Two drinks that many breastfeeding moms use to help increase their milk supply are nursing teas and Gatorade. What do you get when you combine them? “Lactorade”! Here’s how to make lactation lemonade and boost your milk supply!
This drink was inspired by The Leaky Boob’s Lactation Lemonade, which combines Mother’s Milk Tea with lemonade.
I am not a fan of tea, and when I drank nursing teas to increase my milk supply I usually chugged them down as fast as possible to get the process of drinking them over with. So when I saw her post, I thought it was a fantastic idea to get all of the benefits of nursing tea, but while making it taste good, too.
Then I remembered that moms in the Facebook group are always recommending Gatorade as a supply booster, and a light bulb went off – what if you combined nursing tea with Gatorade, instead of lemonade? Maybe you’d get even more of a milk supply boost?
So I did. I had a ton of nursing tea already, I ordered a variety pack of Gatorade, and started testing different combinations and amounts.
(Shout-out to my husband, who against his better judgement taste tested a lot of nursing tea/Gatorade combinations. As of press time, he hasn’t started lactating yet.)
The below recipe is what I found worked the best – Mother’s Milk Tea, mixed with Lemon-Lime Gatorade and sweetened to taste. I usually use Splenda to sweeten my coffee and found that two packets for the whole pitcher was perfect; however, I like things sweet, so that might be too much for you. I would suggest tasting it first, and then adding sugar or sweetener as necessary.
This recipe makes 36oz of Lactorade, or about four and half cups. Drink it throughout the day, and hopefully you’ll see a quick increase in your milk supply!
Can you use other kinds of nursing tea? I tried three – Mother’s Milk, Earth Mama’s Milkmaid, and Pink Stork’s Liquid Gold. The Milkmaid was fine, but the Liquid Gold did not work – it has a distinctive taste, and I did not like it mixed with the Gatorade. If you have a different brand on hand, give it a shot!
Can you use other flavors of Gatorade? Yes! I tried it with blue, orange, and red, in addition to the yellow Lemon-Lime. If your favorite flavor is different, give it a try!
Note: I’ve found Mother’s Milk Tea in the grocery store (and obviously you can get Gatorade there, too), but if you want to order them on amazon you can get the tea here and the Lemon-Lime Gatorade here (or variety pack here, if you want to try a bunch of flavors).
Enjoy!
Lactorade
Ingredients
- 3 tea bags Mother's Milk Tea®
- 1 20 oz bottle Lemon Lime Gatorade®
- 2 cups water hot
- sweetener (sugar or Splenda, etc.) to taste
Instructions
- Steep the tea bags in the hot water for 10 minutes.
- Pour the Gatorade® into a pitcher with the tea.
- Chill and sweeten to taste.
How often do you drink a pitcher of it?
I think aiming for one pitcher a day is a good goal, but whatever works for you is good!