The Boob Group
Nutrition Tips for the Breastfeeding Mom

Please be advised, this transcription was performed by a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

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Sara Vance: Most women know about the importance of a healthy prenatal diet but much fewer understand their well nutrition place including healthy postpartum mom, especially one who is breastfeeding. I am Sara Vance, a nutritionist, a kid’s yoga and group exercise instructor. Today, we will be discussing the nutrition for the breastfeeding mom. This is the Boob Group.

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Robin Kaplan: Welcome to The Boob Group, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. I am your host, Robin Kaplan. I am also a certified lactation consultant and owner of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. At the Boob Group, we are online support group for all things related to breastfeeding. Have you checked out our fabulous articles on our blog? We have several moms who have offered to blog about their breastfeeding experiences for the Boob Group and I was completely blown away by their stories. If you are interested in sharing your breastfeeding stories, feel free to contact me through the link on our Boob Group website which is https://www.theboobgroup.com. So, today we are joined by three lovely panelists in the studio. Ladies, will you please introduce yourself.

Marshelle Papa : My name is Marshelle Papa. I am 33 years and I work as a Grandson Funding Specialist, part time. I have three children aged 4 years and also 2 and 2, I have got 2-year-old twins.

Maryjane Fisher : Hi, I am Maryjane Fisher, aged 35 years. I am a stay at home to Jason who is 14 months and yup.

[Laughs]

Jessica Butanda : I am Jessica Butanda. I am 32 years and a Teacher on Assignment in Antonio, California and I have one daughter named London who is 17 months old.

Robin Kaplan : Alright, well ladies welcome to the show.

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[Featured Segment: From Our Listeners]

Robin Kaplan : So, here is a comment from one of our listeners. Her name is Gene and she is from Riverdale Park, Maryland. “Hi, Boob Group! I just love your ongoing series about you following three new breastfeeding moms for the first year. I recently had my first baby and I have been listening to these episodes to get an idea of what to expect in the upcoming months. It’s really nice to know that I am not the only mom out there having issues. I recommend your show to the women of the breastfeeding support group all the time. Thanks for the great resource.” And thanks so much Gene for writing this in.

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Robin Kaplan : Today on the Boob Group, we are discussing the importance of nutrition for the postpartum and breastfeeding mom. Our expert Sara Vance is a nutritionist and a kid’s yoga and group exercise instructor. Thank you so much for joining us Sara and welcome to the show.

Sara Vance : Thanks for having me.

Robin Kaplan : Sure! Sara, I know that recently we have moved from this kind of traditional food pyramid way of thinking that probably most of us remember learning about in grade school to one that actually includes more healthy fats and encourages more fruits and vegetables. In your practice how do you define healthy nutrition?

Sara Vance : Well, first of all I am so glad they moved away from the my pyramid to my plate and even though it’s not perfect one other things that it does emphasize that I think every American needs his more plant based foods. You know, if you look at the plate, half of the plate is plant based foods. So, that means that they really want you to fill half of your plate at every meal which is not necessarily easy but a good go. It’s really something good to shift around. I think it’s really taking that emphasis away from you know, having the foundation of grains, you know, we get plenty of grains. You know, to me as far as healthy nutrition it’s not at all about calorie counting but it’s really getting plenty of whole, real, fresh foods. Looking at really upgrading, how can we really upgrade our foods? How can we really take our foods to the next level?

Get more nutrition in every bite. Looking at this is really important, is looking at reducing our exposure to toxins. That’s important not only for our weight but also especially when we are breastfeeding, we are breastfeeding for our baby and you know, what I mean by toxins they can mean chemicals like preservatives, pesticides, artificial ingredients, foods that were sensitive too so that could even be food allergies and intolerances. A lot of times those aren’t diagnosed, plastics, PPA’s you know, those kinds of things. I also think you touched on it, as well as the importance of getting the healthy fats and that’s really, really important during this time when we are breastfeeding as well for the baby. And then lastly, I think something called intrude of eating and that really is the learning kind of tune into your body to understand what foods are good for you and what aren’t. And you know, I think that’s so important not only for us moms, for ourselves, for our babies to really have that intuition and start to really trust that intuition and know that sometimes we might disagree for a good reason with some experts or doctors or whatever because we feel something different and we know, we know our baby better than anybody. You know, I think the symptom is the body’s alarm system.

