the early postpartum days
As mom to an almost 11 month old--I've been reflecting so much on what this first year has been. Wild, crazy, joyful, hard, and filled with so much love to name a few feelings. When I'm seeing expecting mamas in the office, I also reflect and share some of the most helpful things I found in the early postpartum days for healing, nourishing, and resetting while learning to care for our sweet new babe. 1. Nourishment
Nourishment
I found during pregnancy I did not necessarily have the "eating for two" hunger...but that all changed with breastfeeding. Snacks and nourishing, protein filled meals were essential for maintaining some sort of hormonal balance, sugar stabilization, and quieting the hunger demons (the hormone Grelin) to name a few.
Having snacks, like fruit, granola bars, trail mix and lactation cookies was really helpful in between the meals I was eating. We had a lot of steak, because of some blood loss I had during delivery, and this helped replenish with iron. It was so helpful to have family around cooking our meals and dropping them off, with whatever we wanted. We also had prepared a lot ahead of time with soups, frozen meat and easy to reheat things like sauce and meatballs--we just needed to have pasta and some salad on hand to have a balanced meal! That was a game changer too when my husband returned to work.
Here is the link to one of my favorite and easy lactation dessert recipes. I loved these, and I always loved having a sweet treat during the last 8-9pm feeding session. I still have my sweet tooth! https://exclusivepumping.com/monster-oatmeal-lactation-cookie-bar-recipe/
We got the Brewer's Yeast from our local health food store.
Healing
RED LIGHT THERAPY. If I could tell moms to add one thing to their registry, or birthday/christmas wish list--it would be a red light therapy device for home. This was a game changer for at night (especially for a winter baby), that helped calm all of our nervous systems. I also used it for my stretch marks and for my healing of tears from delivering too. I got the HOOGA and love it.
Placenta Encapsulation -- now this is something that worked for me, but is so dependent on the individual. I really liked being able to take my placenta pills to help stabilize my mood and heal, but again, this is a very individualized recommendation!
Postpartum Moms--what would you add to the list?
-Dr Mackenzie Briley