Motherhood & Dietary Changes

When I was losing weight, I couldn’t focus on what I was eating all the time. It made me obsessed with food and hunger. So, instead, I became obsessed with counting dietary fibre grams because I had to get as many as I could to encourage better digestion, help prevent heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

My high-fibre diet became difficult to maintain after the baby was born…even though that was when I most needed it for my own health. I was in the habit of eating a lot of citrus, broccoli and other foods that make nursing babies gassy at best and colicky at worst. The sensitivity lasts for about the first 12 weeks after giving birth.
Experimenting to see what the baby could tolerate in my breastmilk was required.

Oranges and grapefruit were out, but grapes, raisins and dried cranberries were in. I’d given up juice about two years before. It’s a big hit of calories for comparatively little nutrition.

Nuts and chocolate were out, but I could have some almonds (they are a legume and full of calcium) and pop corn.

Broccoli, cabbage and beans were out. Instead I ate spinach — which our baby could tolerate, but some can’t — chinese bok choi (a deep green leafy veg) and kale.

I didn’t have to reduce cow’s milk products, but some babies have better tolerance of breastmilk made by mothers who eat products from goat, sheep or even buffalo milk. While goat cheese and possibly yoghurt are available in Western countries, only sheep’s feta is widely available. You may find buffalo cheese and yoghurt in Balkan specialty shops, but watch out for freshness.

I did not find a substitute for coffee. I had one cup every morning with a banana to eat. I am not sure that it had zero effect on the baby’s belly comfort, but it kept me sane. And that counts for a lot.