A lot of times we go to a conventional doctor and they will see symptoms something we need to take away. And when we take those away we may not see what’s going on so, just you know, again being in tune with that you know, I think all of these things are even more important before and during and after pregnancy because you are creating and sustaining another life. So, when you are breastfeeding you kind of need to tune and look for clues in your baby too you know, this too can be you can look for things like chronic diaper rash, excessive crying, a lot of really you know, spitting up things like that, that can be a signal that there is like a food intolerance or something like that. So, you know, as far as you know, what things to look for, a friend of mine actually she invited me over after her baby was born, he was just like a, I think he was just like within 2 weeks and he had lots of diaper rash and they had him on acids and they were getting ready to put him on a prescription. I said, “why don’t you just try taking diary out of your diet?” And she did it and immediately so, I think just thinking about it the intuitiveness for yourself, for your baby and just really trusting yourself.

Robin Kaplan : Absolutely and you know, you are describing what type of role nutrition plays in the baby as well as you know, the mom and so what nutrients do you think are the most important for a women’s body in these early postpartum months that will also translate into what their baby is getting as well?

Sara Vance : Well, nutrition is important for so many reasons. One is just important to keep mom energized. You know, it’s important to provide the baby with healthy nutrients and prevent mom from developing deficiencies because nature is kind of forgiving. What’s gonna happen, is it for not having a really healthy diet, it’s gonna rob from mom to give it to baby and so, you know, a lot of times you know, if you have a day or you are not eating super, super healthy you can still feel good. Okay, the baby is probably not suffering too much but if that goes on and on and on mom is gonna really be suffering and that kind of affect, you know, subsequent pregnancies as well. Breastfeeding is, I kind of think about it as running 5 miles a day because you are burning like 500 extra calories you need more, you have your fluid levels so, it’s like you are like an athlete. You are really; your body is working really hard when I always tell my athletes as you really need functional foods.

If you want your body to function at its best you need to put in foods that are gonna help you to function. And so, it’s just very similar to new moms is just to really look at how can I make those better choices and it’s just gonna benefit both me and the baby. I think one of the most important nutrients for everyone and especially new moms is really one of my biggest nutrients that I tell everybody out is Omega 3 fatty acids. Americans tend to be deficient in Omega 3’s and they’re brain food, they’re mood food, they’re food for healthy hearts and they are also really keen in reducing our inflammation, chronic inflammation is actually an indication to disease. So, when we can keep our inflammation down, I know we like to feel better but, we are gonna be less likely to develop many diseases. And you know, Omega 3’s are very important for mom’s health but also baby’s health as well. They are really, really critical for baby’s brain development. They are important for their eyes and so, really making sure that we are getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids to pass on to baby is really gonna be an importance as well.

Robin Kaplan : So, so where can we find our Omega 3, is it essentially rather than just going and purchasing a little container of them at a local grocery store?

Sara Vance : Well, you know, that’s interesting because you know, throughout pregnancy we are you know, we’re told to avoid things like or you know, limit things like tune and things like that because of mercury. And so, sometimes may be the safest thing is to supplement or you can also do vegetarian form of Omega 3 fatty acids. One of my absolute favorite foods in the worldwide and it’s actually the reason I became a nutritionist is Chia seed. And Chia seed is the amount of flux but it has a lot of benefits over flux, it has the entire oxidants. So, when you are growing Chia seed it won’t around so, it is like flux, it has an amazing fiber content that is actually which is called Hydrophilic and so, it soaks up about 10 to 12 times in its own way in water. So, it’s hydrated, it fills you up, it gives you energy so, it’s the this amazing super food and it doesn’t really taste like anything so, let’s throw it in smoothies, cook with it and I pretty much have it every day.

