Mothers Love Cookies is a small, home bakery owned and run by the very lovely Meg. Meg is a mother of twins who started her business after her passion for baking and her love of helping others led her to develop and create her scrumptious lactation cookies. There are several ingredients that are renowned for their milk-increasing properties and Meg has combined some of these with delicious flavours to create her fabulous range of freshly baked delicious cookies for nursing mums.
I was introduced to Meg during World Breastfeeding Week, as she kindly provided a box of her cookies for the Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt. She got in touch to ask if I would like to review a box of cookies myself, and also offered a box as a giveaway prize [more details on that further down]. As a breastfeeding mother and milk donor - and all round lover of sweet things - I was delighted with the opportunity and a few days later my own box of Mothers Love Cookies* arrived via First Class Post.
There are four varieties available to order: Cranberry & White Chocolate, Raisin & Milk Chocolate, Almond & Dark Chocolate, and Coconut & Dark Chocolate. Boxes can be customised to suit your requirements – for example, I am allergic to nuts so my box didn’t include the Almond & Dark Chocolate cookies.
Each of the cookies comes individually wrapped in cute polka dot cellophane, and nestled in pink tissue paper within the cardboard box. I love the washi tape and stickers on the outer of the box and Meg even included a lovely little card inside. The time and effort that has gone into the packaging won me over, before I had even tasted the cookies!
The cookies from Mothers Love Cookies contain brewers yeast, oatmeal and flax seed which are all considered to be galactagogues, meaning they can help to increase the supply of breast milk. Meg also uses brown sugar, farm fresh eggs and Callebaut chocolate in her cookies.
Wholegrains such as oats are very nutritious and full of fibre. They are believed to support the hormones that produce milk. Brewers yeast is packed with B vitamins, iron, protein, chromium and selenium. Nursing mums use it to help increase energy, get rid of the baby blues, and make more breast milk. Flax seeds contain phytoestrogens that can boost milk production and omegas which are vital for brain growth.
I had heard of lactation cookies but had never tried them myself, although I did try other supplements to help boost my milk production when I was breastfeeding my first baby, and I have always noticed an increase in my milk supply whenever I have consumed anything with oats. I was intrigued to see if I would notice a difference after eating this cookies.
Mothers Love Cookies are so delicious! They have a soft, crumbly texture and the flavour combinations are perfect. I simply can’t pick a favourite as they are all so great. There is a downside to having such yummy cookies: Little N kept asking to “share”. I explained that they were special cookies for Mummy’s boobies, but that didn’t deter him; he just asked for “mummy’s booby biscuit”!
What you really want to know is if these cookies helped me as a nursing mum. And the answer is yes, I did notice a difference in my milk supply after eating these cookies! I showed great restraint by limiting myself to one cookie in the morning and one cookie in the afternoon. I express for the milk bank each day and usually express 5-7oz at a time. I noticed an increase the day after starting to eat the cookies and expressed 12oz the first day and 7-9oz thereafter.
I think it’s important to point out that if you’re breastfeeding, or considering breastfeeding, you don’t need supplements or special foods. Most mums can and do produce plenty of milk for their babies. If you are struggling with breastfeeding at all then the best thing to do is pop along to a breastfeeding support group or ring the National Breastfeeding Helpline (0300 100 0212).
The lactation cookies from Mothers Love Cookies are a however great way to complement a mum’s breastfeeding journey and give mums a nutritional boost. They would have been perfect for me during the newborn stage when I relied on foods that could be eaten one-handed! I think they would make a thoughtful gift for a new mum – breastfeeding or not – and you can order them from the Etsy shop or enter the giveaway below to win a box!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
To win a box of 14 cookies worth £12.95 from Mothers Love Cookies simply enter using the Rafflecopter widget above. You can enter using one or all of the options. The giveaway closes on 27/09/2015.
Terms & Conditions: The Prize is a box of 14 cookies from Mothers Love Cookies. The giveaway will run from 27/08/2015 to 27/09/2015. The giveaway is open to UK residents aged 16 and over. The Prize must be claimed within 28 days. The winner’s details will be provided to Mothers Love Cookies in order to arrange delivery of the Prize. No responsibility is accepted for entries which are lost, corrupted, incomplete or for any failure to capture entry information. Use of false details will result in disqualification. The entry must be made by the person entering the competition – entries sent through third parties, agencies or by automated means (such as scripts and macros) will not be accepted. Promoted on www.loquax.co.uk and www.theprizefinder.com
Disclosure: Mothers Love Cookies kindly provided the cookies for the review and the giveaway, however all thoughts and opinion are my own.
