A newborn baby places a lot of demands on a new mum. So much so that eating a nutritious meal can be difficult unless it’s been prepared by someone else. Personally, I would go through huge tubes of Meridian Peanut Butter to get me through the day when I had a young baby. It was fast and easy and didn’t require much washing up except for the licked spoon.My friends mentioned that they didn’t have time to cook so a pizza picked up on the way home from work by hubby or a pasta cooked by husband when he got home from work was dinner in those first few months. Add to that the cakes consumed with coffee at mother’s catchups, and you can see that healthy eating is not easy for a new mum.
Yet, eating well is important so that mum can be nourished properly and keep up her energy. Interestingly, according to the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, ‘Eating more won’t make more milk’, ‘You don’t need a perfect diet to keep your milk nutritious. Your milk is made from your blood’.
A lot of breastfeeding mothers also need to eliminate food that gives their baby gas and a degree of trial and error is required to identify the culprits. However, again according to the book ‘The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding’, ‘after about the first moth most babies re not bothered by any foods in their mother’s diet’ except maybe dairy products.
Besides thinking of what to eat can be difficult not to mention the grocery shopping required. All of that requires a degree of planning that new mums will not have time for.
I’m not a nutritionist but I like to eat well so I’m going to give you an idea for one day’s meal plan which might make your life with a newborn a bit easier.
I’ve tried to make suggestions with minimal amount of peeling and washing up required.
One day’s meal plan
Breakfast
Greek yoghurt with some seeds. I like the mixed seed and Goji berry mix from Waitrose that can just be sprinkled on.
Snack
Banana or apple dipped in a nutbutter of your choice (try Pip And Nut as their peanut butter is runny so perfect for dipping). No peeling or and minimal cutting.
Lunch / Dinner
Ready formed hamburgers or meatballs from Ocado in tomato passata cooked with a bit of oil, salt and pepper in the oven (eliminate the onion and garlic as it may give your baby gas). OR
White fish wrapped in aluminium with a bit of salt, pepper and squeeze of lemon cooked in the oven. Wrapping it in aluminium essentially cooks the fish by steaming it and is easy and quick.
As a side to your meal, cook sweet potato wedges also in the oven with a bit of oil. Once it’s cooked it is easy to cut up and sprinkle some paprika over it. The great thing is that you don’t even need to peel sweet potato as the skin falls off easily once cooked.