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Consuming Liver While Breastfeeding: Benefits For Mothers And Babies!
You’ve just welcomed your bundle of joy into the world after nurturing it in your body for nine months. At least for the first few months of its life, your baby will be solely dependent on your breastmilk for nutrition. While pregnancy and motherhood are beautiful experiences, it can be very taxing on your body!
Nutritional requirements during breastfeeding
Pregnant and breastfeeding women have the highest nutritional demands in women’s lives. While breastfeeding, women lose a lot of the water content of their body and must ensure that they remain hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids.
The body also loses nutrients at a high rate while breastfeeding and it is essential to replenish these. A nursing mother needs about 500mg of folate, 10mg of iron and 1000mg of calcium every day to ensure their health is optimal.
Liver for breastfeeding mothers
Different sources of liver are highly nutritious and are particularly rich in iron and vitamin A. It contains vitamin B6 and B12 which can be helpful for energy. It also contains choline, which is very helpful during the early development of the child and is not found in most other food sources. Choline improves brain and liver function and therefore, the baby can greatly benefit from the transfer of choline through breastmilk.
It also contains high amounts of proteins and provides all the essential amino acids, which can help your body rebuild its lost tone. Additionally, if you are a mother concerned with losing the post-pregnancy fat, you will be pleased to know that eating proteins boosts your metabolic rate without compromising your health.
Now that’s the feel-good, look-good factor you’ve been looking for! Despite being so nutritious, liver is low in calories, providing you the best possible ratio of nutrients to calories.
As a nursing mother, you can safely consume about 100g of liver a week. If you monitor your intake of liver, you and your baby can reap the benefits of eating liver without problems.
How to consume liver?
Admittedly, eating liver is not for everyone. If you like the taste and texture of liver, there is no reason to stop yourself. However, for the wary, there are many ways to cook and eat liver. You can pan-fry it with your choice of condiments or sauces, mince it and add it to stews, pasta or curries and even make burger patties with it.
An insider tip is to soak it in milk or lemon before cooking it to cut through the strong flavour. If you are still wary, you can opt to take liver supplements! All the benefits with none of the cons.
Other foods for breastfeeding mothersIf you are suffering from low milk production, you must try fenugreek. Fenugreek stimulates the milk production within a couple of days of consumption, even if drunk as tea.
Oats are also considered to be great for lactating mothers, but there is no scientific evidence to back this up. It is always great to make sure you eat a balanced diet and replenish nutrients.
We wish you a very happy and healthy motherhood! 💜
References:
https://nutritionfoundation.org.nz/healthy-eating/pregnancy-and-breastfeeding
https://www.infantrisk.com/content/vitamin-d-supplements
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/HYG-5573
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/moms-breastfeeding-nutritional-needs
https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2013/08/16/what-to-eat-while-breastfeeding
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/breastfeeding-diet-101
https://www.care.com/c/stories/4378/10-breastfeeding-supplements-every-mother-sho/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-liver-is-a-superfood#section7
*Disclaimer: the information in this article is intended purely as information and not health advice. It is not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure and one should always seek expert advice from their trusted health practitioner.