Robin Kaplan : It’s really interesting, my kids are fairly some are picky eaters and we also, both of them are intolerant so, we have a hard time finding fibers food that they will actually eat because god forbid they eat a piece of cake. And so, that one of the, the breads that we eat has Chia seeds in it and they love it because it has one a bit of crunch to it but has virtually no flavor. And so, I feel like at least it’s a whole grain that they are getting in well, I guess is it grain, would it be considered as a whole grain?

Sara Vance : It is a seed.

Robin Kaplan : Okay, but so, it has all those amazing properties in them so, I feel like “okay, at least we’re getting this.”

Sara Vance: Totally and you know it is funny because you can hide it in so many things that I put in my smoothies and make a bean dip with it so, just kind of thinking about that. So, you know, what are some of the things that I could make it easy to make a smoothie in there you don’t even know what’s there so, you just keep sure your life is easy and you are getting those good nutrients as well. You can also get sustainably caught fish one of the brands that I really, really I like as far as Tuna is a brand called wild planet, they have half the mercury of most of the other brands because you are catching the smaller size tunas. And then it also 6 times your Omega 3 content is the most brands because the way they process it, they cook it in the cans and so, they are not losing the nutrients. So, you know, just kind of those kinds of things can help some of the smaller fish like, you can do Krill oil or one of the brands like for fish oils is Barley and it is just tasty and it is just easy and sometimes I will put in the smoothie. So, there are so many different ways you can get it you know, other things like hemp and you can get a little bit nuts and so, I think the other things just kind of starting to be aware and looking for the eggs like, we have got the Omega 3 eggs, you will see more and more so, because they realize how important it is more and more foods are offering that in it.

Robin Kaplan : Okay, what other nutrients would you add to that?

Sara Vance : You know, one of the other things I think is really, really important and critical for everybody to know but especially postpartum is knowing our Vitamin D levels and I am finding that just you know, not more and more doctors are really testing it on a regular basis but they can fluctuate within a year’s time. And one of the best sources in Vitamin D is actually sun and one of the reasons why so many of us are deficient is because we have been told for 20 odd years to not get any sun. And so, we were really finding about 70% of the population is deficient and Vitamin D is really important for a number of things. One they actually say Vitamin D is more effective in getting a flu shot and you are boosting your immune system. So, just having optimum Vitamin D levels, it is also set of guidelines of UCST says over 70% of breasts cancers could be prevented by optimum levels of Vitamin D and actually it’s not a very well-known fact that your risk of breast cancer goes up slightly after pregnancy.

There are a number of things that can help with that like the breastfeeding actually lowers yours risk especially if you can breastfeed beyond 4 months, the longer you breastfeed your risk goes down and you know, Vitamin D helps prevent cancer. And Vitamin D is critical for bone formation, if you don’t have Vitamin D we are not getting our Calcium into our bones. We are not absorbing some other nutrients so, Vitamin D is definitely another one of them. And if you are, if your blood levels of Vitamin D are optimized you will pass it on to your baby. If you don’t have enough then they recommend the baby gets about 400 IU of Vitamin D daily. So, knowing your Vitamin D, you can go just get a blood test and they will tell you so, you should be up around 50.

Robin Kaplan : You know, one of the things that I found after I had my kids was that the witching hour between 4 and 8 at night made up really challenging for me to make sure that I was getting a healthy dinner you know, at lunch kids are usually pretty quiet around. And then but dinner was just a beast and so up to the panelists first, do you find that it’s challenging to treat kind of this desired healthy diet that Sara’s explaining?

