Nutrition for New Moms

Our Blog It’s not just about eating organically — it’s about living organically. When you learn to love your body by feeding it the wholesome foods it asks for, treating it to a daily dose of exercise and banishing body insecurity, your body will love you back tenfold.

April 26, 2016 By Mike & Mike's Staff

With Mother’s Day around the corner, we thought we’d dedicate our May blog post to new moms and moms-to-be. Becoming a new mom is an exciting and wonderful time, but with your beautiful new bundle of joy comes a whirlwind of emotions. Things like sleep deprivation, difficulty with nursing and having a new person to take care of can leave new moms feeling exhausted, stressed, depressed and anxious. However, you can minimize these common “new mommy” symptoms and still feel awesome!

Post-partum nutrition is just as important as prenatal nutrition is. Follow these guidelines to ensure that you are keeping your energy levels up, reducing your stress and keeping feelings of depression/anxiety at bay.

Stay hydrated. Water is not only important for good milk production, but also required to keep you feeling energized.
Eat throughout the day. Eating small snacks between meals will prevent you from experiencing sugar crashes, which can cause you to feel tired and cranky.
Avoid caffeine and sugar. Both of these stimulants will provide you with a short-term energy fix but will leave you feeling worse. They can also make you dehydrated and contribute to more sugar cravings, which can make you turn to junk foods that provide little nutritional value.
Eat energy-boosting foods such as walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, poultry, eggs, legumes, brown rice, quinoa, leafy greens, apples, berries, asparagus and olives. These foods contain protein, iron, B vitamins and vitamin E, and contribute to increasing energy levels.
Eat mood-boosting foods such as eggs, raw nuts and seeds, whole grains, cold-water fish such as salmon, avocado, leafy greens such as kale, berries, citrus fruits, legumes, broccoli and turkey. All of these nutritious foods contain important nutrients like vitamin C, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, folic acid and calcium. Together they have the ability to help improve mood, fight depression and prevent irritability and anxiety.
Don’t diet. Now is not the time to be dieting. Your body is adjusting to life after baby. Take care of yourself by feeding your body healthy foods like those listed above and your body will naturally drop excess weight. Diets are restrictive and lack the nutrients you and your baby need, thereby leaving you even more fatigued and depressed.

A healthy diet is not only important for mom but it’s important for baby too. With a nourishing diet and reduced stress, moms will have better milk production and won’t need to worry about becoming deficient in nutrients. A healthy, happy mom will mean a healthy, happy baby.

Here are some easy snack ideas for new moms: