Lactation cookies are cookies made with breast milk. They’re sold on online forums as a way to get breast milk higher up in the rankings of search engine results and make money. Many mothers who are having trouble breastfeeding their baby, lactate more frequently and have more milk than they can use, take advantage of this product. The question, can I have lactation cookies while pregnant, is a very common question in the breastfeeding community.
- Lactation cookies are 100% breast milk.
This may sound obvious, but it’s an important benefit. The biggest reason people buy lactation cookies is that they think breast milk will work better than formula. Science says the opposite. The sugars in breast milk are digested very easily and don’t have any of the extra nutrients added to baby formula, so comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges.
- No messy bottles and washing
Because the baby formula is mixed with water and sent through the sink, it’s easy to have a huge mess if you have a lot of bottles to wash. Even if you just have one bottle, there’ll be a lot of washing up to do because the water that goes down the drain will be mixed with formula. Lactation cookies are sent through the post in an envelope and don’t need washing up.
- Quality breast milk for your baby
This is primarily why women buy lactation cookies. It’s hard enough to get milk in the first place, and most women only produce a few hundred pounds of milk before their baby is born. The vast majority of mothers who buy lactation cookies at the start of or just after breastfeeding have a lot less milk than they need or want.
- “You actually make money off the formula”
One of the selling points of lactation cookies is that you can use them to make money selling breast milk. This may sound like a great idea in theory, but lactation cookies don’t really replace breast milk. They’re supposed to give the appearance of more breast milk and are marketed as a way to make more money from your breast milk. They’re similar to fake boobs for transgender women, only for breastfeeding mothers. Only about 1-2% of mothers who buy lactation cookies actually see an increase in their income because they believe this benefit alone. You’ll probably see even less if you also “make” money off selling your breast milk by selling lactation cookies.
- You can be friends with other mothers.
This is one of the selling points of buying lactation cookies, and it’s actually pretty good advice. It’s nice to have people you’re friends with who know about breastfeeding as well, so buying a few lactation cookies together can make for a great online community. The bigger issue is that you shouldn’t do this if your main objective is to make money off selling your breast milk. There are plenty of women on these forums who don’t see these things as an incentive or even a bonus but think they should be the main reason they buy the products.
