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Hey, Hey,

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welcome to the better postpartum podcast. I’m your host, Angel Swan, crunchy Christian mama to one and postpartum doula to many. I help moms care for their bodies, minds and newborns naturally during the first three months after birth. If you’re looking for pro tips on how to nurture your body naturally after childbirth, take care of your newborn baby using crunchy mama methods and help your whole family thrive during the fourth trimester, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got a lot to cover. So let’s dive in. I’ll see you inside the episode.

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Hey, Hey,

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welcome back. Thank you so much for joining me today. Before we get into the meat of this episode, I just wanted to make a few quick little announcements go over some business with you. So first of all, I installed this really cool widget on my websites, podcast page. It’s called speakpipe. And basically, you can hop on my website and record a voice message for me. So you can use this to ask me a question. You can leave me a little love note. Any comments, concerns, whatever. I really would love to use it as a platform for like a q&a. So you can ask me a question. I will play your question on the podcast unless you specifically tell me not to. So if you want to keep it anonymous, don’t tell me your name. But I just think it would be super cool. If you could hop on there asked me a question that you might want to have answered on the podcast. And then maybe I’ll even dedicate a whole episode to your question you never know. So that’s the first thing so you can see the episode description to click on that link or just go to postpartum companion comm slash podcast and scroll down to the little widget. It’s got a microphone button, it’s pretty hard to miss. The second thing that I want you to know is that you Yes, you are invited to my postpartum support group that I host with Arielle was in the UK who is a maternal mental wellness coach. So we meet on the first and third Thursday of every month at 7pm. Eastern on zoom, and we just talk, it is a safe space for you to vent, feel supported. And just get advice on whatever you need help with the most I like to ask what’s your biggest struggle right now. That way, we can really just dive in and get to the meat of it and see if we can make your life a little bit easier, a little bit better. So whether that’s you know, struggling with depression, anxiety, your relationships, breastfeeding, newborn care, literally anything that comes up in your life. As a mom with a baby, you can talk about it in our support group, even if you just want to sit and listen. See what we’re about, we would love to have you. So you can join the support group by clicking on the link in the episode description or you can find it on my website. Alright, so for today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about the best breastfeeding snacks. Let’s get into it. A lot of breastfeeding moms have asked me what are the best snacks for me to eat that are healthy and support breastfeeding. So you might have noticed that breastfeeding makes you hungry like super hungry. It’s okay to be hungry. But it is important that you’re fueling your body with healthy foods that are going to be high in protein, natural fats and complex carbs to give you a longer release of energy to get you through

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the day.

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When you’re breastfeeding, you’re burning about 500 extra calories per day. So ideally, you’ll take in 500 more calories than you normally would if you weren’t breastfeeding. Keep in mind that you should be eating healthy foods. Okay, healthy. Not the super sugary stuff like pop tarts or cereal bars. No candy. This is especially important if you want to lose some baby weight. That’s a huge concern that comes up a lot is the baby weight. So if you’re eating healthy foods, then you know that you’re going to be achieving all your goals, the breastfeeding goals, the weight goals, all the things so what kinds of foods are going to be good for you to eat? You want to eat some foods that are high in protein and natural fats. Those are gonna keep you fuller longer. That way you won’t constantly be feeling like you’re starving when you eat those types of foods. So some foods fall into this category would be hard boiled eggs, nuts, hummus, Greek yogurt, slice deli meat, cheese, smoked salmon milk protein bars, I think you get the picture. So for example, to prep a quick grab and go snack you might roll up some slices of deli meat with slice have cheese to make yourself like a meat and cheese roll up and you store them in a baggie or even better a reusable container and store it in the fridge. And Greek yogurt is another really easy one because you just buy the yogurt. It’s already pre packaged and ready to go when you’re hungry. Hard Boiled Eggs are really easy to prep for the perfect hard boiled eggs. You know, cover the eggs with water in a pot, bring it to a boil, turn off the heat and cover them and then let them sit covered for 10 minutes. Best Hard Boiled eggs ever. I don’t personally know because I hate eggs. But all my clients love my hard boiled eggs. So

