What are the taboos on postpartum diet?

In fact, there are no one-size-fits-all absolute taboos after childbirth. Most of the widely circulated "not to eat" are essentially precautions that need to be adjusted according to individual constitution and tolerance. At the real common sense level, there are only a few types of foods that are clearly harmful to mother and baby.

Let’s talk about the most quarrelsome question first: “Can we eat cold food?” The older generation’s belief is that if it is cold, the uterus will be cold and the lochia will not be discharged completely. However, the modern clinical view is that as long as your gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated and you don’t have abdominal pain or diarrhea after eating, you can eat it. My best friend had a natural birth last year. During the observation in the delivery room, the nurse directly handed her iced orange juice to replenish her energy. She had no problems after drinking it, and the lochia was cleared within two weeks. On the contrary, another mother in the same ward had a weak gastrointestinal condition, so she secretly drank half a cup of iced milk tea and had diarrhea for two days, which actually affected her recovery. To put it bluntly, it depends on whether your own stomach can tolerate it. There is no need to be greedy and dare not eat, and don't blindly follow the trend of others drinking ice.

Compared with such dietary preferences that vary greatly among individuals, there are several categories that almost all obstetricians and nutritionists will remind you to avoid. The first thing to suffer is food containing alcohol. Don’t believe the claims that fermented glutinous rice and rice wine are high in milk. Alcohol will be metabolized to the baby through milk, which may affect the baby’s sleep or damage neurological development. After I gave birth, my mother-in-law also said that she would boil rice wine and eggs for me, but I took the obstetrician’s education page and persuaded me to go back. If I really want to supplement my nutrition, just drink ordinary egg custard, and there is no need to touch anything containing alcohol. You should also try to avoid cold sashimi, half-boiled eggs, and undercooked meat. Postpartum immunity is lower than that of ordinary people. Salmonella and parasites are easy to hide in these foods. Ordinary people may have diarrhea for two days. If you are infected, you will not only feel uncomfortable, but you also have to consider whether taking medicine will affect breastfeeding. The gain is not worth the loss. Oh, by the way, there is also the thick oily soup, which I didn’t understand in the first week. My mother-in-law made me pig’s foot soup and old hen soup every day. There was a layer of oil floating on it, and I drank it. As a result, I had a fever on the third day because of the blockage of milk. When the lactation specialist kneaded it, I said that the layer of fat was all blocked in the breast ducts. Later, I skimmed off all the oil on the soup and replaced it with light vegetable soup or egg soup. It gradually improved. If you really want to supplement protein, it is better to eat meat directly, which is more useful than drinking oil soup tube.

There is also a controversy about "milk-reducing foods" that everyone is particularly entangled with. It is said that eating leeks, malt, hawthorn and other foods will cause you to lose milk. In fact, it is not so absolute. When I was low in milk, I drank fried malt water for two days, and the milk supply was not reduced at all. My colleague even went further. During the lactation period, I ate leek dumplings every time, and the milk supply was enough to feed my own baby and donate it to a breast milk bank. Some mothers actually said that their milk supply dropped sharply after eating something. Most of them were because they were sensitive to this food, so just avoid it next time. There is no need to blacklist all these things in advance, which will simply take away a lot of the fun of eating.

I met a mother during my postpartum check-up. After 42 days of confinement, she didn’t even dare to touch apples at room temperature. She had to steam them until they were soft before eating them. As a result, she was deficient in vitamins and the corners of her mouth were rotten for almost half a month. The doctor said that you can actually eat fruits at room temperature. If you are afraid of the cold, just soak them in warm water for a minute or two. Steaming for too long will destroy the vitamins. In fact, there are really not so many rules about eating after delivery. The core thing is that you feel comfortable after eating, and the baby drinks your milk without any uncomfortable reactions such as rashes or diarrhea. It is more reliable than the old rules that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Only when you are happy with your food will you recover faster.