Category Archives: Nutrition during lactation

Lactogenic Foods for Increasing Milk Supply

Many new mothers are concerned about whether or not they are producing enough milk to meet their child’s requirements. It’s natural to have more questions than answers if this is your first time. The ability of a mother to lactate is significantly influenced by her nutrition. If you’re worried about not producing enough milk, the first thing you should do is add more lactogenic items to your diet.

Lactogenic foods are exactly what they sound like: foods that encourage the production of milk. They’re fantastic options to consider when putting together a breastfeeding food plan.

While ensuring that your diet is adequate in calories and essential nutrients, many foods include compounds that enhance lactation.

The following are some of the best lactogenic foods:

1. Spices and Garlic

Garlic has long been used to encourage lactation and is well-known for its health advantages.

While many individuals enjoy garlic and eat it frequently, others aren’t used to eating it. If you fall into the latter category but still want to get the benefits, begin by gradually incorporating it into your diet. Slowly incorporate it into your diet and monitor your baby’s reaction.

If your child isn’t interested in it, there are alternative herbs and flavours that can aid lactation. When used in moderation, marjoram, basil, anise, dill, caraway, and black pepper can all help to encourage lactation and can be easily incorporated into many dishes.

2. Barley and Barley Malt 

Barley and malt are both excellent lactogenic foods. Barley is one of the best sources of beta-glucan in the diet. Beta-glucan is a polysaccharide that has been proven to stimulate prolactin, the breastfeeding hormone.

Barley is traditionally used in beef or vegetable soups and stews. It can also be used in salads, with roasted vegetables.

Barely malt is just barley grain that has been allowed to germinate. When this happens, the barley turns into a sweet syrupy malt that also contains a lot of beta-glucan.

3. Oats

Along with barley, oats should also be incorporated. They have nearly as much beta-glucan as barley, which aids in prolactin production.

Oats are probably already a breakfast staple for you, but you can boost its health advantages by mixing a little barley malt in with your oatmeal in the same way you would honey. Alternatively, replace your lemon poppyseed muffin with an oat bran muffin. You can also make cheelas or incorporate oats flour in your regular atta.

4. Seeds of fennel and fenugreek

Fennel is a white vegetable with slender, green leaves and a sweet, licorice-flavored bulb. The seeds of the methi plant are known as fenugreek.

Phytoestrogens are found in both fennel and fenugreek seeds and the plant, and have long been regarded to aid lactation. Fenugreek, in particular, is widely used for this. If you’ve ever seen “mother’s milk” tea on shop shelves or in the supplement section, you’ve probably seen fenugreek.

For millennia, fenugreek has been utilised throughout the Middle East and India for its lactogenic characteristics.

The fennel plant or it’s seeds can both be eaten for their lactogenic effects. They can be eaten raw or tossed in a green salad.  Their flavor is also well-complimented by mint, orange, and grapefruit.

Fennel is also delicious when caramelized, and is a classic accompaniment to chicken and fish.

In case you want any expert advice on nutrition, then contact Kanupriya Khanna. She is a Senior Consultant Nutritionist and Dietitian with over 18 years of work experience in nutrition and is known as one of the best dietitians in Delhi for mother and child’s nutrition. 

Also Read: Postpartum wellness

Postpartum wellness

 

We often focus on baby after birth, which is important – but so is the new mother’s health!

You’ve just spent the last nine to ten months producing another human being and recovering from the physically taxing act of labour. Not to mention the fact that your body continues to provide sustenance for your baby even after you’ve given birth, which may be both physically and emotionally exhausting.

This means that you need to continue to nourish your body with not only enough energy to heal and produce milk, but various micronutrients that are likely depleted after giving birth.

 

Here are some of my postpartum tips.

 

Continue with a Multivitamin or a Postnatal vitamin 

While it’s always a good idea to discuss supplements with your doctor, I recommend continuing with a multivitamin to cover any gaps in your diet, especially with a focus on B vitamins, and Vitamins A and D as those levels in breastmilk are all affected by mom’s intake. Continuing your multivitamin is a great way to ensure you’re meeting the needs of both you and your baby.

 

Remember to also continue taking your calcium supplement (another important component of breastmilk), so that your body’s not depleted of this mineral at the cost of your bone health.

 

Increased calories intake:

Now, if you’re breastfeeding, you’ll also want to up your intake a little. The average women needs about 500 extra calories a day to meet the demands of lactation.

 

Say YES to Help

It takes more than just you to achieve postpartum wellness. Because the first few months of a baby’s existence might feel like a never-ending feeding frenzy, it’s a fantastic time to enlist the support of family and friends. If someone offers to assist, ask them to bring food or prepare a meal for you. Some days, not having to think about what you’re going to cook feels like a gift. Equally important is to enlist help from family to babysit while you get some shut eye.

 

Getting enough DHA and EPA

You should focus on fatty acids, notably EPA and DHA, in addition to calories and a daily vitamin.

 

These two fatty acids are essential during pregnancy as well as breastfeeding. While nuts and seeds like walnuts and flaxseeds contain ALA omega-3 fatty acids, only preformed DHA passes into breastmilk. This is why, during breastfeeding, some women might want to take a DHA supplement. Non vegetarians get enough if they consume oily fish regularly.

 

Increase your vitamin B12

Lastly, you’ll want to beef up your vitamin B12 for postpartum wellness support. The need for B12 increases during lactation due to the expansion of tissues and baby’s need for b12.

Normally your daily vitamin may contain enough B12, but make sure it has at least 30mcg per pill.

 

Exercise may help, but start slow  

There’s a large connection between mental health and physical exercise, but that doesn’t mean that you should jump back into your old routines.

 

There’s a reason we’re asked to wait at least 5-6 weeks before doing any strenuous exercise, even longer if you’ve had a complicated delivery or a C-section. Heading back into heavy exercise too soon can deplete your precious energy stores and leave you feeling even more exhausted. It can also hamper your healing.

 

Light walks with your new baby and postpartum yoga are a great place to being before going back to your pre-pregnancy workout routine. This can also help you slowly build back up your strength and stamina along with a little endorphin mood boost.

 

Kanupriya Khanna, a senior Consultant Nutritionist and Dietitian with over 18 years of experience in reproductive nutrition can help if you need help. She is titled as one of the best dietitians in Delhi.

 

Can you increase breast milk supply?

Expectant mothers start thinking of their way of feeding the baby well before they deliver. With a vast majority of health care providers suggesting that breast feeding is the best option, many women worry whether they will be able to produce enough milk or not.

The question I get asked most frequently is:
What should I eat to produce enough milk for my baby?

Some take to the internet to find answers. However, in this day of information over load it is easy to get confused by all the data that is so easily available. Traditionally there are a lot of beliefs regarding foods that aid in lactation.

There are some spices and herbs that have traditionally been used to increase milk production in India for thousands of years. They include methi seeds (fenugreek) , saunf (fennel), jeera (cumin seeds), moti eliachi (black cardamom), ajwain (caraway seeds) some ayurvedic herbs like shatavari, moringa, etc . They are consumed as concoctions made using the powders, boiling the herbs in water or as capsules.

Unfortunately, studies available in the literature are either inconclusive on some of the spices and herbs while there was no data available on others.

My personal take is: If you’re worried about not producing enough milk, consuming one of the traditional Indian herb may be a good idea. It may not necessarily increase milk production, but it may help you relax and calm down. That in turn may very well help in increasing your milk production.

At the end of the day, try to stay relaxed and happy, no matter what. Remember, that even despite all your efforts if you are not able to produce enough milk, there are infant formulas available to take care of your babies nutritional needs. But, only you can take care of your babies emotional needs.