How Best to Nourish My Newborn and Me?
Why nutrition matters post-partum for you and your baby
Hooray, you have a baby!
It is a precious and wonderful time. Yet, too often mom’s health and nutrition get pushed aside, though the post-partum period is extremely taxing on your body, and food is essential.
What they don’t show you in all those cute baby commercials is just how bone-tired, utterly exhausted, and sleep-deprived you will be.
For myself, I don’t think I have ever felt as out of sorts as I did after having a baby. I was so hyper-focused on getting through pregnancy, labor, and delivery that I didn’t prepare adequately either mentally or physically for after the baby was born. Then we had a major hurdle with breastfeeding as my daughter had difficulty latching and a tongue-tie, making the first month particularly hard.
I was concerned with her both getting enough food and sleeping enough. When did I have time to focus on myself? I didn’t, not at all. My daughter’s pediatrician said to me, “You have lost a lot of blood and you need to rest!” She could tell I looked anemic and I literally felt like I was going to fall over when I carried my baby in for an appointment.
What does a new mom need?
The biggest thing is for you to eat. Yes, it’s that simple—but it’s not easy.
You will be utterly exhausted and everyone in the hospital will be measuring, testing, and checking your baby. They may ask you some quick questions about depression for screening purposes, but you might be surprised that they don’t necessarily ask if you have eaten—when it’s the most important thing for you to do.
The second best thing you can do is eat real food—i.e., protein, fat, and carbs. If someone wants to hit the hot bar at a grocery store and get you some steak, greens, brown rice, or fresh fruit juice, that would be terrific.
If you can’t hold real food down, go for a smoothie or anything you can tolerate. The ready-made green drinks could be a good option from the grocery store. If you are really craving pizza, then eat pizza. I just want my clients to eat.
A healthy diet longer-term is one with real food, organic when possible, lots of colors, good protein, and good quality fats with complex carbs (basically brown things—brown rice, whole grain bread, quinoa, etc.).
How can I replenish my body postpartum?
Focus on feeding your body nourishing foods: cooked, warm, and easily digestible foods.
For my clients, I love:
Bone broth soups with lots of veggies and chicken or beef. Any soup will do.
Freshmade smoothies with protein powder, fresh or frozen fruit, and some veggies too (a bit of spinach), coconut milk, and coconut oil. The smoothie gives you the colors, the protein, and the good quality fat, all in one drink.
Eating every 3 to 4 hours when you are awake because you need doses of high-quality nutrients at regular intervals when breastfeeding and to help you heal faster postpartum.
What foods should I avoid postpartum?
In the postpartum period, you want to avoid any stimulants like caffeine, for sure.
You will be very tired, and you need to rest if you are tired. The caffeine can also be passed through to the breastmilk and the baby does not need to be awake due to caffeine!
It’s also important to avoid food with additives, colors, and dyes like Red#40, and to avoid artificial sweeteners of any sort. There is research on why these foods are not good for children. They should not be in breastmilk and infants should not be exposed to them early in life.
As best as possible, avoid processed and packaged foods with preservatives, and foods that are very high in pesticides such as the Environmental Working Group (EWG) Dirty Dozen, an annual research report that can help protect you and your family along with your budget. Choose organic produce and protein such as meat and dairy that are organic and free-range as much as possible to protect baby and promote your healing.
It takes a LOT of nutrients to recover from labor and feed that baby!
Nutrition is critical for both healthy labor and postpartum recovery.
Most women know that they need to eat more when they are pregnant, but did you know you need to eat almost 600 calories more when you are breastfeeding versus the approximately 300 calories extra when you are pregnant?
It takes a LOT of nutrients to recover from the blood loss and stress on the body associated with labor. It takes even more to produce good quality nourishing breastmilk—and the body has to do both at the same time.
This is also the time when moms are least focused on themselves, understandably. However, good nutrition matters tremendously for mom’s recovery, her ability to feed her baby, and for the baby’s health, growth, and immunity. It’s a really big deal.
What should I expect from my first days with a newborn?
What happens to your body in the first days after having a baby? ·
You might feel like you're on a roller coaster because your body certainly is, as it goes from labor—one of the most physically demanding activities in all of life—to total exhaustion while caring for a newborn who needs 24/7 care.
Your body has lost blood due to the labor and delivery process as well as the placenta, which has been a major storage of nutrients. This blood loss can put many women into an anemic state, meaning that your iron stores are low. Low iron can lead to fatigue and if extremely low, can cause you to pass out.
Your cortisol (stress hormone) production increases during pregnancy and can nosedive as the body attempts to recover from the stress response of labor.
Cortisol is important for how our body responds to stress.The greater the stress response, the more cortisol is produced and released. Elevated cortisol will make you feel very energized and focused during labor, but when it plummets or stays high after, this can be like being on a stress response rollercoaster.
During labor and postpartum, blood sugar is dysregulated by cortisol spikes and fasting. While some hospitals are allowing women to lightly snack during labor, most are still adhering to a strict no food rule, which is important in case of a c-section.
It’s really important that mom eat something to replenish her energy stores after labor. Depending on how long you’re in labor, not eating a sufficient amount of food to meet the energy demands of labor can be like running a marathon without any snacks. When you deliver, there is so much focus on the baby and all the checks that need to be done—but you need food! Make sure your spouse, partner, friend, or nurse keeps this in mind.
Coming right up: breastfeeding postpartum
After the feat of labor, there is a new adjustment around the corner: breastfeeding. The baby will be trying to latch and figure out how to eat. This is (or can be) hard for both mom and baby, but you need to eat and drink, so the baby has milk.
For the first time, your baby has to work to eat on his/her own. In addition to coming into the world, having the breath, go through the birth canal or be delivered surgically, it is a lot to ask of the little infant.