Maryjane Fisher : In the sense because of the time frame that you have, I have a 14 months old as I said so it’s, we kind of everything is based around eating and naps. [Laughs] Every time I turn around it’s time to eat and then, and then after that it’s time to nap so, I mean, I guess when it’s a little easier because now he is a little bit bigger. But when I was, when I first had him it was hard to kind of, you know, get a good nutrition for myself and doing all the things that I was doing for him but I, I think just one of the things that I tried to think of and it is little bit hard in our house because my husband is, could live without pizza if he had his way. But I just tried to think of whole food is just you know, what’s grown from the ground, you know, what’s just grown and just tried to stay away from, you know, as much processed as I can and thankfully my son has taken to whole routine of veggies. He is just eating tons of veggies since we started giving him solids around 7 months I believe it was. So, thankfully it hasn’t been that hard but I mean it is, it’s you are constantly going to the store you are, you know, when you have whole foods they don’t last very long. So, you know, you definitely have to keep up with replenishing and you know, just trying new things too, not keeping with the same veggie routine.

Robin Kaplan : Absolutely, how about you Marshelle, you have three children so? [Laughs]

Marshelle Papa : Yeah, I have three children and my husband works so much that he is never home during that time. So, that’s our daily challenge and I am probably like many moms more committed to my kid’s nutrition than to my nutrition. So, I am cooking them all these organic foods and I am making the Sam and I am making great food for them but then I am so frustrated after having prepared the meal that you know, that’s my personal weakness is that I don’t even sit down to eat with them, you know, because I am up and down getting more milk and more this and more that and you drop your spoon, drop your fork and so, by the time I hustle them up after the bath tub I am thinking “Oh! Wait, I didn’t even eat myself” So, yeah, I think it’s, I think it’s difficult when your kids are younger because you are feeding them separate foods you know, you might be feeding them purees and then letting them try a little bit of yours. But even now that my kids and me are eating the same meals it is still a challenge to set that good example for them to see that mommy is eating this too.

Robin Kaplan : Yeah, absolutely.

Marshelle Papa : And my dada tells me “Mommy dinner, mommy dinner” so, she is looking out for me.

Robin Kaplan : Exactly, how about you Jessica?

Jessica Butanda : I feel like me and my husband are eating healthier once the baby has come just because the food that may be we would want eat but we are thinking “Well, she can’t eat that. Well, if she can’t eat that, we shouldn’t probably be eating that either.” So, just kind of a good way to shift your thinking.

Robin Kaplan : Yeah, absolutely and ladies kind of what are your favorite go to healthy foods right now? How about you Jessica?

Jessica Butanda : I would say, I could myself into trouble “she is gonna tell me that’s not really that healthy” but right now for me it’s oat meal like actual whole oats meal and it started to increase my milk supply. And now it’s just become like a super yummy breakfast or snack or kind of a go to something that the baby will eat, something that I’ll eat, my husband will eat it so……

Robin Kaplan : And so, how about you Maryjane?

Maryjane Fisher : Avocados, I love avocados and I always somehow have carrots like with every single meal. [Laughs] It is just so easy to grab and go. Those are two like my family will always ask because whenever we go to their house for dinner there like you know, “did you have avocado today? Yes, I did have avocado today.” We always seem to be eating it, anything really quick you know, that’s you know, when we cook meats, chicken or pork chops we make sure we cook like the whole thing and then basically it’s the next day’s lunch and possibly dinner. So, you know, that’s kind of our routine is making, the vegetables, we try and make fresh because they just don’t taste very good as in we actually don’t have a Microwave any more so, we heat everything on the stove so it just doesn’t work out that way. So, we kind of do those new but meats and fast foods like avocado and carrots definitely.

Robin Kaplan : Okay, how about you Marshelle?

Marshelle Papa : My kids are foodetarians where if I can’t make them eat the veggies the eat the fruits you know, so fortunate that we’re in California that we have so many great farmers markets and that’s one of their favorite outings is go to farmers market you know, eating all the samples before we actually buy anything. [Laughs] And we are also big fans of nuts and you know, my kids will just eat nuts all the time and we are also a big smoothie family where just so easy to make that smoothie and I can sneak a, why don’t sneak it there if they don’t know what’s in there? But I can put the spinach in and they object to it so,

Robin Kaplan : Absolutely, Sara would have anything else to add for just kind of quick go to foods that moms could pick up themselves or for their children if they are old enough to feed themselves?

