New Southland bakery’s cookies don’t just go with milk, they help moms make it, too
A Lexington mother who launched a cookie aimed at helping other breastfeeding families is expanding her business.
The Leaky Momma, which started as a home bakery, is opening a store on Southland Drive. And soon will add shipping too.
Owner Mercedes Eckman, who also does all the baking, said she hopes to open the store later this summer. She started the business just after she’d had her second child in August 2020 (she now has three), had paused her teaching career and was looking for a “side gig” to make money.
Her gourmet lactation cookies, which come in multiple flavors, are aimed at nursing moms but many people, including the firefighters who work with her husband, eat them just because they taste so good.
What is in Leaky Momma cookies
These cookies don’t just go with milk, they help make it too.
What makes them special? The extra ingredients.
For those who might not know, sometimes mothers need help boosting their milk supply.
Eckman was making the nursing cookies for herself, packed with oats, flax seed and brewer’s yeast, ingredients that can boost milk supply if you’re nursing or pumping breast milk.
But her husband, Travis, loved them too and said, “you could probably sell these, they’re so good.”
“I was up at 2 a.m. nursing and I thought, ‘I bet I could sell them,’” she said.
And pretty soon she was. First just online with porch pickup/delivery, then at the Lexington Farmers Market and now at the Local LEX Market on Southland, where her cookies will be available until the shop opens.
“I loved selling at the farmers market,” Eckman said. “You get a diverse crowd and people could see, come and talk to me, ask questions. That really started boosting Leaky Momma.”
She took a break from the market and returned to teaching after her third child was born and now she’s ready to launch full-time into baking.
Cookie flavors, gluten-free versions
Besides her original oatmeal cookies that have chocolate chips, raisins and a touch of cinnamon, Leaky Momma also sells several other varieties, including a vanilla and almond sugar cookie.
She also offers seasonal “Fancy Milkies” such as the CinnaMOM Roll and the Fun Betty, a playful take on Funfetti Cake in a cookie. They are on a rotating menu and also include brownies, blondies and granola bars. Current prices range from $4-$6 for one, $22-$27.50 for a half dozen and $44-$55 for a dozen.
The Leaky Momma
Where: 468 Southland Dr.
Hours: NA
Online: facebook.com/TheLeakyMomma/
