The Ultimate Postpartum Guide: Nourishment and Self-Care

Bringing a new life into the world is a transformative experience that requires special attention to both physical and emotional well-being. The postpartum phase, especially for breastfeeding mothers, demands a heightened focus on nutrition and self-care. Let's navigate through the essentials to ensure a smooth and healthy postpartum journey.

Nutrition: Fueling Your Recovery

In the early postpartum phase, nourishing your body is paramount for recovery and supporting your baby's needs. If you're breastfeeding, the increased demand for nutrients makes a wholesome diet even more crucial. Breastfeeding mothers burn an additional 500 calories per day for the first 6 months postpartum.

Key Foods to Enhance Postpartum Recovery

• Soups and stews made with bone broth. These warming foods supply collagen-building amino acids, electrolytes, and micronutrients that support perineal and pelvic floor healing. We love Fond Bone Broth.
• High protein and iron rich foods such as chicken, pork, and red meat. Consider organ meats such as liver, kidney, and heart to up the nutrients even more. We love Force of Nature and Butcher Box. 
• High fat foods such as olive oil, ghee/butter, and nuts/seeds provide satiety, support cell growth, and help your body absorb vital nutrients. 
• Omega-3 fats found in fatty fish like salmon, grass-fed beef, and eggs. These foods also provide choline which is key for babies brain development. We love Vital Choice seafood and Vital Farms eggs.
• Iodine-rich foods such as fish and shellfish like cod, oysters, shrimp and seaweeds like nori, kelp, kombu, and wakame to support thyroid hormones. We love Gimme Seaweed snacks. 
• High fiber foods such as oatmeal, rice, and sweet potatoes to promote regularity and B vitamins.  
• Incorporate cooked veggies vs. raw veggies or salads as they are easier on digestion. 

Key Foods to Support Milk Production

• Oats. They’re a good source of iron and beta-glucan, a type of fiber that's thought to raise the levels of the breastfeeding hormone prolactin. Oatmeal or overnight oats are a quick and easy breakfast option! 
• Leafy greens like spinach and kale. Spinach, in particular, has a high content of phytoestrogens, which help boost your estrogen levels that naturally decrease after you deliver your baby, helping to contribute to increased milk production. They provide your body with calcium, folate, iron and vitamin K. Add these greens to omelettes, soups, stews, and smoothies.  
• Fennel.  It supports digestion and is a powerful antioxidant that contributes to immunity and protects the body from cellular damage caused by free radicals. Sip on fennel tea!
• Avocados.  Loaded with good-for-you fats as as well as a slew of other important nutrients, like vitamins E, C, K, B, folate and potassium.  Enjoy on toast, in salads or smoothies. 
• Other honorable mentions include: eggs, salmon, Brazil nuts, flaxseeds, lentils, carrots, and papaya as they’re particularly high in B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin A, choline, selenium, zinc, and calcium. Aim to incorporate these foods on a daily basis. 

Meal Planning Tips

Freezer Friendly Meals

Consider prepping freezer friendly meals in the weeks leading up to your delivery. Check out Lily Nichols' e-Cookbook for nutrient-dense recipe ideas.

Snacks

Stock up on snacks for convenient nourishment. Some of our go-to snacks include: 

• Trail mix with almonds, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc 
• Simple Mills Crackers 
• Siete Foods tortilla chips and guacamole
• Chomps or PaleoValley Turkey or Beef sticks
• Cottage cheese like Good Culture
• Full-fat greek yogurt 
• Coconut yogurt like Cocojune 
• Artisana nut butter packets
• Larabars
• Fond Bone Broth 

Delivery

Lean on grocery delivery services like Whole Foods delivery on Amazon or Fresh Direct if available in your area. Delivery services can be a great time-saving option as well. We love: 

• Chiyo
• Territory Foods - Meals for Mama 
• Stocked by Three Owls (NYC) 

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Self-Care: Healing for Recovery  

Mental Health and Stress Management

• Be gentle with yourself. Your body has gone through so much the past 10 plus months. Take a deep breath and acknowledge all that you are doing and how far you’ve come.
• Ask for help. Whether that’s family members, friends, a baby nurse, a postpartum doula, a therapist or a combination of all of the above, this is the time to lean on your support system. 
• In the first few weeks, free time will be limited, but if you can make use of any free moment to do something for yourself like cook a nourishing meal, take a nap, meditate, go for a walk outside, journal, watch a movie, read, do something that makes you happy!
• Postnatal massages (We love Yinova Center in NYC). 
• Acupuncture (We love Ora in NYC).  

Sleep

• Sleep can be hard, but as we all know it’s essential for muscle repair and for the brain to recharge so  do the best you can. The key is to rest when the baby sleeps and get into bed as early as possible.  
• Have your partner do one of the night feeds (or more!). Teamwork is key. 
• We love the Full Feedings Method to getting your baby to sleep without sleep training (learn more here) or the book Twelve Hours' Sleep by Twelve Weeks Old.

Movement

• Walking is the best movement right after birth and then once cleared by your doctor it’s still important to ease back into movement and build up strength slowly - healing your pelvic floor can be a great place to start. 
• Explore postnatal-friendly options like The Lotus Method, The Sculpt Society Postpartum Program (we love the Pelvic Floor specific classes) and Melissa Wood Health Postnatal Classes.  

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Interested in more personalized postpartum support? Our Care Team at The Lanby is here to help you every step of the way. Reach out to learn more! 

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