Best Foods to Speed Up Postpartum Recovery

Have you ever wondered why for some mothers, it is so easy for them to ‘bounce back’ after birth, meanwhile for others, it is not as easy? There could be a lot of factors, but just like maintaining your health and body condition, it can also largely depend on your diet! But that must be hard to do, right? Obtaining the right postpartum confinement food can be difficult. Well, not really!

The truth is, planning your diet is the easiest and most effective way to boost your birth recovery. Other options, such as exercising daily, may not be feasible since many working or stay-at-home moms tend to be swarmed with other daily routines from the start of the day until the end. Plus, in confinement, you would spend most of the time resting in bed.

What to Expect After Childbirth

The effects of childbirth can result in you having a weakened vitality in the following months as the body struggles to adjust to the overwhelming demands by depleting the energy reserves. During this period of time, you may lose a significant amount of body mass, appetite, and also libido. Without proper care, this condition may last longer than normal and can lead to further health problems.

Regaining Your Pre-Pregnancy Self

What you need to regain your health is proper nutrition in the form of an adequate diet specially designed to replace depleted reserves. With the right daily diet intake, your body can absorb vital nutrients, and this will speed up the recovery process and help you reach healthy vitality levels, as well as regain and maintain your energy.

Confinement Food for Mothers

While there is no need for you to ‘quickly bounce back’ after birth, keeping yourself well taken care of is crucial to ensure smooth recuperation so you’ll come out of the confinement period feeling healthier. To ensure your postnatal period is going as well as planned, you can look out for a variety of food companies that provide Chinese confinement food in Singapore for recovering mothers.

Years of continued research have made it possible to get a combination of meal packages to help reactivate your system. With the food in these specially designed diets, you may not only replenish the nutrients lost but also gain your desired body condition back. The daily meal packages are well-balanced to meet your after-birth body requirements, like breast-milk boosters, which help the body produce more milk to feed the baby.

A healthy diet that can aid your recovery must consist of the following basics: one portion of carbohydrates, two portions of vegetables, one portion of proteins. (pic: a complete meal by TWSG, either served on plates or in packaging) These are what confinement food catering companies aim to provide for mothers who are healing from pregnancy and after birth.

Types of Food for Mothers in Confinement

Childbirth can be both emotionally and physically taxing. When recovering from birth, you need a variety of food, with the main focus being healing and nourishing. From food that warms the body to food that will help strengthen your muscles and joints, you require a myriad of different ingredients in your dietary requirements to heal well.

Below are examples of food and ingredients you can consider including more in your daily confinement meals.

Improving Blood Circulation

Meat – rich in iron, thus helps in preventing anaemia.
Black Fungus – contains plenty of iron. It can help to flush out impurities from the arteries and removes old blood from the body to encourage new and healthy blood production. You will find this particular ingredient in various Chinese confinement food.

Boosting Energy

Brown Rice – less processed compared to white rice and offers vitamins, minerals, and fibre.
Chicken – rich in tryptophan which is an amino acid that boosts energy levels and moods.
Egg – one of the richest source of Choline which is important for your brain and nervous system to regulate mood, muscle control, memory and other functions
Red Dates – calms brain activity and is rich in iron.

Helping With Milk Production

Salmon – a source of protein and healthy fat, it helps to boost milk production.
Garlic – modifies the flavour and odour of milk, encouraging babies to latch on more frequently and longer – thus stimulating more production of milk

These are but only a few examples of food that helps you heal post-pregnancy. You may tweak the ingredients in the meals for alternative choices that contain the same nutrients, depending on your preference for foods.

So, getting back to the topic at hand, how long do new mothers generally take to heal properly after giving birth? Some may take weeks, while others take months. In order to speed up your recovery, one effective way you can take is by carefully planning what to eat for your postpartum recovery meals. But we don’t mean you have to cut down every single thing and restrict yourself to only about 1,000 calories per day. That is just unhealthy.

Instead of cutting anything down from your daily meals, focus on incorporating more of the ‘right’ food in them to ensure you are following a balanced diet that contains everything you need to recover faster and properly.

On that note, here are some foods you can have during confinement to help you recover smoothly! These are your everyday food, so you do not have to go out of your way to find them.

Chicken Soup

Nothing better than a bowl of aromatic hot chicken soup during recovery! It is almost considered the signature comfort food for anyone who is healing from something. Chicken, along with pork, is considered the best meat for new mothers.

When made into soup, the chicken will not be too spicy and is easy on the stomach. To adjust chicken soup so new moms can enjoy it better, you can add ingredients like garlic, onion, and ginger – all of which are considered ingredients with heaty properties.

Looking for herbal soup delivery service? We serve various kinds of soups among our confinement meals. Just have a look at our menu!

Nuts

Nuts, especially raw almonds, are a healthy snack that is full of protein and magnesium. According to your preference, you can consume them raw or blend them to be added to milk. Lastly, nuts are rich in unsaturated fats which are beneficial for health such as walnuts and almonds which will be translated into the breast milk for your baby.

Eggs

The best thing about eggs is that it is one of the most flexible food out there! You can have it any way you like; poached, fried (although avoiding this would highly be in your favour), fully boiled, and others. Eggs are a great source of protein that can help repair and strengthen your body tissues. It is a great food that you can have at any time of the day, from morning to evening.

Blanched Spinach

Spinach is one of the most highly-recommended vegetables for new moms as it is a true nutrient powerhouse. It is low in calories while at the same time rich in vitamins and minerals. More importantly, it is a source of fibre which will make you feel full and satisfied. If you are not a fan of the general taste of vegetables, go for baby spinach, as they are tender and taste slightly sweeter. For more variety on how to take this, some people love adding spinach as one of the key ingredients for a healthy smoothie.

Brown Rice

Whatever you do, do not completely avoid carbs during this critical time. If you want to, replace carbs like white rice with other substitutes like brown rice or quinoa to keep your energy levels up. This way, you can have more strength to tend to your baby and perform exercises later on – in which you can then progress to lose weight.

Looking up food for new mum can be confusing as you may come across lists that contradict one another. The truth is, there is no list that is perfect for all new mothers. You have to analyse yourself and figure out what would be your biggest problem and what are your main goals. The point is, you simply have to find what is right for you!