Sara Vance : Well, first of all I think all these are amazing tips. I mean the one about cooking protein, when you cook a protein cook extra because they are the thing that takes the longest. And so, I mean, we did that in our house and it’s so helpful, I mean, just to plan ahead a little bit like that and eating the things that your baby is eating again. That’s great because I’m sort of one of those people that just…the whole kid food thing, just you’re getting yourself into a trap there, feeding them something different then you got to do twice as much work, then they’re going to be, when do they ever graduate from kid food. You know, some of them will never graduate, you know, some things like that. You know, thinking about just eating with the baby, cooking those things extra, you know, the smoothies, that’s what I’m…I absolutely love smoothies. That’s one of the things we have for breakfast every day and when you’re too busy and you’re rushing around and you’re thinking of your baby, I know there are times when you just literally can’t get in the kitchen where you definitely have time, you whip something up into a smoothie and then you’ll get your energy, you can, like you said, throw a spinach and whatever, you know, secret foods you have in your house into that and you’ll at least not have to suffer. Mom will get what she needs to, you know, stay energized and all that.

So, just, you know, I think one other things when we’re…. as moms, we do tend to just…. Immediately we have this beautiful baby, we just want to do everything for them and put them first and we also have to just remind ourselves a couple of times that we also have to give ourselves what we need because we can’t be the best mom we can be if we don’t have, you know, that sow food…I call it sow food so we have that time to do some things that we just love to do and then when we come back we’re fresh and, you know, if we have those things that we can do better, even just reading a book or you know, so making sure that we’re doing those things to support ourselves then that just makes us better moms.

Robin Kaplan: Alright, when we come back, Sara will be discussing how nutrition can affect a mom’s milk supply and mental health as well as her favorite cooking resources. We’ll be right back.

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Robin Kaplan: Alright, now we’re back. Sara, what part does nutrition play in supporting a mom’s milk supply and what foods can be beneficial for that.

Sara Vance: Well, you know, you want to eat sufficient calories again to keep your energy up coz again, you know, it takes a lot of calories to feed the baby, you know, and that’s just helpful for lactation, like, you know, there can be certain foods that you’re feeling like your milk supply is going down. You can, you know, start to eat things like, certain things like asparagus, you know, sometimes can help, beans, carrots, spinach, any grey kind of… if anybody has ever tried that because it smells like maple syrup. [Laughs] Another interesting one, nutritional yeast which is a really amazing vegetarian form of….

Maryjane Fisher: How do you use nutritional yeast coz my sister uses it all the time and I don’t really know, I should have asked. I could have asked her but....

Sara Vance: If you’re a vegan, you can do a lot of things with nutritional yeast. You can make like, nacho cheese with it with cashews and things like that. But, one of the easiest things to…. Two easy things to just get nutritional yeast into your diet is popcorn, just pop and I’d like to do it on the stove top in coconut oil. Pop your popcorn, always go for organic, you can buy corn can and you can put just a little bit of whatever you like on it, butter or there’s that earth balance, if you’re a vegetarian, we get earth balance coconut spread, just melt that and then sprinkle nutritional yeast on it and it tastes like cheese corn. So delicious! And then another one that’s really, really easy is kale chips and they’re super, super easy to make. You just take the kale and chop it up and put olive oil and salt and pepper and sprinkle on nutritional yeast and just kind of mix all and put in the oven and they’re like, amazing. So, and I have these kids over, my kids are 9 and 11 and they had their friends over and one of their friends would come, I have these picky eaters who come over and their moms are like, “what did you have at Sara’s house?” [Laughs] And he came over and he was like, “what are those things?” looking at the Kale chips and I was like, “Oh! They’re kale chips.” And he’s like, “are they good?” and he sees other kids eating them and he just pops in and they’re delicious and he’s like, “Oh! Those are great.” And I told his mom, she’s like, “What?”

