I am currently 9 weeks postpartum and I wanted to share my first-time experience breastfeeding with you. Firstly, I am so grateful that I have been able to breastfeed my baby boy with a plentiful supply of breastmilk. I know that there are so many women that have difficulties with the different aspects of breastfeeding, and I thank God every day for this blessing and try not to take it for granted.
However, my experience did not come without difficulty of its own.
As a first time mom, I had many expectations before my son was born; expectations about sleep, snuggles, maternity leave and breastfeeding. Knowing that breastfeeding is the natural way that God intended for us to nurture our children, I expected no issues at all. I expected him to latch right away in the “golden hour” after he was born and then thereafter, like we both knew exactly what to do and how to do it.
Before meeting with a lactation consultant, we spent a week struggling before a successful latch on the breast. I share this with you to stress that I don’t think anybody has a perfect experience with this. I also want to emphasize how nutrition has an impact on your supply as well, in both quantity and quality.
My son is 1lb shy of doubling his birth weight in just 2 months and I have to believe that has something to do with what and how I’m eating. As you know, I am a health coach and I have a real passion for being healthy. Now that I am supporting another human life, I have grown even more passionate about making sure he is healthy too!
There is a lot of conflicting research out there about whether or not a mother’s diet affects her breastmilk. I’m not here to tell you what’s right or wrong. Either way, I strive to be the healthiest I can be by eating a clean diet with whole foods. One thing that is agreed upon, however, is that eating enough calories every day is vital to the production of breastmilk. In addition to drinking a lot of water.
I’m not lying when I say that I have been the hungriest and thirstiest I’ve ever been in my life during my postpartum stage! It’s kind of fun though, because I love food and I don’t feel bad for grabbing my tenth snack of the morning. I just make sure I have nothing but whole foods and healthy snacks in the house so that I’m not tempted with unhealthy processed foods or sugars.
My favorite snack to have on hand are protein balls (sprouted oats, honey, peanut butter, flax seeds and dark chocolate chips) straight out of the freezer! It’s a quick grab on the way to the couch for a feed or an overnight snack. I also love to meal prep a variety of roasted veggies with a meat for an easy breakfast.
I purchased a 40oz. water bottle to have near me at all times in the house to make sure that I’m getting enough water in during the day, too. This has been so helpful! It also helps that I normally love drinking water anyways.
So as far as nutrition while breastfeeding goes, I think the most important things are to be getting enough calories each day from a varied diet (lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, protein and healthy fats) and to be drinking enough water. It really is as simple as that!
Let me know what some of your favorite healthy snacks are to always have on hand!