For decades, the baby and infant category has focused almost exclusively on the newborn. From formulas and diapers to clothing and toys, the commercial space has traditionally prioritized the immediate needs of the child. However, a shift is occurring within the category – one that recognizes that to truly care for an infant, retailers must also care for the mother.

Bessie’s Best Lactation Cookies is seeking to spearhead a retail transformation by establishing an entirely new product segment within the traditional baby and infant category. Rather than blending into the heavily populated shelves of standard infant goods, the brand is championing a movement focused on maternal health, functional nutrition, and emotional support for postpartum parents.

Indeed, Walmart, which picked up the brand at 285 stores from its RangeMe Open Call submission, created a Maternal Health section in its Baby & Infant category to accommodate products like Bessie’s Best. The segment has done so well the retailer has expanded it from six to eight linear feet, according to Brittany Hausmann, Chief Growth Officer of Bessie’s Best. 

I sat with Brittany to discuss the brand and how they are helping to feed the moms who nourish their babies at ECRM’s Baby & Infant Session. You can watch a video of the full interview below!

The Genesis of Bessie’s Best: Turning Personal Struggle into a Delicious Solution

The story of Bessie’s Best Lactation Cookies began roughly 14 years ago, born out of the personal trials of the company's owner, Jen Acuna. Like millions of new mothers, Acuna faced severe difficulties maintaining an adequate milk supply while trying to breastfeed her second child. Seeking solutions, she turned to the commercial market to purchase existing lactation cookies through online vendors and local supermarkets. The results, however, left much to be desired.

"She tried other lactation cookies that she got either online or from the supermarket and they didn’t taste good,” says Hausmann. “And she thought that was really unfair and that moms deserve really delicious treats to help with their milk supply."

Driven by the belief that postpartum mothers should not have to sacrifice taste for functional health benefits, Jen experimented in her own kitchen. Her efforts culminated in the creation of the brand's signature product: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies. This single recipe has remained entirely unchanged for over a decade, serving as the foundational bedrock for the company's growth. 

Today, the business has scaled its mission to reach as many breastfeeding mothers as possible, expanding its portfolio into a diverse array of convenient snack foods designed to stimulate milk production naturally.

The Nutritional Philosophy: Feeding the Mom Who's Feeding the Baby

According to Hausmann, there is widespread cultural and commercial neglect of maternal nutrition during the postpartum period. Societal pressures frequently push new mothers to immediately focus on shedding post-pregnancy weight – an emphasis that often results in restrictive eating habits that directly undermine the biological demands of lactation.

Breastfeeding is an incredibly demanding metabolic process. Producing milk burns a massive amount of calories daily, meaning that mothers often need to consume more calories after giving birth than they did during pregnancy to keep themselves and their infants sustained. Bessie's Best addresses this specific biological gap by focusing heavily on the quality, density, and nutritional value of those extra calories.

"Those extra calories matter,” she says. “And the more nutritious they are, the healthier mom's going to be, the healthier mom is, the better her milk supply is. The better her milk supply is, the healthier the baby is."

The Mechanics of Galactagogues

To achieve this nutritional objective, Bessie's Best utilizes a formulation strategy that combines multiple traditional ingredients simultaneously. By layering these functional elements into a single food item, they create a nutritional "powerhouse" designed to maximize effectiveness for struggling mothers. The core ingredients utilized across their product lines include:

• Oats: Serving as the structural base for their baked goods, providing slow-burning carbohydrates and essential fiber.

• Brewer's Yeast: A celebrated traditional ingredient rich in B vitamins and trace minerals historically recognized for supporting milk production.

• Flax Seeds: Infusing the snacks with vital omega-3 fatty acids and healthy fats crucial for both maternal health and infant brain development.

These wholesome, recognizable components collectively function as galactagogues – a scientific term designated for substances that actively help increase breast milk supply in lactating humans.

Portfolio Expansion: Merging Functional Innovation with Consumer Craving

A primary hurdle for any functional food brand is masking the naturally bitter or unappealing flavors of its active health ingredients. Brewer's yeast and flaxseed, while highly nutritious, possess distinct flavor profiles that can easily ruin a snack if not properly formulated. Bessie’s Best has spent years mastering this balance, ensuring that their expanding product line satisfies cravings while delivering functional potency. The line includes:

The Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie (The "OG")

The flagship product is available in two distinct retail formats to meet different consumer behaviors:

• Individual Retail Packaging: This single-serving option allows curious mothers to conduct a low-risk "taste test" to ensure they enjoy the flavor profile before committing to a larger quantity.

• 12-Pack Boxes: Containing 12 substantial portions, this format satisfies long-term pantry needs.

A defining characteristic of these cookies is their physical structure. Rather than small, thin wafers, they are thick, substantial chocolate chip cookie bars. Furthermore, the recipe contains absolutely no flour. By relying exclusively on whole oats as the binding agent, the brand achieves a dense, chewy texture that naturally packs an extra nutritional punch.

Lactation Granola

Designed for versatility, the brand's lactation granola has emerged as a major customer favorite. It can be consumed in handfuls on the go, poured into a bowl with milk, or used as a functional topping for yogurt and ice cream. Crucially, almost every single ingredient featured in the granola formulation qualifies as a natural galactagogue. To ensure maximum accessibility across varying dietary restrictions, this specific product line is also entirely vegan. 