[Laughs]

Robin Kaplan: Now, what are the benefits of nutritional yeast?

Sara Vance: Nutritional yeast is a really good source of protein and it’s vegan and it really has a lot of the amino acids and it’s kind of energizing and all that. So, that’s a good one.

Robin Kaplan: You know, I’ve definitely seen a correlation between quick postpartum weight loss and a decreased milk supply in both of my breastfeeding clients and for me personally and so, Sara, can you explain may be why this quick weight loss after this early postpartum which can actually decrease a mom’s milk supply?

Sara Vance: I don’t really know as to why, you know, I think some of that could just be that you’re not getting enough calories and your body is under little bit stress, you know, I think one of the things that can reduce milk supply is stress and losing weight really quickly is actually very stressful on the body. I don’t recommend to anybody to lose weight quickly. It’s very hard on the liver. You know, so gradual weight loss is safe, you know, for everybody and it’s just gonna be much more longer lasting anyway. So, I really just suggest that, you know, anybody that wants to lose weight does it gradually and just, you know, continue to make sure that they keep their energy up that they’re, you know, eating lots of healthy foods just to keep that milk supply going.

Robin Kaplan: And you had mentioned also in the beginning of this interview as well that your body kind of fights to protect the infant that you’re feeding and so, if it’s creating everything for the infant and it’s not protecting the mom then it might seem that, that it would actually colorate too eventually the supply is gonna decrease as well.

Sara Vance: Exactly! And it’s gonna be different for everybody. You know, I think that’s the thing. You just have to kind of, you know, know your body and again be intuitive unless, “Oh! You know, this isn’t going right. You know, so let’s make some changes” and just be ready to just kind of adjust what you’re doing to take best care of yourself and baby and everything you need to be doing.

Robin Kaplan: Sure, and you know, after having a baby I think most of us moms, you know, we would like to lose some of that pregnancy weight, you know, and we have a question from one of our Facebook followers and Brook was wondering how a mom can lose the baby weight without jeopardizing her milk supply. So, you were talking about kind of the slower weight loss but,

Sara Vance: I think one of the things that at first I told all my clients is just cleaner, you know, you can eat the less processed foods, really actually toxins can cause us to hold on to weight, can cause us to gain weight, we can actually change our endocrine system so when we’re having…. If we’re drinking all of our water out of plastic bottles, that is a hormone interrupter. So, thinking about just, you know, getting the glass water bottles, you know, those kind of things and another really interesting thing that a lot of people think about is your digestion. If your digestion is not working well then, you can have all…. You can actually be, you know, you’re not gonna first of all be absorbing your nutrients properly. So, if you’re not absorbing your nutrients your body is saying, something is wrong, something is wrong. So, you’re gonna be hungrier.

They actually did a study where they….. it’s kind of a gross study but, very telling study where they transplanted fecal matter to someone who is overweight…. From someone who is thin into someone who is overweight’s body that person lost weight because they had the beneficial bacteria that their body needed to work very well. So, you know, the other thing that’s very counter intuitive that I had to just pound into that client’s head is healthy fats. Healthy fats are one of the absolute keys to controlling our hunger. So, if we are not getting enough healthy fats in our diet, so the whole low fat craze, we’re all starving, we’re all just, I mean, it made us all starve and made us all ,you know, over carbed and prediabetic and all these. So, basically when we’re getting enough healthy fats, you had mentioned avocado, absolutely one of my all-time favorite food and they’re great for baby, great for mom, you know, just great for everybody. So, making sure that you’re really thinking about reaching those healthy fats and nuts like avocado, getting plenty of those in your diet coz those are again gonna control, they’re gonna get your hormones imbalance, so much of our weight and everything is controlled by our hormones. Just two hormones, Leptin and Caroline and if they are at a balance, our hunger is at a balance. Sleep is another thing that we need to twitch is not so easy to get when we have a baby saying mom, hold me all night. [Laughs]

