Stocking Your Postpartum Pantry

Your body went through a lot during pregnancy and birth. But the journey doesn’t end with the birth of your baby: the first 12 postpartum weeks are physically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. 

Not only do you need to restore the nutrients lost during childbirth, you also need essential nutrients to care for your new baby, whether you are nursing or not. 

Stocking your postpartum pantry is one way to set yourself up for success. In this blog post, you’ll discover what nutrients your body needs most at this crucial time. And you’ll learn what shelf-stable foods provide those nutrients so you can keep them on hand to ease your postpartum journey. 

First, here’s a quick overview of why you should prioritize your own nutrition during this postpartum period.

Why does nutrition matter after childbirth?

While it’s easy to focus on caring for your new baby, you still need to pay close attention to your own nourishment and overall care. Good nutrition has many benefits. Here are a few ways that optimal, balanced nutrition can help you feel better now, while you’re recovering from childbirth:

• Better nutrition can speed up your recovery
• It promotes milk production
• A high fiber diet prevents constipation
• It supports your overall well-being, including mental health

With these benefits in mind, let’s look at six essential nutrients for recovery and how you can stock your postpartum pantry with nourishing staple foods. 

The good news is that these foods are widely available in supermarkets. You may even have some of them on hand already!

Let’s start with one very important nutrient: iron. 

Iron

As a woman who has just given birth, you’re at risk of anemia. Additionally, once period resumes, which can be as early as three weeks postpartum if not breastfeeding, iron needs return to their prepregnancy level. To decrease the risk of anemia, you’ll want to replenish the iron lost during childbirth and ensure you meet your iron needs daily. 

Your body absorbs the iron from animal foods best. Examples of iron-rich foods include:

• Beef
• Chicken and other poultry
• Some seafood such as clams, oysters, octopus, mussels, and cuttlefish.

We can also get iron from plant foods, but it isn’t as easily absorbed. Plant-based iron sources include:

• Canned or dried beans (kidney, garbanzo, cannellini, and soybeans)
• Canned or dried peas
• Canned or dried lentils
• Dried figs, raisins, dates, dried prunes, and prune juice
• Molasses

We also get iron from plant-based foods that aren’t shelf stable, including dark green veggies. Bagged frozen spinach is one example of an iron-rich food that won’t easily spoil if you forget about it. 

Tip: Your body absorbs iron even better if we pair it with vitamin C. 

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps your body to heal and boosts your immune system. Studies show that eating vitamin C from food has a greater influence on the levels of vitamin C in breast milk than taking supplements does, unless the mother is poorly nourished  Babies breastfed by a mother whose diet is rich in vitamin C will have a reduced risk of developing asthma and eczema. 

Shelf-stable sources of vitamin C include

• Frozen fruits such as cherries, peaches, berries, mango, and pineapple
• Canned fruit in its own juice such as peaches and pineapple
• Canned tomatoes, canned spinach leaves, and sauerkraut
• Citrus juices, unsweetened pineapple juice, blended vegetable juice, prune juice, carrot juice, and low sodium tomato juice

Fresh sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, strawberries, kiwi, cantaloupe, tomatoes, broccoli, and bell peppers.

Iodine

You need higher levels of iodine now than you did during pregnancy. Thyroid issues are common after pregnancy, and iodine is needed to produce thyroid hormones. Thus, it is important to maintain good levels of iodine during  your postpartum period.  Here are some iodine sources you can stock in your postpartum pantry: 

• Iodized table salt 
• Nori, wakame, kombu kelp (variety of seaweed that can be found in Asian grocery stores and other major grocery stores)
• Canned tuna, canned salmon
• Dried prunes
• Brown rice
• Oatmeal
• Quinoa

And in your postpartum fridge:

• Dairy (milk, yogurt, and cheese)
• Eggs

Choline

You may not have heard of choline before, but it’s an important vitamin Choline is essential in supporting your memory, mood, muscle control, and other brain and nervous system functions. 

Although your liver produces choline, it is not enough to meet your daily needs. Also, not all prenatal vitamin supplements contain choline, and if they do, the choline content of a prenatal vitamin is typically inadequate. According to US NIH, 90-95% of pregnant women do not consume adequate choline. Thus, it is important to make sure your intake of choline is adequate. 

Some postpartum pantry staples that are rich in choline include: 

• Roasted soybeans, 
• Dry roasted peanuts
• Sunflower seeds
• Wheat germ
• Canned kidney bean
• Canned tuna
• Quinoa
• Brown rice
• Whole wheat pita bread

And in your postpartum fridge

• Eggs
• Milk, yogurt, cottage cheese

Omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3s are important for brain health. They improve mental focus, reduce inflammation, and decrease the risk of postpartum depression. Studies found that most pregnant women do not consume an adequate amount of omega-3 fatty acids (SOURCE).  Therefore it is crucial to add omega-3 fatty acid-rich food into your postpartum pantry: 

• Canned cold-water fatty fish (salmon, sardine, mackerel, tuna, herring, anchovies), canned oyster
• Nuts such as walnut and almond
• Seeds such as chia seeds, hemp seeds, ground flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, wheat germ
• Frozen or freeze dried edamame, firm tofu
• Plant oil (flaxseed oil, canola oil, soybean oil, walnut oil)
• Beans:
  • Navy beans, 
  • Kidney beans, 
  • Pinto beans, 
  • Black beans
• Fortified foods (such as certain brands of eggs, yogurt, juices, milk, soy beverages)

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential for bone health and supports the immune system, brain, and nervous system. Adequate levels of vitamin D are particularly important in this postpartum time because vitamin D reduces your risk for postpartum depression and anxiety.  

In addition to sunlight and supplements, you can get vitamin D from the following foods:

• Canned cold-water fatty fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel)
• Egg yolks
• Fortified milk, fortified plant-based alternative milk
• Fortified breakfast cereals 
• Some brands of orange juice and yogurt

Key Takeaways

The Postpartum months are a precious time to bond with your new baby but also a period of personal physical and hormonal changes. Regardless of how you delivered your baby, your body has some healing to do. You can speed up your recovery and be the happy and energized mom you want to be by staying hydrated and maintaining a good diet. A good postpartum pantry includes a variety of nutrient-dense foods. The good news is that these foods are widely available in supermarkets. You may even have some of them on hand already!!

These are just some basics to get you started on your recovery journey. If you want to go deeper & work with a prenatal nutrition expert please contact me at Liliek@nourishwelltogether.com or book a free call.