Luka from @boobtofood is an incredible mother of two. Her son Flynn is currently 3 years old and she is also raising her 9 month old daughter Florence. Luka is a registered Midwife, Nurse and an exceptional childbirth and parenting educator. She shares a portion of her life and the way her family enjoy nutrient dense whole foods to inspire us and our own babies through the journey of moving from ‘boob to food’.
I have noticed in my time that a lot of women I speak with including myself have concluded that the moment you begin to think about conceiving or find out you are pregnant is the moment they started to delve deeper into their nutritional needs, habits and try to clean up their diet.
In the bid for a healthy pregnancy we start to suddenly see our body as a vessel. Our nutrition needs are not just our own but that our baby will benefit from what we consume too. However, we then go on to deliver our beautiful children and our postnatal nutrition needs are then second, third, fourth down the list.
Eating to survive becomes priority as we give full attention and nourishment to our little ones and I’m sure many new mums will remember finding their cold breakfast at 1pm that day that they didn’t get a chance to eat earlier. Unfortunately, this is a time that a new mums nutritional requirements are higher than ever. Especially while recovering from labour and all it entails or major surgery such as a caesarean, antibiotics, hormone surges, sleep deprivation, breastfeeding, anaemia, low iron stores, infections, wound healing and the list goes on. All these factors can lead to postnatal depletion which studies show can last up to 10 years postpartum.
Many mothers begin to seek the best postpartum diet without identifying what their bodies actual needs are postnatally.
I would recommend to begin seeing a naturopath from conception. It will be hard to find the time to commit to a naturopath postnatally so meeting with one during pregnancy will ensure you have supplements ready to consume through pregnancy and the important postpartum phase.
Top 10 Postnatal Nutrition Boosters
| VITAMIN | WHY | WHERE |
| Prenatal Vitamin | continuing taking postpartum for effective postnatal recovery and nutrient booster | Practitioner prescribed powder or Metagenics brand. |
| Magnesium | Assists with restlessness, insomnia, cramps, headaches and vital chemical reactions in the body | Practitioner prescribed powder |
| Omega 3 DHA | Your body doesn’t make this so it requires you to eat food or supplement it to reduce post baby blues and improve heart function | Click here to get omega 3 DHA supplement or increase intake of fish, beef, chia seeds, walnuts, salmon, flaxseed, hemp, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. |
| Vitamin D | Important for everyday functioning | Check out the brand Mikhailla used postnatal here |
| B12/B9 | This will keep your bodys blood cells healthy and reproducing. It is especially important when your finding less time to eat. | Increase foods like beef, eggs, legumes and broccoli or get these B12 drops |
| Iron | continue taking after pregnancy until 6 week check if you were prior as your iron stores naturally lower from blood loss. | Continue supplementing or increase red meat, pumpkin seeds, quinoa and dark leafy vegetables |
| Gut Health | Through all your bodily changes keeping your gut healthy will keep you feeling good and aid in postpartum recovery | These capsule probiotics are great otherwise this powdered probiotic is easy to add to smoothies, oats or increase intake of fermented foods such as kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, cultured yoghurt and whey. |
| Protein | Breastfeeding mothers should increase protein intake by 15% to keep up with the nourishment of your baby and yourself. It will keep your fuller for longer too. | Nutra organics or Teresa Cutter have a fantastic clean and natural protein powder. Find my favourite protein smoothie recipe here |
| Collagen | Amazing for skin, hair, nails, joints, bone health, muscle mass and gut health. An all rounder essential prenatal and postnatal. | I truly think this is the best brand of collagen on the market! |
| Hemp Seeds | Easy essential good fatty acid that is high in omega 3 and omega 6 | Check out these amazing hemp seeds |
| MCT oil | This bonus oil promotes weight-loss, hearth health, brain health, energy, reduces lactate build up, has antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties, regulates blood glucose. All rounder daily essential. | Find MCT Oil available here |
Use your maternity leave to pre-prepare some nutritious meals and freeze them, especially bone broth!
If your new to bone broth I would try a chicken broth first as it is more palatable. You can add this to meals or drink it on its own. It is an amazing drink to have first thing after having a baby as it is highly nutritious, easily digested, incredibly high in minerals, boosts immunity and lines the digestive tract.
The most nutrient dense version is best made by you!
If you are short on time though or needing the perfect hospital bag essential. Nutra organics do a powdered bone broth you can pack and go. Otherwise pre-prepare it and freeze in 250ml bags and request it to be brought to you daily at the hospital by your partner.
Check out three of my favourite healthy pregnancy recipes that are also amazingly dense in nutrition for a postpartum mother. I like these recipes as they are easy, can be pre-prepared, eaten on the run and nutrient dense.
Stocking your pantry with the top 10 nutrition boosters prenatally will make it easy for your to whip up smoothies and nutrient dense recipes. Nut butters are another great pantry essential to add to your list for a quick lunch when time is limited and you only have a piece of sourdough bread to consume.
Enjoy the postpartum process!
Luka (@boobtofood)
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