So, when you can squeeze in naps and things like that because when we’re not sleeping well, we could have, our cortisol can go up and cortisol is a hormone that tells us to store weight, now midsection, so again, it’s just, a lot of the things that, you know, it’s not about calories, it’s not about restriction, it’s really about cleaning, cleaning on our diets, taking care of ourselves so allowing us to get the rest and lowering our stress, easy as said and done, but, trying and then probiotics, probiotics is one of the other nutrients that kind of I wanted to mention because again, the health bar determines whether or not we’re absorbing nutrients. It boosts our immune system, some of the Vitamin D, even more so probably and again it’s key in our weight. And for the babies, probiotics, you know, when we’re taking probiotics, we can pass it on to the baby and that can actually reduce colic and it can reduce allergies and things like that. So, it’s again, it’s really good for baby’s gut health as well.

Jessica Butanda: Do you recommend probiotics straight for the baby also like, once they’re older, I have a toddler.

Sara Vance: Absolutely, yeah! Probiotics is one of the supplements I definitely recommend for everybody and you’re gonna find more and more, you know, the newer, healthier baby companies who’ll have those put into a lot of their foods and things like that.

Robin Kaplan: And for probiotics, I mean, they’re alive so, you don’t want to buy them off the shelf, correct?You need to buy them refrigerated.

Sara Vance: There are some that can come from the shelf that like, for example, they’ll have something in the metal, keep them alive, they’ll be like a powder or something like that and sometimes they’ll have like yeast which is kind of calorine intuitive but, that allows it to stay alive through. You also wanted to have something that will keep it alive through the stomach to get into the small intestine where you really want it to work coz otherwise, you know, if it just goes into the stomach then it just gets wasted. But, so yeah! You can, but ideally you want to get the ones that are in the refrigerator section in the grocery store that are lot. Those are usually the best and you want to look for something that is guaranteed like, in the millions or whatever of bacteria for….

Robin Kaplan: Those are the good ones, okay. And ladies, you all seem like you’re incredibly good cooks. I actually want to come to all your homes and eat your food. [Laughs] What are your favorite kitchen products that you’re using right now that really help you to continue to cook healthily for your families? I know, for me crock-pot really became my best friend when I had young kids especially, my kids are 15 months apart. So, they’re close together. Like your kids Marshelle, they are much happier in the morning until I put something in there in the morning and it will be ready for dinner and I could kind of sail through the witching hour. So, have you found that there are certain things that you use more often in your kitchen that really help you to get those healthy nutrients to your families?

Marshelle Papa: Well, the crock-pot requires a level of planning. [Laughs]

Robin Kaplan: That is true.

Marshelle Papa: I just don’t have it in me to do it. Before I used to do it in the morning so, you know, I think we talked earlier about, you know, cooking something beforehand. So, you know, I justify the cost, I can afford organic chicken because it is the same price for a whole chicken as it is for, you know, a regular chicken breast. So then, I learned ways to use the whole chicken. So, you know, I’m roasting it and then I’m, you know, taking it apart and putting it into burritos or whatever else it is, longer story short, then I’m making the chicken broth and, you know, making the soup so, using that later in my cooking. So, I mean, honestly, just the oven and also my kids prefer roasted veggies over, you know, most other forms. So, I’m just roasting the broccoli and putting parmesan cheese on it. So, I use the oven a lot. And of course, now it’s summer time, so, we use the grill which is always nice to just be able to, you know, put that out there and they’re big fans of almost anything grilled. If I put it on a skewer, it’s so exciting for them.

Robin Kalpan: That’s a great tip.

Jessica Butanda: That’s what I was gonna say. I really don’t cook that often. I really don’t have any good kitchen gadgets but, I swear the toothpick has become my new best friend because I have a toddler who refuses to eat vegetables but when you stick that veggie on a toothpick, they just wanna num,numm,numm….

