Postnatal eating

[TWBK]

Hi, I would like to know what are the challenges mothers might face to have a healthy eating habits after giving birth? I know there are a lot of nutrition information for postnatal online but I feel like I need more realistic advices because I anticipate there are some circumstance for example lack of time, money, or energy to prepare food for ourself in that period.

thanks!

[Dansolo92]

I am getting induced next week and have been wondering the same thing. After my last baby I ate whatever was in reach basically as I was tired and didn't have time to make food like I would have liked so this time I have been researching to get prepared. I plan to make myself a breakfast smoothie the night before as I have the school run to do also so it makes it easier to grab something like that and also prepare my lunch the night before also so I can grab it out the fridge and not have to stand about making it as I know I will just grab whatever is on offer....which would probably be biscuits or cake LOL and then make an evening meal for my family at night time while my partner looks after the baby. So I will just prepare my 3 meals all at the same time of day and just make sure I have some healthy snacks in the cupboard or fridge as well. I hope this helps xx

[TWBK in reply to Dansolo92]

thanks! I wish the were affordable and accessible solutions on the market for mothers.

[Dansolo92 in reply to TWBK]

Yeah I agree. If I could afford to buy premade meals in the first few weeks it would be so much easier for us but that would just be so expensive xx

[Seb9]

I lived on whatever I could grab for the first around 5 months, lots of chocolate hobnobs, chocolate, cracked drank hot chocolate and just anything quick or on reach. Also I had lots of coffee and cake with other new mums and friends at any opportunity. My little one did not like being put down, sleeping or allowing me time to cook. 😂😂

When I'm tired I make terrible food choices, I found that I had more cravings for food after pregnancy than during! The first thing I wanted when I got home was a birthday cake with really thick fondant icing. It was soooo good.

Now she's weaning I've got time to make myself something healthy while she eats her food and I'm getting back on track eating well and having proper breakfast and lunch.

If I have any advice or would be to set up snack stations where you plan to feed with healthy snacks and water so that when they are feeding for ages or cluster feeding you've got things to hand. You're never thirstier than about 20 seconds after they latch on.

Best of luck, I hope you manage better than me at eating healthy. I was rubbish, I was not ready for how tiredness would affect my food choices. 🙈😂

[TWBK in reply to Seb9]

Thanks for the advice, but I wonder is it easy for you to get back on track eating well after your baby weaning? also being able to do the the things that you'd accomplished is amazing for me.

thanks again.

[Seb9 in reply to TWBK]

Yes, it's definitely much easier now, she doesn't feed from me as much and is more independent, she'll sit in her high chair and play with toys or some finger food while I cook. She'll play in her bouncer or roll about on her mat while I eat. Things just feel a bit less hectic now and she doesn't require such immediate attention, she can be distracted and can go longer between feeds from me. For me I went back to slimming World which gave me a good focus as I wanted to lose some weight now. Group is on hold at the moment but since starting I've lost nearly a stone now which I'm really pleased with. They have a specific program from breastfeeding mums so you never feel hungry and get lots of healthy foods to eat. It's not for everyone but it's worrying for me so far.

Honestly those first few weeks for me were tough, it was my first baby and I was so stressed about looking after her, worrying about me took a back seat, my husband made me dinner in the evening and this was always healthy food normally.

Now I feel like I'm getting back on track.

I would say try and eat healthy when you can but definitely go easy on yourself if you're finding it tough and do whatever you need to get through, even if it is eating a whole birthday cake to yourself 🙈🙈

[ToniaB123]

Time is a huge factor. Before my little girl was born I thought I would have loads of time to get things done, I didn’t really see what took so much time. What people don’t tell you is that you can spend 6 hours (sometimes more!!) feeding in a day. I always used to cook from fresh every day prior to her birth but I’ve probably cooked 2 meals since she was born (in part due to c section delivery). Getting guests to bring food is a good start ;). Otherwise the cook food ready meal website offers healthy home style frozen food. Good luck!!

[AJBee]

I too survived on rather a lot of chocolate digestives for about 4 months! (pretty sure we've earned these months of naughty treats!) That was essentially breakfast.

Stretchy sling was my best friend as my LB did not want to be put down ever. I'd load him up and quickly throw together a pasta salad (I'd pre cook say 5 days of pasta and keep it in the fridge, have a tin of sweet corn that'd last 5 days, a tin of tuna 3 or 4 days, cucumber, tomato, avocado and chopped up beetroot all ready to go, bang it in a HUGE bowl, splash of mayo and oil and vinegar and then I'd sit on the sofa and breastfeed him one side and shovel in mountains of pasta salad on the other side. I'm not saying I never dropped food on my son's head, but it did work well. It kept me full til dinner, got some fresh stuff in me and was easy one handed to eat and no cook prep. Mind you, you'd have to be prepared to have it almost every day!! 😆 I didn't mind though, I love it 😋

With dinners I kept it as easy as pos, just really basic meals. One meat, one veg, one carb. Lots of Bolognese (batch cook and freeze, really padded out with loads of veg) slow cook casserole (cheap cuts of meat and again a tonne of veg) batch cook and freeze.

What I would add is really try not to worry too much at all, and don't give yourself a hard time if it ends up being days without eating a vegetable! You've got enough to be worrying about and keeping you busy without giving yourself a tough time about a few weeks/months of slighty dubious nutrition. You'll get back on track easy peasy when, as others have said, your LO gets older and can entertain themselves a bit more.

Something someone told me about weaning, which I'm happily applying to my own life, is don't focus on each DAYs nutrition so much, as look at it over a WEEK. So just cause one day I had 3 bags of crisps, 2 snickers and 2 glasses of wine (theoretically 😳😳) but for the rest of the week ate well, don't sweat it, it all evens itself out.

Deffo top tip someone else said is bottles of water everywhere within arm's reach if you're breastfeeding . Really thirsty work!! 😆 Aldi do some really nice (I think) snack bars (they're branded paleo, they're with the nuts and stuff) that are literally just cold pressed dates and nuts. They're super quick easy and tasty and are loaded with quick energy and protein without being packed with refined sugar. Had these in hospital with me too (they defs helped with midnight munchies and indeed post partum pooing 😂😳) scatter these around the house so there's always a snack within reach. Sometimes just a bite will suffice. Good luck and please take it easy on yourself. Do what you need to do to get you through! xxx

[Octoberbaby2019]

I didn't have much appetite first couple months and then didn't have the energy to make food for myself until after 13 weeks. I recommend cooking up meals and freezing these. Also get breakfast cereal bars and horlick chocolate drink as one of the HV recommended that as its better than just chocolate which I ate tons of. Also soups are another good thing to have at home. And another advice I can give is... Your baby doesn't want to be put down at times and that will add to you not eating or drinking enough water but put your baby down in a safe place, 5 minutes to sort yourself quickly something is not harmful to your little one, it's also good to teach them you are coming back and that they are okay for a few minutes. Get a playmat for sure somewhere around 8 weeks they'll hopefully take an interest and you can put them down and gain your hands for a few minutes to have food. And invest in a sling x

Oh and ask anyone that offers help to bring a meal!