What to eat in the second week of confinement

Women's bodies usually suffer from lack of blood during childbirth, so they need to take a month off after giving birth. The confinement period is usually about one month. During this stage, women need to eat more blood-enriching and nutritious foods, not only for themselves, but also for breastfeeding the baby. During the confinement period, women must pay special attention to their diet and try to eat light and nutritious food. So, what should you eat during the second week of confinement?

1. What should mothers eat in the second week of pregnancy?

1. Eat more blood-enriching foods

Entering the second week after delivery, the new mother's wounds have basically healed. After the careful conditioning of the previous week, the appetite should have improved significantly. At this time, the new mother can start to eat more blood-enriching foods and regulate Qi and blood.

New mothers should eat more nutritious foods such as animal liver, animal blood, fish, shrimp, eggs, soy products, black fungus, black sesame, red dates, as well as fresh vegetables and fruits.

2. Don’t eat too much

Never overeat, and remember to control your food intake. Excessive eating after childbirth will not only make the new mother further obese on top of the weight gain during pregnancy, but it will also be of no benefit to postpartum recovery. If the new mother breastfeeds her baby and has a lot of milk, she can eat a little more than during pregnancy, up to 1/5 of the amount. If the new mother's milk is just enough for the baby, it can be the same as during pregnancy. If there is no milk or she does not plan to breastfeed, the amount of food should be about the same as during non-pregnancy.

3. Lactation should be promoted gradually

The diet therapy for new mothers after childbirth should also be gradual according to the characteristics of physiological changes, and it is not advisable to rush. Especially right after giving birth, the gastrointestinal function has not yet recovered, the mammary glands have just begun to secrete milk, and the mammary ducts are not yet smooth. It is not advisable to eat a lot of greasy lactation foods, use less frying in cooking, and take more easily digestible stews with soup. The food should be light, eat less cold food, and avoid eating malt that affects milk secretion. Brown sugar water, milk, soy milk, millet porridge, chicken soup, broth, fish soup, shrimp, pig's trotters, hens, peanuts, soybeans, day lily, carp, crucian carp, cuttlefish, etc. are all good products for milk production. Others include pork liver, soy products, red beans, peas, loofah, peanuts, sesame seeds, etc. Loofah can be fried with eggs, or egg and loofah soup can be made.

4. Remove water and reduce swelling

Although the amount of urine is a lot every day, the body still feels swollen. Therefore, eliminating water and swelling becomes an important task in the early postpartum care of new mothers. You should supplement more foods that help reduce swelling, and pay attention to the properties of the food.

2. How to eat in the second week after delivery

1. Red bean soup is the same as in the first week.

2. The fish, yellow croaker or golden threadfish are the same as in the first week.

3. The rice wine is the same as in the first week.

4. Drink the liver-nourishing soup until the 14th day after delivery. The method of consumption is the same as in the first week.

5. Eucommia ulmoides is beneficial to the recovery of the pelvis. It can be taken from the 8th day, with a daily dose of 3 cents. It can be put into capsules, or ground into powder and eaten with fried kidneys. Those who give birth naturally can take it for 1 week, while those who have a caesarean section or miscarriage may take it for 2 to 3 weeks.

6. White rice or brown coix seed rice: Cook brown coix seed or white rice with rice wine and water to make rice, about two bowls a day. If you can't eat it, you can skip it.

7. Fried pork kidneys with sesame oil without adding water should be eaten from the 8th to 14th day after delivery. It helps the mother's metabolism and promotes the contraction of the pelvic cavity and the contraction of the uterus.

8. You can eat some oily rice from the second week onwards. It can prevent the sagging of the mother’s internal organs. The delicious flavors of pork, mushrooms and dried shrimps will penetrate into the glutinous rice, making it a very delicious dish.

9. Carrots or red amaranth: Starting from the second week, you can eat a small amount of red vegetables such as carrots or red amaranth every day. Stir-fry them with sesame oil and ginger, then add some rice wine and boil them until they are cooked. The daily portion is about 2 small plates.

10. Guanyin tea, litchi shell tea or thirst quencher When you are thirsty, you can go to the Chinese medicine store to buy Guanyin tea, litchi shell or hawthorn, add rice wine and sugar to cook it into tea, and drink it slowly.

3. Foods to eat in the second week after delivery

1. In the second week of confinement, the mother's wounds have basically healed. After the careful conditioning of the previous week, her appetite should have improved significantly. At this time, you can start to eat more blood-enriching foods as much as possible to regulate qi and blood. Animal offal is rich in various vitamins and is a perfect vitamin supplement and blood tonic.

2. Main meals during confinement period: pork kidney with sesame oil and pork kidney with Eucommia ulmoides.

3. Fresh fish: steamed sea bass, cod, mullet, small yellow croaker, and fried fish fillet.

4. Other optional dishes: vegetarian shredded chicken with hair algae, scallops and bamboo shoots.

5. Health-preserving rice: Barley rice, oily rice, and sweet glutinous rice provide balanced nutrition and replenish the daily calories.

6. Health-preserving porridge: sweet glutinous rice porridge, hawthorn porridge, longan meat porridge, and four-god porridge.

7. Sweet soups: red bean soup, pumpkin and mung bean soup.

8. Soups: donkey-hide gelatin pork soup, fresh fish soup, ginger sweet vinegar pig's trotter soup are rich in gelatin, which promotes milk secretion and provides sufficient nutrients for the baby.

9. Vegetables. Red vegetables such as carrots or red amaranth provide fiber, promote digestion, prevent constipation and replenish blood.

10. Papaya tea is for those with low milk supply.

11. Beverages: Eucommia health-care tea, or litchi shell tea, or longan and wolfberry tea, which can quench thirst and nourish the body, can be drunk as boiled water, two cups a day, a total of about 600cc.