After your baby goes through labor, they are tired and hungry, yet they have to learn how to feed instead of just getting the nutrients automatically through the placenta. Many hospitals and birthing centers are doing a great job of immediately putting the baby on the mommy, called Kangaroo care, where the skin-to-skin contact can help the baby’s heart rate normalize.
The baby should also be put to the breast immediately where they can be introduced to the process of latching and feeding. Mom and baby should be together for a minimum of two hours.
Breastfeeding demands more food and calories than pregnancy. As your body adjusts to ramping up colostrum and milk production, you need nutrient-dense food, high levels of electrolytes, fat and protein and complex carbs (and you may not have an appetite) so both you and baby have both calories and hydration.
I teach my mom's to have natural electrolytes on hand to be drinking throughout labor and especially post-partum. You need to recover and the salt/potassium are as critical for new moms as they are for any athlete post-performance.
How do I know if I am making enough milk?
It‘s dismaying to me that after the incredible stress of labor and delivery, many women are told that their “milk supply is not enough based on baby’s weight gain,” but not told what to do about it other than add formula. We expect to see weight loss immediately after childbirth in the infant and then steady weight gain. Your pediatrician will monitor this for you, but there is a lot that can be done to improve milk supply on your own.
The body is shifting gears from labor to post-partum and trying to get milk supply up to speed. Most women experience tremendous stress with “not producing enough milk,” but the body is recovering from labor, dehydrated, and the baby is learning to latch and eat. This means feeding is going to be tricky and the less the baby latches, the less the body produces milk. You need to eat and drink to maximize supply, but don’t expect it to go up exponentially.
Foods that help with breastfeeding
Hydration is essential for breast milk production. Many women come out of labor very dehydrated especially if liquids were restricted. Natural electrolytes are key for replenishing hydration quickly and allowing breast milk to be produced and to flow adequately. Other good foods to improve milk supply for breastfeeding include oats, (chocolate oatmeal cookies anyone?), barley, sesame seeds, lean protein, fenugreek, leafy green vegetables and salmon, among others.
Postpartum body: what’s going on down there?
Constipation
Your abdominal organs have experienced some intense changes in the labor process. Constipation is common and fiber rich (soluble vs. insoluble) foods and supplements are suggested to move bowels after delivery to avoid significant constipation. Many hospitals offer stool softeners immediately following childbirth for this reason. However, you also need to hydrat, and take fiber supplements for a few days to get your gut moving.
Urinary urgency
Urinary urgency can be common as the pelvic floor is adjusting and recovering from labor and delivery. The key here is to not restrict fluids because you are leaking or going to the bathroom urgently and very often, even if it means going to the bathroom constantly. This is completely normal to have to pee frequently and urgently postpartum.
It is helpful to know that highly acidic foods or caffeine can increase urgency and should be avoided.
How long does it take to recover postpartum?
The length of your recovery is dependent on your experience in pregnancy, labor and delivery. Whether you had a vaginal birth or c-section; how long you labored; existing health conditions; any interventions that were used; and the support you have will all have an impact on how quickly you recover.
Every woman is different and there is no magic timeline, although it may feel like you're on a timeline if you have maternity leave with a set number of days.
Keep in mind that your body has gone through some large and magnificent changes to create and bring a baby into the world. It is going to take time to recalibrate; and if you can take care of your health starting as soon as possible—ideally pre-pregnancy or pregnancy—with good nutrition, movement, stress relief, pelvic floor physical therapy appointments, resting as much as possible, and needed support from your spouse, partner, family or friends, then you can recover remarkably soon.
I highly recommend postpartum doula care along with lactation consultants to guide you in this period. They are worth their weight in gold. Every woman should get the guidance, care and support she needs in this period and no one is better than someone who has dedicated their career to doing so.
A word about weight: don’t even think about it!
Don’t even think about how much you weigh in your first six months postpartum.
I am a nutritionist who doesn’t advocate numbers period: counting calories or weighing yourself regularly at any stage. However, with all that has happened it’s normal to want your body back, to be “you” again. It’s normal to want to feel good again and you should feel good again, indeed you will feel good again.
We want you to have good quality, highly nourished meals and eat enough to provide for you and the baby. In this stage we need you to eat.
Take care of the baby and you: postpartem basics
Here’s a short list to focus on postpartum to support the baby and a healthy recovery for you:
Others should be doing the cooking when possible—family, your partner, even the food prep counter at your grocery store or, better yet, delivered.
Eat real food with good protein and iron—like steak, veggies, fruit etc.
The more variety, the better but the most important thing is to just eat.
When the baby is not eating, you should be eating or taking a nap.
Have a shake while breastfeeing the baby.
No Extreme exercise. Move safely and comfortably when you are ready.
An appointment with a women’s physical therapist who specializes in pelvic health is highly recommended. This can help you “get your body back,” retrain muscles, and strengthen your pelvic floor in a way that helps you feel more like your old self again and helps with issues like incontinence, which are totally normal postpartum.
Be kind to yourself. Accept all offers for help whether it be meals, laundry, or holding the baby while you sleep for a few hours.
Ideally, you sleep when the baby sleeps. Most importantly, get the help you need from women’s physical therapist, postpartum doula and/or a nutritionist that specializes in the postpartum period. There is no reason to struggle alone and you cannot be expected to know, and do, everything in the postpartum period while taking care of an infant.
You need support, too.
Would you like to talk?
Schedule a free 15-minute call.
Annina is a PhD, Registered Dietitian, Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist and Board Certified in Functional Medicine specializing in nutrition and functional medicine for fertility, pregnancy and new mom and baby. She has 7 years of practice experience and has co-authored several books on infant, child nutrition and obesity prevention.