Nourishing postpartum tips and snacks

Quick ideas for healthy and balanced postpartum snacks.

It’s so common for new moms to struggle finding healthy, nourishing, filling meal and snack ideas with a new baby. Between caring for a new baby, caring for older siblings, and obligations at work and home, “caring for me” often ends up on the back burner. Not to mention it is logistically SO hard to figure out how to make food with a new baby!

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Here are some tips I have for eating postpartum, as well as some food ideas by category.

Tip #1: Eat at least every 3-4 hours.

Try not to let yourself get too hungry! Especially if you’re breastfeeding, you have higher energy needs and going too long without food can make it harder to maintain your energy. Be consistent with eating, even if you are eating smaller snacks throughout the day.

Tip #2: Whenever you eat, make sure you have some protein and some carbs in that snack or meal (see below for ideas).

This is a good hack for staying full, satisfied, energized, and also nourished! Many new moms struggle with eating enough protein, which is so important for recovery. Trying to add something with protein whenever you eat will help with that.

Tip #3: Prioritize fruits and veggies by adding them as a side dish to as many meals and snacks as you can.

Fruits and veggies are full of nutrients as well as fiber, which helps with regularity postpartum.

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So what do I eat??!! Sometimes it’s more helpful to think of grabbing components of meals/snacks instead of preparing a full meal each time you’re hungry. So, grab something from the protein list (maybe some sliced cheese) and something from the carb list (whole-grain crackers) and then some produce (sliced apple).

Here’s some quick ideas that add protein:

• Cheese: cheese stick, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, etc.
• Dips/spreads: bean dip, guacamole, hummus
• Roasted chickpeas
• Meats: rolled deli meat, pepperoni slices, meatballs, rotisserie chicken, meat stick/jerky
• Eggs: hard-boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, egg muffins
• Nuts and seeds: trail mix, sunflower seeds, nut butter
• Bars: Perfect Bar, Rx Bar, homemade protein balls
• Dairy: glass of whole milk, greek yogurt, yogurt smoothie

Here’s some quick ideas that add carbohydrates:

• Oats: oatmeal, overnight oats, baked oatmeal, granola
• Rice cakes, popcorn
• Tortilla chips, crackers, or pita chips (aim for whole-grain varieties)
• Muffins, scones, cookies (aim for whole-grain varieties)
• Cereal or other grains you enjoy

Leave a comment if there’s other snacks that you enjoyed during postpartum!