These were my favorite, and I snacked on them throughout the Session. (Yes, non-lactating people can enjoy them as well!)

Lactation Ranch Pretzels

The newest addition to the Bessie’s Best lineup is its Lactation Ranch Pretzels. Recognizing that not every mother has a sweet tooth – and that flavor fatigue can occur when eating sweet lactation cookies daily — the brand engineered a savory alternative.

Developing a savory lactation snack required substantial culinary innovation. Because raw flaxseed and brewer's yeast carry flavors that do not naturally complement standard savory bases, the development team meticulously rolled these active components directly into a heavy coating of zesty ranch seasoning. The resulting savory coating completely masks the yeast, leaving consumers with a satisfying, hearty, and intensely flavorful pretzel. The product is packed in a convenient, "rip-open" bag that allows busy mothers to easily snack with one hand while holding or feeding their baby with the other.

The Walmart Win: Creating a Brand New Retail Planogram

The commercial viability of Bessie’s Best reached a historic milestone through its engagement with RangeMe and Walmart's Open Call event. The corporate buying team at Walmart recognized a profound, unmet need within their retail spaces. For years, the retail giant had been brainstorming ways to develop a merchandising category that sat adjacent to infant products but focused exclusively on the unique wellness demands of mothers.

According to Hausmann, Bessie’s Best served as the perfect catalyst to turn this retail concept into a physical reality. Walmart launched the initiative by placing Bessie's Best products into approximately 285 brick-and-mortar stores, carving out a dedicated, specialized section called Maternity Health. The test phase yielded exceptional sales velocities, prompting an immediate expansion of the physical shelf space, she says.

"It's doing so well that they're actually going from a six-foot planogram to an eight-foot planogram,” says Hausmann. “So the section is doing incredible and we're so happy to hear that because we all know that if Walmart's doing it, then everybody else is going to be doing it soon after."

This expansion represents a massive win for category visibility. Historically, independent buyers from various grocery and pharmacy chains have struggled with where to place maternal health items. By establishing an independent, successful planogram at Walmart, Bessie's Best now possesses a powerful, data-backed blueprint that they can present to other national retailers to encourage them to build out similar sections.

Navigating Placement Strategy and the Emotional Reality of the Formula Aisle

While a dedicated maternal wellness section remains the ultimate gold standard, Bessie’s Best has also developed highly strategic secondary placement methods for retailers with limited shelf space. One of the most effective retail locations for their products has proven to be directly alongside infant formula.

This specific placement strategy is deeply rooted in consumer psychology and the emotional vulnerabilities of early motherhood. The transition back to a professional work environment frequently causes a mother's natural milk supply to suffer due to stress, exhaustion, and rigid scheduling. Consequently, many mothers find themselves walking down the baby aisle in a state of high anxiety, looking for ways to supplement their child's diet.

"I personally have stood in the baby aisle staring at formula, tears in my eyes, worrying about how to pick the right one because I had gone back to work and my milk supply was suffering,” says Hausmann. “So if we can be visible in that space where it's like, ‘okay, maybe I do need to grab a can of formula, but let me also try these snacks and see if that helps me with my supply too,’ then that can end up being a decent space too, as long as good visibility is there."

This positioning reframes the consumer journey. Instead of viewing formula integration as a failure, the presence of Bessie’s Best options offers a dual approach. It empowers mothers to purchase necessary formula supplements while simultaneously providing them with an enjoyable, nutritional tool to help naturally stimulate, recover, or maintain their personal lactation journey.

ECRM Sessions & The Value of In-Person Buyer Feedback

As a Premium Subscriber on the RangeMe digital sourcing platform, Bessie’s Best has long enjoyed consistent access to digital retail leads and open application notifications. However, Hausmann’s participation in the ECRM Baby and Infant Session marked the brand’s very first time participating in ECRM's live, structured face-to-face meetings.

For a functional food brand that relies heavily on breaking down flavor biases, the in-person experience provided an opportunity to put the actual product directly into the hands of decision-makers in real-time. The immediate face-to-face interactions allowed the brand to showcase its recently updated retail packaging and collect instant, actionable commentary from regional and national corporate buyers.

"We always say if we can get a cookie into somebody's mouth, we can probably get it on the shelves,” says Hausmann. “So it's been great to actually get that in-person experience. If you can taste the product and talk to me and hear what we're all about at one time, that's really the best way to go."

Setting the Blueprint for the Future of Maternal CPG

The rapid expansion of Bessie’s Best Lactation Cookies – from a kitchen-born solution 14 years ago to an expanding national presence across hundreds of Walmart shelves – underscores a permanent shift in consumer expectations. Postpartum mothers are no longer content with being an afterthought in the infant care aisle. They are actively seeking out brands that validate their physical demands, respect their need for convenience, and satisfy their culinary cravings.

By combining rigorous functional nutrition with a firm refusal to compromise on delicious flavors, Bessie’s Best is doing far more than just selling cookie bars, granolas, and savory ranch pretzels. They are successfully proving to the broader retail world that supporting the mother is an indispensable, highly lucrative component of caring for the child. As more retail chains follow Walmart's lead and dedicate real estate specifically to maternal health, Bessie’s Best stands poised to lead the segment into a new era of retail excellence.

Watch my full video interview with Hausmann below, and for more information on ECRM’s General Merchandise Sessions, click here!