Postpartum Nutrition

foods to eat to help recover from birth

Eating in a way to support your body during postpartum is super beneficial for your mental, physical and emotional health. Postpartum is forever, but today we are going to focus on how to support your body for the first 40 days after giving birth with postpartum nutrition.

Postpartum Hormonal Shifts

The first two weeks post-birth are challenging as your body goes through lots of sudden hormonal shifts, with estrogen and progesterone plummeting after peaking during pregnancy. Common postpartum experiences include hot flashes, night sweats, exhaustion, lots of emotions and body pain. That is why it’s essential to rest and replenish nutrients to your body to help with this sudden hormonal shift.

Caring for a new baby (or multiple!) is challenging for SO many reasons. First, you’re exhausted, since not much sleep or rest occurs in the hospital or first few weeks at home. You are recovering from birth while simultaneously trying to figure out what your baby needs and learning how to nurture. In addition, every feeling is heightened because your body is going through so many hormonal shifts. I laughed, I cried, was frustrated, and worked through lots of pain recovering from a cesarean birth. I sometimes felt the full range of emotions within five minutes, and since I gave birth at the beginning of Covid-19 when hospitals weren’t allowing partners to stay in the hospital, most of the time I was alone. Also as a result of the pandemic, we were unable to have any family fly out to LA to help us out with newborn twins. Somehow we figured it all out, but it’s such a blur, and now my boys are almost a year old!

The Postpartum Period

Many cultures around the world consider the first 40 days to be the time for new moms to recover from birth and establish breastfeeding. In China it’s called the “golden month” and in Vietnam it’s called “sitting in.” Unfortunately, many women in the US don’t have the support needed during this crucial time. We usually only have a six week postpartum check in with our doctor, which for me was asking me about birth control and a quick check to see if my c-section scar was healing. There was no mention about postpartum pelvic floor therapy or postpartum nutrition to help aid with healing. That’s why I make sure my clients have all of the necessary information about the postpartum period when they are working with me during their pregnancy.

Postpartum Nutrition

I hope that you are able to find a few postpartum nutrition ideas to incorporate into your busy day to help nourish your body as best as possible during the postpartum period.

Eat Warm Cooked Foods 

Try and avoid cold and raw foods like smoothies and salads, instead eat lots of warm cooked foods to help aid digestion and support your postpartum recovery. Think about curries, stews, and soups, and be sure to include bone broth. I loved the recipes from the book The First 40 Days if you are looking for some ideas.

If possible, have a family member or friend put a meal train together for you and your family so someone can drop off a meal every day to help within the first 40 days and always use your crockpot or instantpot to make cooking meals easy. We still use our crockpot 90% of the time for meals, it just makes life so much easier.

Drink lots of bone broth 

This broth is one of the most healing and nourishing liquids you can make. I suggest having a cup or two of bone broth per day during the first 40 days, but especially during the first two weeks postpartum. The collagen in bone broth can help to heal wounds, rebuild the tissue of the uterus, abdominal muscles and pelvic floor. You can also add high quality collagen peptides from Primal Kitchen or Vital Proteins to teas, overnight oats, and soups. You can try making my bone broth recipe, I make mine in my crockpot and freeze a bunch each time I make a new batch.

Focus On Meals & Snacks during postpartum 

Please make sure you are eating enough food, especially if you are breastfeeding as your body needs extra calories. Keeping your blood sugar stable is key during postpartum to help keep your energy levels up, new moms don’t get lots of sleep, your sugar cravings manageable and can also help keep your mood balanced as your hormones shift and change. Try and incorporate proteins, fats and carbs at every meal and snack.

If you are breastfeeding try and keep in mind the most common foods that cause sensitivities in babies are dairy, wheat and soy. Not all babies will have reactions, but if you notice that your baby is getting a rash or spitting up a ton reach out to your pediatrician and share what you’ve been eating to see if you need to do an elimination diet.

Foods To eat during the postpartum period 

Incorporate high quality proteins like beans, legumes, lentils, and meats like organic eggs, chicken, beef, collagen, or wild-caught low mercury fish such as salmon to help aid with recovery. Nourish your body with lots of healthy fats like grass-fed butter, ghee, avocados, nuts, seeds, salmon, olives, olive oil, coconut oil and coconut butter. Don’t forget about carbs, cooked veggies, fruit, sweet potatoes, oats, buckwheat and millet.

Also be sure to include iIron rich foods like dark leafy greens, beans, and grass-fed beef and Vitamin C-rich foods such as oranges and grapefruit, peppers, berries and spinach can help promote healing for mothers who delivered via cesarean. Don’t forget to stay hydrated especially if breastfeeding it’s important to drink plenty of water.

If you are breastfeeding, oats can be helpful for milk production. You can bake some lactation cookies, lactation energy bites or overnight oats, or add them to room temperature smoothies. I made both of my energy bite recipes and they were great snacks. 

Continue With Supplements during the postpartum period 

Chat with your doctor first, but I recommend continuing to take all the supplements you were taking during pregnancy; prenatal, Vitamin D, omega’s, magnesium (can help with postpartum constipation) because during breastfeeding, your needs for certain nutrients are even higher than they were during pregnancy.

If you are feeling exhausted, like as if you’ve been hit by a truck exhausted, call your doctor and have them run a full thyroid panel as well as Vitamin D, iron and ferritin to make sure you don’t need any extra support.

Postpartum nutrition Is Forever, Please Take Care Of You

Pregnancy and birth take a major toll on your body so don’t forget to take care of you during postpartum. Have a support team to call and come visit to check in on you, ask for help and let people know what you need. The more you can rest and nourish your body during postpartum, especially the first 40 days can be life changing in the way your body heals and how your hormones start to shift back into balance.

Postpartum is a journey so take it one hour at a time and remember everyone’s journey postpartum will be different, continue to be kind to yourself during this transition. I got peed on a lot, I needed help in and out of the shower, I felt lonely, I was so happy, angry and exhausted and usually all within an hour! Let’s all be more gentle with ourselves as we learn how to be a new mom.

Discover the importance of pelvic floor therapy, no matter what life stage you are in it can help with lower back pain, cramps, pre and postnatal. I interviewed pelvic floor therapist Meghan Kasper and she is sharing lots of helpful information for all women for our postpartum blog series. 

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Medical Disclaimer

Information in this post and on this web site is provided for informational purposes only. The information is a result of practice experience and research by the author. This information is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional or any information contained on or in any product label or packaging. Do not use the information on this web site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing medication or other treatment. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always speak with your physician or other healthcare professional before taking any medication or nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplement, or using any treatment for a health problem.