Nourishment to the mother after delivery

I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

"ted" wrote in message
om...
I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

I may have been tired with newborns but never too tired to not eat or
shower. I eat a lot of one-handed foods. Those Nouriche yogurt things are
good and IMO filling. I don't breastfeed but I take iron pills and my
prenatals (things I'm better about taking post-partum, rather than during
pregnancy).

Since the other kids have to eat, I eat too. Personally I've never found it
hard to stay well-fed after having a baby.

The early weeks often are not as bad as you expect - normally the baby will
sleep a good deal of the time and is happy to just lie there and look around
while you get dressed and showered and have lunch! Other times you can get
things done by weraing your baby in a sling or snugli style thing!

I often found it was after the first few months I got busier and by that
time breatsfeeding has settled into a routine and you are more experienced
at it. At that age babies start wanting more attention and sleeping less
(of course all baies differ)

I co-slept with all my babies and found this meant I got all the sleep I
needed and less disturbed nights and my baby slept better too because I was
so close.

Try to go out for a walk every day even if it is just around the block - try
to meet up with other mothers with babies of a similar age as often as you
can - and think about joining the La leche League group near you - they are
so friendly and supportive and will have lots of help and advice for
breastfeeding mothers - and pregnant mothers planning to breastfeed - you
can go along to meetings during pregnancy too!

You may find you are hungrier while breastfeeding so make sure you have lots
of healthy easy to grab snacks in the house - ready prepared raw veggies to
snack on - cheese already cut into cubes, yoghurts etc - and of course
fruits that are easy to eat while breastfeeding. Its often a good idea to
have a drink nearby while breastfeeding as it can make you thirsty! You may
find certain foods effect your baby - garlic, grapes, orange juice, spicy
foods etc can all effect your baby in different ways - as can dairy products
and chocolate etc. Mine were all fine with whatever I ate but I have
friends who had to become vegans while nursing because their baby was
allergic to dairy products and certain meats.

Also my big advice would be to be aware that breastfeeding is not always
easy at first - many many moms are surprised by that - yes it's natural but
that doesn't mean it is easy and that there are not often problems. Read up
about it and be sure to have the number of a lactation counselor or LLL
Leader - soemone you can call for advice - even from hospital if necessary.
Nurses/ midwives in hospital are not always breastfeeding friendly and some
will be quick to encourage a bottle if baby doesn't take straight to the
breast. Stay confident in your ability, relax and don't let any midwife or
nurse try to 'shove' the baby onto the breast. If you abby needs special
care tell them baby is not to be given any bottles - any necessary feedings
(to raise blood sugar etc) should be given by tube.

Once the first few days are passed you will find it often gets much easier
and you will become more confident. I miss nursing my babies - can't wiat
for my next baby to arrive at new year

Bws
Jane


"ted" wrote in message
om...
I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

On 26 Jul 2004, ted wrote:

I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Wow. You're a lot further ahead of things than I was. I couldn't have
imagined how overwhelming my experience ended up. Granted, I'm a little
obsessive, but yeah, new moms often forget to eat or don't have time
because the kid doesn't sleep predictably.

The nouriche suggestion is very good. I go for the regular original ones
rather than the "low cal" option -- I hate artificial sweetner and I don't
think they're recommended for bf'ing. HOWEVER, my daughter was very
sensitive to dairy when I ate yogurt or drank milk, etc., so I didn't do
many nouriches after all.

Some suggestions:

-- If you have energy now, make yourself some casseroles or italian dishes
(lasgana, manicotti) or whatever leftovers well. You and the husband can
have a nice easy meal one night (add some raw veggies or a salad for
better roughage) and if you portion the leftovers into microwavable
containers or freezer baggies, you can have quick microwavable meals
during a fussy baby's 15 minute nap.

-- Eggs. Quick. Easy. Scrambled eggs and toast can be a lifesaver.
Unfortunately, I imagine that if a kid can be sensitive to the milk Mom is
drinking, they could also be sensitive to eggs, so watch out. [Extra gas,
fussiness, diarhea]

-- Toaster options: Bagels, english muffins, waffles. Eat traditionally
with butter, cream cheese, syrup, etc., or make yourself a sandwich with
leftover meat, extra veggies and cheese. If you don't use a lot of syrup,
waffles can be eaten by hand. Trust me on this one.

-- Veggie juices: V8 is a way better option than soda or artifical soft
drinks.

-- Breakfast all day: Instant oatmeal, cold breakfast cereal, yogurt.

My favorite meal from Kailey's first six months was that my sister and her
friend brought over two huge trays of cheese filled manicotti and a green
salad and left the leftovers. I popped each leftover giant pasta chunk
into a zip-up baggie and put them all in the freezer and then had light
meals for a few days!

What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Lots of water. Or whatever non-caffeinated beverage you can stand. Water
is probably best, but milk or the occasional juice would be okay if you can
afford the extra calories; at least IMO, if the choice is juice or drinking
nothing, fluids are better than no fluids.

Aside from that, I'd stock up on things you can eat with one hand and that
can be made quickly. You can cut up cheese ahead of time and just grab what
you want from the fridge. Same with fruit, or keep some whole pieces of
fruit washed and ready to go. Someone sent us a fruit basket after DD was
born (in lieu of flowers since our cat likes to eat flowers, lol), and it
was so easy to grab an apple or pear to munch on while nursing. You can cut
up celery and carrot sticks and keep them, cherry tomatoes, fresh broccoli
florets, cucumber sticks/slices, etc. in the fridge and munch on them while
nursing/cuddling your baby, dipping in ranch dressing or such if you like.
Deli meat or whatever sorts of sandwich fillings (egg salad, sliced chicken,
etc.) you like can be stored in the fridge to make it quick to make a
sandwich or wrap. String cheese is another good choice. Soup is a good
choice, especially if you make it yourself; you can either eat it really
carefully while holding your baby, or you can put it in a mug and drink it
that way. Granola bars, banana bread, muffins, etc. make good quick snacks.
If you can get a sling or Baby Bjorn, that will make it easier when your
baby wants to be held. Fwiw, I slept plenty with my first baby (who cares
about laundry and the house? nap when the baby naps), and I didn't have
trouble showering and getting dressed either, but my baby was pretty easy.

