It’s 10 years since Lactation Consultant Pinky McKay started her business, creating Australia’s first commercially available foods for breastfeeding mothers, with just two varieties of Boobie Bikkies™ – using all natural ingredients that have traditionally been fed to new mothers to help boost breast milk supply.
Recognised as one of Australia’s most respected breastfeeding experts, Pinky McKay has been working with breastfeeding mums for over 40 years and offers a range of breastfeeding support, information and award-winning food products sold in over 600 stores Australia wide. Pinky’s team, led by a food scientist with a law degree, have launched their newest ‘baby’ – ‘Pinky’s Boobie Broth ™.’
This unique broth, a first for commercial lactation foods, is based on a research project with nutrition experts from Victoria University, Melbourne. The recipe uses specific ingredients that meet criteria as a ‘food for special medical purposes’ and must be sold through health professionals.
Although 96% of mums initiate breastfeeding in Australia, only 15% of Australian babies are exclusively breastfed until six months (1), as recommended by the World Health Organisation. According to research studies, low milk supply is cited as the most common reason Australian mothers stop breastfeeding (2).
The internationally certified lactation consultant says, “While mothers are often prescribed medications to boost milk supply, there is increasing concern and confusion around the safety and side effects of these.”
Pinky’s Boobie Broth™ is a perfect recovery food for new mothers and can support lactation without any side effects for mothers or babies: Boobie Broth™ has been nutritionally formulated from certified organic chicken bones and vegetables that are cooked gently for 18 hours to release essential nutrients, including vitamins, amino acids and essential fatty acids. The broth is then blended with specially selected lactogenic plant ingredients that have been shown by research to encourage a healthy breastmilk supply, whilst bone broth has been shown to support gut health and have anti-inflammatory effects.
Pinky’s Boobie Broth™ makes a delicious, sustaining afternoon ‘pick-me-up’ and is a perfect postnatal recovery and breastfeeding support food to nourish you as you breastfeed your baby.
Pinky says, “By simply adding a couple of teaspoons (8 grams) of powder to a cup of hot water, tired, time poor mums have an easy, nutritious food that can boost their breastmilk.”
Pinky and her daughter Sarah launched ‘Boobie Bikkies’ as the first commercial lactation foods in Australia in 2012. She says, “For generations, in traditional cultures, women have been fed certain foods to aid postnatal recovery and establish lactation. Even though there was worldwide research about how foods can impact breastmilk supply, when we launched, there was a lack of awareness about this here, and we faced a lot of scepticism about ‘evidence’.”
“In 2020 we did a research project with Victoria University, Melbourne that included a literature review on studies of lactogenic foods; foods that support postnatal wellbeing; foods that pass through breastmilk to support infant health and development; and a nutritional analysis of our Boobie Bikkies™ and Boobie Brekkie™ – that affirmed our foods were a “helpful nutritional complement to a healthy balanced diet”.
