“Will cheesecake help your milk supply?”

I love when this fast-milk-fix makes its rounds in the Facebook mommy groups.

Is your milk supply low? Eat two slices of cheesecake for three days and see if it goes up?

The claim is that this is a way to check if your milk supply has dropped because you are not consuming enough calories, and in terms of that Cheesecake packs an impressive 329 calories per slice. Adding 658 calories to your diet for three days will certainly boost that.

BUT cheesecake isn’t good for you, and consuming that much fat and sugar laden with empty calories is the opposite of sound advice. For many people, this may actually harm their milk-making potential as a common cause of low milk production is undiagnosed insulin resistance, and cheesecake is never going to appear on a care plan for insulin resistance!

The crazy part is that parents get worried it might be a particular type of cheesecake they need, or they don’t like cheesecake but they want to make more milk so they gag as they eat it. I actually had a client tell me she wanted to try this method since everyone seemed to say it worked for them, but she wasn’t sure if chocolate cheesecake would work versus Cherry or Strawberry. She was understandably confused when I explained there was genuinely nothing behind this advice, and we could assess her situation without resorting to unhealthy desserts as a means of milk supply management. In the case of that particular client, dehydration was the most likely cause of the milk supply drop. Calorie consumption was actually well above the necessary levels for sustaining milk. The only thing cheesecake would have done is to add to her waistline and delay her seeking help. What the advice did was lead to her crying in a grocery store out of desperation to fix her problem.

How can people just go around saying this stuff if it’s not true? Don’t they have a responsibility to the parents they claim to support to not say things that are either blatantly false or delay the parent seeking skilled care?

The issue is these types of myths widely circulate on social media from people who run support groups for breastfeeding parents and are incredibly attractive. Cheesecake is easy to obtain, and it sounds far more fun than taking the time and finding the resources required to access skilled lactation care. The myth promises results quickly and is entirely controlled by the parent. It doesn’t require the hard work and energy investment often required to actually address milk supply issues.

These groups are typically run by untrained individuals who have no code of ethics and standards of care to abide by. They may have the best of intentions, but you can’t know what you don’t know, and often they are entirely unaware that the advice they are giving is flawed.

This also falls on the parents seeking advice in these groups to use their own discretion and judgment. You know it’s not a great idea to go to a Facebook group for medical advice that isn’t run by professionals. Breastfeeding is no exception, you have to consider the source of your advice. You have to consider the reason the advice may have worked and why it may not apply to you.

A Typical Breastfeeding Facebook Group Response to this Claim

Parent A - “Eating cheesecake doubled my milk supply.”

A Lactation Consultant’s thought process…

Was Parent A eating enough calories? Likely not.
Did Parent A have any issues with insulin resistance? Probably not if this helped.
Did Parent A coincidentally add in more fluids or begin a supplement that supported increased milk supply?
Did Parent A also change out their pump parts and begin pumping more often to monitor the success of the cheesecake experiment?

Parent B - “I tried the cheesecake and saw no increase.”

A Lactation Consultant’s thought process…

Was Parent B not in need of extra calories?
Was Parent B suffering from insulin resistance and the extra sugar strained the body furthering hurting supply?
Was Parent B doing anything else that could have influenced milk supply?

So can you try the cheesecake challenge?

Yes, you can certainly try the cheesecake challenge if eating 2 pieces of cheesecake for 3 days sounds like a good plan for you. It’s not going to be a magic fix for milk production that could’ve have been addressed without that much sugar and empty calories. It’s certainly not going to take the place of skilled lactation care and could end up delaying you getting the help you need.