What to eat in the first three days after giving birth

We all know that women need to take a confinement period to replenish their bodies after giving birth, and the body is the weakest during the first three days after giving birth. This period of time is also the most critical, because the body needs to produce milk, and only when milk comes out can the baby have food. Therefore, not only should we eat nutritious substances, but also some substances that help milk production to promote the physical recovery of the mother. So what is better to eat in the first three days after giving birth?

What should pregnant women eat in the first three days?

During the first three days after delivery, the mother's physical strength has not yet recovered. It is best to eat light, non-greasy, easily digestible, easily absorbed, and nutritious food in the form of liquid or semi-liquid. Edible foods include milk, soy milk, lotus root powder, boiled eggs in sugar water, steamed egg custard, wontons, millet porridge, etc. Don't eat spicy food.

Women who have undergone caesarean section generally need to wait 36 ​​hours after delivery before they can eat. Do not eat too much at each meal, because the gastrointestinal function of the mother has not fully recovered at this time. You can add snacks between meals and eat small meals frequently. This can ensure adequate nutrition without adding too much burden to the stomach and intestines.

It should be noted that within 3-4 days after delivery, mothers should not rush to eat stews, because stews will promote milk secretion, and at this time the mother's colostrum is not very smooth. Drinking soup too early will only cause breast pain. Later, as the body and digestive ability gradually recover, the mother can gradually return to a normal diet. You can drink more soup only after lactation is smooth.

Postpartum diet plan

1. Light and low in oil, ensuring calories

During the confinement period, women spend a lot of time in bed resting, so the food they eat should be mainly high-protein and low-fat, such as black fish, crucian carp, shrimp, eel, and pigeon, to avoid postpartum obesity caused by excessive fat intake. In order to make the food easier to cook, steaming, stewing, braising and boiling are mostly used instead of frying or deep-frying. In order to quickly regain their figure after giving birth, some mothers start dieting during the confinement period. This practice is wrong, because if the calorie intake is insufficient, it will affect the mother's milk production, and the baby's "ration" will not be guaranteed, which will affect the baby's growth and development.

2. Eat both meat and vegetables, and a combination of coarse and fine foods

The nutrients contained in each food are different. Bad eating habits such as picky eating and partial eating should be changed during the confinement period. In addition to the above-mentioned foods that are not suitable for eating during the confinement period, the daily food variety should be rich, and meat ingredients should be eaten together. Eating coarse grains regularly is good for improving constipation. Bamboo shoots, spinach and amaranth contain plant acid, which will affect the absorption of trace elements such as calcium, iron and zinc; while oatmeal, malt and barley tea will reduce milk production and should be avoided during the confinement period and the entire breastfeeding period.

Milk and its products are rich in calcium, which can prevent osteoporosis and rickets in infants; animal offal is rich in iron, which can prevent anemia; red meat and shellfish are rich in zinc, which can prevent cretinism and cretinism in children, and are also beneficial to the intellectual development of children. These nutrients can be passed to the baby through breast milk, so you should eat more of them during the confinement period and throughout the breastfeeding period.

3. Dietary requirements for mothers who have undergone cesarean section

From a nutritional perspective, mothers who have delivered by cesarean section have higher nutritional requirements than those who have delivered normally. The anesthesia, laparotomy and other treatments required during the operation are a blow to the body itself. Therefore, mothers who have a cesarean section will recover more slowly after delivery than those who have a normal birth. At the same time, the mother’s appetite will be affected due to the pain from the surgical incision.

After the operation, the mother can drink some carrot soup first to help the gastrointestinal tract that has stopped motility due to anesthesia maintain normal functioning, and use the discharge of intestinal gas as a sign that it is time to start eating.

On the first day after surgery, the patient is generally fed with liquid food such as porridge, rice noodles, lotus root powder, fruit juice, fish soup, and meat soup, which are given in 6-8 doses.

On the second day after the operation, the mother can eat some thin, soft, and rotten semi-liquid food, such as minced meat, liver paste, fish, egg custard, rotten noodles and rice, etc., and eat 4-5 times a day to ensure adequate intake.

After the third day, the mother can eat a normal diet, and pay attention to supplementing high-quality protein, various vitamins and trace elements. You can choose 7~8 taels of staple food, 250~500ml of milk, 3~4 taels of meat, 2~3 eggs, 1~2 pounds of vegetables and fruits, and about 30 grams of vegetable oil. This can effectively ensure adequate nutrition for the mother and the baby.