are dead set against giving Baby M formula, we both strongly believe that 'breast is best'. However, since Baby M spits up so much (up to 20 times a day) I reseached ways to increase the calories in breast milk. Adding 1 tsp to 3oz of breast milk will increase the calories from 20 calories an ounce to 24. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I was hoping it would work. And I was very careful with the type of formula I bought, we ended up buying a formula made from goat's milk. (trying to keep Baby M away from dairy and soy is overprocessed these days.) The funny thing is that Baby M, is actually having an easier time keeping this down. I'm not sure if it's because the milk is now a tiny bit thicker or heavier? But his spitting up has decreased to less than 6 times a day. Plus he's gained weight!
Now back to increasing milk supply, since I'm pumping and only breastfeeding during the night, both D and I are afraid that my milk supply will dwindle. Breastfeeding stimulates the milk supply more than pumping ever will, so before this happens, if it does, I started taking Fenugreek. Fenugreek is a natural herb that is known to increase milk supply. And it does! I started taking it 3 days ago (2 pills, 3 times a day) and I've already noticed an increase while I pump! I also noticed a hilarious side effect. To know that you are taking the correct dosage, they say that your sweat and urine start to smell like maple syrup. I laughed at this, because well seriously?! I am hear to say that my sweat now smells a bit like maple syrup. ha ha

Have you tried anything to increase your milk supply?