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just do

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what I tell you and you’ll get some good eggs. Now if you’re up to it, you can pre portioned some milk, the pre portioned in small mason jars or another container. That way you can grab one whenever you need it. You don’t have to fuss with the jug and a glass every time. Because you’re busy, your hands are full, you’re a bomb, okay. The mason jar is great because you can like close it and seal it without spilling it. While you’re handling. you’re breastfeeding baby so baby can get milk you can get milk, you guys are going to be super strong and healthy. If you’re looking to have some ready to eat snacks and a basket next to your breastfeeding station, then protein bars are going to be the best bang for your buck. You’ll get more nutrition and energy from a protein bar than you would from like a cereal or granola bar. The protein bars definitely the way to go there. In addition to the high protein and natural fats, you should also be consuming complex carbs to ensure a well rounded diet. So that’s like complex carbs are going to be things like your raw veggies, you can have those alone or if you want to spice it up a little bit. It gets some depth to go with it. Your fruits, multigrain granola bar for quick energy, specifically the multigrain ones. You got to be careful with your granola bars. You don’t want a ton of added sugar. keep it healthy. chia pudding, nuts, whole grain crackers or toast, baked veggie chips popcorn. So complex carbs are easier to prep. they’re easier to prep and then put into your breastfeeding snack station. You can easily pre portioned like popcorn, veggie chips and crackers, sticks and granola bars in there. Those are going to be the ones that can you know sit out in a basket. You can prep your fruits and your veggies just slice them up. And pre portioned them in smaller containers that you store in the fridge for a quick grab and go snack. Make yourself a big batch of chia pudding, let it soak overnight and put it in like smaller grab and go containers the next day to like pre portioned them for yourself. So you might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, this is a lot of prep work for me to do. I just wanted to buy prepackaged foods, so I don’t have to do so much work. I get it, I get it. But when you work in batches, it’s really not so hard. So take one morning when your baby’s taking a nice long morning nap like they do. Cut up all of your veggies, your fruits, make your meat and cheese roll ups, whatever else you’re going to prep for the week and just get it done in one go instead of preparing your snacks as you feel hungry. If you want to buy prepackaged snacks, that’s okay too. I get it you’re tired, you’re hungry, you got things to do. So just try to be conscious of I personally am always trying to be conscious of like how much waste I’m creating when I go about meal prepping. So I do also understand that mommy is really hard. And taking care of a baby is super time consuming. So if you want to have like these fresh, healthy snacks, like the fruits and veggies and all the things, but you don’t necessarily want to prep them yourself. Get somebody else to do it for you. You can ask your partner to do it for you. If you have a postpartum doula coming in the home to help you ask them to do it. Have a friend or family member who’s looking for ways to help you out ask them to prepare your snacks and even other meals for you. That’s a great way for people to help out. The important thing is that you just stay mindful of what you’re putting into your body. Processed foods are harder for your body to digest and they’re not always the healthiest for you. They tend to have a lot of harmful hidden ingredients that are damaging to your body. eating more foods, Whole Foods specifically like meat, nuts, fruits, veggies. Basically anything you can grow in a garden is going to keep you healthy. energized and help you lose the baby weight if that is your goal. Whatever you decide to keep in your snack stash, always, always, always remember to stay hydrated, drink lots of water. You don’t necessarily have to like measure out your water, but just drink to thirst when you’re thirsty, drink the water, and then try and drink a little bit more. I hope that this was helpful for you. It’s kind of a shorty, but it’s a goodie. If you enjoyed this episode, could you please do me a favor and rate this podcast with 123455 hole stars? Write me a love note in a review I would superduper love that. And subscribe.

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Bonus points if you screenshot this episode that you’re listening to right now. Share it to your Instagram stories and then tag me at postpartum companion. If you do need some like one on one postpartum doula support where they have questions about your physical recovery from birth, your mental wellness, baby care, breastfeeding babywearing, basically anything that comes up during that first year after having your baby please reach out to me. You can schedule a 30 minute consultation completely free by going to my website postpartum companion comm slash work with me or just see the link in the episode description. If you want to schedule a full day of texting and voice messaging support with me or if you want to sit down for a one hour consultation call, you can also find those links on my website or in the episode description. If you happen to be in the DC Maryland area, and you’re looking for in home postpartum doula support, you can reach me at 443-822-3404. Or you can email me Angel at postpartum companion com to inquire about the In Home support. Lastly, if you’d like to join a postpartum support group, like I mentioned earlier, I do have two options for you. So first, join my support group on Facebook. It’s pretty laid back pretty chill. You can just join the support group on Facebook by clicking the link in the episode description or search for the better postpartum support group on Facebook. You can also join us on the first and third Thursday of every month at 7pm. Eastern on zoom for the live postpartum support group meeting hosted by me, Angel your postpartum doula. And my dear friend, Arielle was in the UK who is a maternal mental wellness coach. Thank you again for listening and supporting my podcast. I will talk to you next week. Bye bye. Hey, lady, thank you so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you did, Would you do me a huge favor and rate and review this podcast. The more ratings we get, the more moms we can help. If you want to get more postpartum tips and encouragement, subscribe to this podcast and hang out with me online. You can read my blog at postpartum companion comm slash blog. hang out with me on Instagram at postpartum companion. And join my free Facebook group called the better postpartum support group. If you have your own postpartum story that you’d like to share, head on over to postpartum companion comm slash podcast and submit an application to be on the air. Thanks again for listening and be sure to subscribe and meet me back here next week. Have a blessed day and don’t forget to pray. Bye Bye now.