Marshelle Papa: Like, we also do the muffin tins, oh my gosh! Can we have some snack for diner and still eat so much more because they’ve got their little individual portions and things like that.

Robin Kaplan: That’s a fantastic idea.

Marshelle Papa: And that could be good for, you know, moms too. You know, you can eat a portion of your food throughout the day, you know, and have that ready and handy. Don’t be like me. Don’t just eat the chocolate. [Laughs]

Robin Kaplan: How about you Maryjane?

Maryjane Fisher: You know, not just more than what the girls said here. Just, you know, saute pan, we saute lots of vegetables and, you know, it’s funny coz I have found that we, my husband and I got pregnant on our wedding night so, we had all these desert paper plates left over and I wanted to put my sons food on those paper plates. We were trying to use that. It’s more. Like, he has his little plate and I’m okay because it’s paper, you know, and so, that’s kind of funny that, you know, how we present it.

Robin Kaplan: I really want to thank you Sara for your insight into healthy nutrition for the breastfeeding mom. Your tips were fantastic and ladies, thank you for your advice as well. I love the idea of using toothpicks and different types of ways of presenting food. I’m gonna go and try that tonight when I get home to my kids. [Laughs] So, thank you so much for your information.

[Theme Music]

[Featured Segment: Overcoming Societal Booby Traps]
Robin Kaplan: Before we wrap things up, here’s Lara Adelo talking about ways to overcome societal booby traps.

Lara Adelo: Hi, Boob Group listeners, I’m Lara Adelo, a certified lactation educator and a retail marketing manager at Best For Babes and owner of Mama Pear Design. Today, we’re here to talk about how you can achieve your personal breastfeeding goals without being undermined by cultural and institutional booby traps. Let’s examine whether or not your hospital provided you with enough access to an IBCLC. It’s a common complaint. I really needed help. I asked to see a lactation consultant. But she never came. Not all breastfeeding problems require the training and skills of an international board certified lactation consultant. But, many do and it can be demonstrated and having the assistance of one makes a big difference in moms ability to meet their breastfeeding goals. So, why does so many moms say they’ve been waiting for days for an IBCLC’s help? In 2010, the United States Lactation Consultant Association released guidelines for lactation consultants stating the given hospital setting and it’s inside of the papers suggesting that 71% of the mothers requires the assistance of an IBCLC. Research shows that they have to be on recommendation of the hospital staff, one IBCLC for every one thousand deliveries.

The US LCA indicates that there’s a shortage of IBCLCs in the hospitals and that many hospitals don’t even provide holiday coverage. That explains why moms report asking for but not getting to see a lactation consultant. Until the optimum staffing becomes reality, remember the feedback matters, if you are unsatisfied with your access to IBCLC at your hospital or any other part of your breastfeeding care, write to your hospital. This kind of feedback is taken very seriously and could go a long way in making the difference to the moms who choose to get the birthing help in the future. A special thank you to Tanya Leaderman, IBCLC providing the booby trap series from Best For Babes. Visit https://www.bestforbabes.org for more great information about how to meet your personal breastfeeding goals and my business, https://www.mamapeardesign.com for breastfeeding supportive wearables. And be sure to listen to the Boob Group for fantastic conversations about breastfeeding and breastfeeding support.

Robin Kaplan: Thank you so much to our experts, panelists and to all of our listeners. I hope you’ll visit our website, https://www.theboobgroup.com and add your tips and tricks for eating a healthy diet in the comment section of this episode. If you have any questions about today’s show or the topics we’ve discussed, call our Boob Group hotline at 619-866-4775 and we’ll answer your question on an upcoming episode. If you have a breastfeeding topic you’d like to suggest, we love to hear it. Simply visit our website, https://www.theboobgroup.com and send us an email through the contact link. Thanks for listening to the Boob Group, because mothers know breasts.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media Production. Information and materials contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. For such information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical, advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating healthcare problem or disease or prescribing any medication. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified healthcare provider.

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