For breakfasts, oatmeal is a great choice, especially for building your milk
supply. The first week after DD was born, DH would bring me huge bowls of
oatmeal while I was still in bed; he didn't even know it was good for milk
supply, just that it was filling and yummy. Dinners were the hardest for
me -- often around dinnertime was when the baby would want to nurse a lot,
so either DH or I would heat up something frozen. Most Italian-type dishes
with spaghetti/tomato sauce freeze well. Just freeze stuff in whatever
portion size you want; it's easy to heat up more if you want. I like to put
chicken breasts in the crockpot with spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning,
mushrooms, black olives, and whatever other stuff you like, like green
peppers or onion rings; cook on low all day and then serve over pasta or
wide egg noodles. Freezes very well. My MIL brought us several two-serving
portions of beef stew and baked mostaccioli, and with a side of garlic
bread, they made great dinners. A lot of soups freeze well too. I barely
ventured into the kitchen for the first two weeks, and even after that, I
was still able to heat up frozen meals for a while.

Basically the same stuff you ate during pregnancy -- whole grains, fruits,
vegetables, dairy, and proteins, plus water, and you'll be good.


--
-Sara
Mommy to DD, 28 months
And Someone Due in February 2005

"ted" wrote in message
om...
I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Obviously this is more difficult for single parent families, but either DH
or I would cook something simple.
Also - I kept a stock of healthy snacks .. bananas are a quick and easy
energy fix, as are tubs of yoghurt, apples, pears, grapes (or any other
fruit that you can eat one-handed). Fill a water bottle and place next to
where you normally feed the baby, and keep a stash of dried fruit there as
well for a quick energy hit.

My freezer is currently full of things that can be either reheated (lasagne)
or roasted (it doesn't take much time to cut up some potatoes and pumpkin -
just leave the skin on - and pop them in the oven with chicken drumsticks
.... turn after 30mins, cook for another 30 mins and serve ... you only have
to be in the kitchen for about 5 minutes!). I always make a double batch of
pasta or rice dishes so that there are enough left-overs for dinner the next
night or to freeze. Salads are also quick to make. Baked beans on toast or
breakfast cereal can also be handy when you need to eat but don't have the
energy.
HTH

Amanda

--
DD 15th August 2002
1 tiny angel Nov 2003
EDD 19th August 2004

ted wrote:

I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Have someone make meals for you and serve them to you. I could not even
begin to think about food. If someone put food in front of me I'd eat
it. I had no one but my husband and he worked every day so the only food
I got for weeks and weeks was whatever he'd bring to me on his way home
from work - usually really nasty fast food. NOT good nutrition!

I remember being very proud of myself the first day I was able to make
myself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich at lunch. lol

Jane Thorpe wrote:

The early weeks often are not as bad as you expect - normally the baby will
sleep a good deal of the time and is happy to just lie there and look around
while you get dressed and showered and have lunch!

Maybe an experienced mother will feel that confident with a newborn, but
I personally was a nervous wreck worrying that the baby would wake up. I
had no time for anything at all for weeks and weeks until I had
confidence that I could lie him down and go do something and the world
wouldn't end.

My dh had no understanding of this and kept yelling at me that I had
plenty of time while the baby was sleeping but I did not, I tell you!
Half the time I was afraid to put the baby down because I just knew he'd
wake up and cry.

G-d bless my husband as he's a great cook. So's my mum and she came and
stayed with us for two weeks.

Make sure someone will be cooking for you for the first few weeks or do some
cooking and freezing in advance because there's no way you will be organized
enough to cook for the first little while as you get your bearings.

Good luck!

--
Melissa (in Los Angeles)
Mum to Elizabeth 4/13/03
and ??? due early 3/05

"ted" wrote in message
om...
I'm well into my third trimester and I'm exhausted. Once the baby is
here, I'll be too busy trying to care for the baby, hardly getting any
sleep and rest for myself etc. I'll continue to take my prenatals
because I'll be bfing the baby. I was wondering how other moms manange
to take care of themselves after the baby comes. What else do you do
to ensure you have good nutrition and general wellness as a bfing mom
besides taking prenatals.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Of course every mother is different which is why I said every baby is
different - we will all have different babies with different personalities.
We can all only speak from our own experiences - and I WAS talking about my
experience with my frist baby. I'm sorry you had a difficult few early
weeks. Mine were not like that - I found the later weeks harder once the
baby was more active and awake.

Surely the point of this forum is for people to benefit from everyones
experiences - and I was just sharing mine.

HTH
Jane


"Shena Delian O'Brien" wrote in message
...
Jane Thorpe wrote:

The early weeks often are not as bad as you expect - normally the baby
will
sleep a good deal of the time and is happy to just lie there and look
around
while you get dressed and showered and have lunch!

Maybe an experienced mother will feel that confident with a newborn, but
I personally was a nervous wreck worrying that the baby would wake up. I
had no time for anything at all for weeks and weeks until I had
confidence that I could lie him down and go do something and the world
wouldn't end.

My dh had no understanding of this and kept yelling at me that I had
plenty of time while the baby was sleeping but I did not, I tell you!
Half the time I was afraid to put the baby down because I just knew he'd
wake up and cry.