Legumes are a source of valuable protein, which is essential for the health of the baby and the nursing mother. By including these foods in the diet, you can get the necessary energy and nutrients. However, in the first months of a baby's life, pediatricians recommend carefully including legumes in the menu of a nursing mother.
A woman's daily diet during lactation should be balanced. It is desirable to allocate about 20% of the consumed amount of calories to proteins, the storehouse of which is legumes. They contain iron, allow not to overload the digestive system of mom and baby. But it is necessary to use them, given the reaction of the baby's body to food.
Legumes on the menu during lactation: benefits
Legumes are especially recommended for lactating women who adhere to vegetarianism. Legumes of a dark color, for example, lobio, are of considerable value for mothers during lactation. As a rule, vegetable protein and vitamins from them are better absorbed.
Protein foods, which include legumes, are responsible for the composition of breast milk. Therefore, in the diet of a nursing mother, they must be present daily. It can be green beans and legumes, lentils, peas. "Vegetable meat" contains slowly digestible carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins of group B, vitamins C, A, folic acid, potassium, calcium and other substances important for the health of the mother, the development of crumbs. For lacto- and vegetarians, legumes can successfully replace meat, because their protein is chemically similar to animal protein.
Like any other products, they can bring not only benefits, but also harm to the baby's body, legumes should be introduced into the diet of a nursing mother gradually. You should not cook rich soups with fatty meat and legumes, cook complex dishes with peas, chickpeas, beans. With such food, it is more difficult to track an allergic reaction, the appearance of increased gas production or other problems in a child.
How and when to eat legumes while breastfeeding
Beans can affect your baby's digestive system, so you should monitor your baby's behavior after eating legumes. These crops can cause flatulence, colic. If, after the mother ate pea soup or salad with beans, the baby began to worry about the stomach, we can even talk about individual intolerance. Alarming symptoms are usually observed within 24 hours after a woman has eaten inappropriate food.
When breastfeeding, it is advisable to eat legumes in the form of cereals or soups. If you need to add butter or vegetable oil to the dish, you should put it in the broth or porridge removed from the stove. You can use recipes containing onions, but for this you need to pour boiling water over it before adding it to food. Try to cook legumes with a little salt and no unfamiliar spices.
A nursing mother can eat legumes after the first month from the birth of a child, but in reasonable quantities. These products sometimes cause flatulence not only in the baby, but also in the mother herself.
