Home > Raw > Articles > Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding -- By Kate Wood November 2004 Breastfeeding can be a wonderfully bonding experience for mother and baby, and it is truly amazing to watch your little one flourish on the miracle fluid your body makes. But it is really hard work! Whereas pregnancy demands only 300 extra calories a day from the body, breastfeeding demands about 500. And whereas pregnancy is a time to (hopefully) rest, nurture yourself, and bathe in the near universal good wishes of everyone around you, the commitment of breastfeeding is given little to no recognition in our society. You are literally, giving of yourself, usually for endless hours, day and night, while you are expected to competently carry on with all your other responsibilities too. No wonder most women give up before the first year is out. But there is no doubt that the longer you breastfeed for, the better start your child has in life. In my experience, most children who are allowed to self-wean do so around 2 ½ years old, although many go on longer. So having just gone through the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth, when your body has really been put through its paces, it has to deal with this most demanding of tasks, maybe for several years. Most women find themselves ravenously hungry in the first few months after the birth. It is vital, for your health and that of the baby, that you take really good care of yourself. You might not get time to nurture yourself with long baths, uninterrupted time with your partner, or Sunday lie-ins, but you can eat well. In fact, it may be a welcome opportunity for you to eat as much as you like without having to worry about putting on weight! I have been breastfeeding continuously for seven years now, and have been on a high raw diet throughout this time. I have sought long and hard for the answers to good health that will help sustain me, and not leave me feeling exhausted and depleted. Raw foods have without a doubt been a major factor in allowing me to give my all to my children, and still have some energy left for myself. But they have their limits. Breastfeeding is so demanding on the body that you need to consume huge quantities of nutrients, and however carefully you eat, you're not going to be able to get enough from your food. Overeating is never good, puts a strain on your digestive system, and makes you tired and sluggish. In my opinion, the answers lie in superfoods and juices, which when used correctly, give you sustained energy, without creating additional work for the body. You need to ensure you're getting your protein, to help build baby's body up. Lots of sprouts are essential: lentil, chick pea, and mung bean are wonderful (see recipe below). Too many nuts and seeds are mucus-forming: if you overeat on them, particularly if they are not soaked first, you may find your child starts producing lovely thick green or yellow snot. The best ones to have are sesame, pumpkin and sunflower, making sure they are soaked for at least a few hours. I always try to soak them overnight, and then leave them to sprout for a whole day if possible. Sesame is a powerhouse of nutrients: particularly needed for breastfeeding are calcium, iron, zinc, and the B vitamins, especially B6. Zinc is really important - only one in twenty people in the UK get the recommended daily amount of zinc in the diet. Good sources are pumpkin seeds, chick peas, and tahini. B6 can be found in cauliflower, watercress, bananas and broccoli (one banana provides over 50% of the RDA), and don't forget the B12 - the only way to be 100% sure with that one is to take it in supplement form. As for calcium, breastfeeding women need a whopping 550 mg extra per day - look for it in green veg (particularly broccoli - see recipe below), seaweeds and sesame seeds. You also need a good supply of fats to make lovely rich breastmilk. Again, don't overdo the nuts and seeds, but do include raw oils such as olive and flax, as well as avocados and olives. Flax oil is always important in the diet, but never more so at this stage: try to include 1-2 tbsp a day. If you're not strictly raw you may want to include some molasses in your diet: rich in iron and calcium, it's very good mixed with tahini and spread on crackers and essene bread. Nutritional yeast flakes are not a raw product either, but chock full of B vitamins, and make a tasty addition to most dinners. Some days, I feel very much like a cow: I do very little but eat my greens and produce milk, going back and forth between baby and kitchen from morning to night, alternately grazing and being milked. My green juice is my wonder drink, my lifesaver, the tonic I absolutely could not do without. Never, since my discovery of raw foods, have I experienced such a profound shift in health as I did when I started on green juice every day. It took my diet on to a whole new level, partly because it is an excellent way of getting nutrients into the body, particularly the minerals which are so essential for breastfeeding. But equally beneficial are the deep cleansing and alkalising properties of the juice that flood my system, keep me in balance, and help me to make better food choices throughout the day. I drink at least ½ litre a day, two or three glasses, usually a combination of broccoli, fennel (which is good for milk production), celery, cucumber, and parsley (for iron). You can't beat some locally grown, in season greens such as spring greens, chard, or kale, or if you like your wild foods, dandelion and nettle are wonderful leaves to juice. I cannot get enough broccoli: in one form or another, I have about 2 lb a day. It's one of the most nutritious vegetables, and exceptionally high in calcium and the B vitamins. Remember, you are effectively providing your baby with his first food, and if your diet is lacking, so is his. To ensure the good health of your baby, it is vital that you over compensate, packing as much nutrition in you as possible, rather than risk leaving your child deficient. For this reason, superfoods are really the only way to go. Superfoods are natural plant foods that are incredibly dense nutritionally, and are much more assimilable by the body than artificially produced supplements. There is a huge variety to choose from these days, but the ones I recommend for breastfeeding are bee pollen and maca. Bee pollen has a delicious sweet taste, and gives you an instant energy hit, so you can have some whenever you start to flag. It's a complete food, containing all the vitamins and minerals essential to the body, but particularly noteworthy for mums because of its high levels of vitamin B6 and zinc. Maca is great for balancing your hormones, and can help lift your mood and stave off hunger when you're sat feeding all day. It is also used for stamina and endurance, as well as being a complete protein and high in many vitamins and minerals, including calcium and zinc. I also recommend drinking plenty of water. You may be shocked at first at the amounts you need to drink, but think of all those hours you sit feeding, and how much fluid is leaving your body in the form of breastmilk. I personally drink four litres a day: one in the morning, before breakfast, another before lunch, another in the afternoon, and one more before bed. It is very important to stay hydrated and ward off fatigue - I would say aim for at least three litres a day. Breastfeeding is not discussed much because it's not something we will all do in our lives: even when you've discounted the male half the population, many women don't have children, and many of those that do, choose not to, or can't, feed their babies themselves. But it is something that most of us experience, as newborns ourselves, and as such it is crucially important because it provides us with our physical foundation, as our little bodies build and grow. The nutrition that we receive in the womb and in the first few years at the breast can set us up for a lifetime of good health. It seems to me indisputable that all woman who carry this great honour and responsibility should do the best they can to ensure the well-being of the next generation. Creamy Calcium Vegetables You can also make this recipe with tofu instead of the almonds. Tofu isn't a raw food but it is very high in calcium. Serves one. From Eat Smart, Eat Raw by Kate Wood (Grub St 2002) 60 g ½ 1 tbsp 1 tbsp 1 tbsp 1 1 60 g 90 g 90 g 60 g almonds, soaked avocado nutritional yeast flakes tamari nori flakes apple, juiced stick celery, juiced leafy greens broccoli cauliflower lettuce alfalfa sprouts 2 oz ½ 1 tbsp 1 tbsp 1 tbsp 1 1 2 oz 3 oz 3 oz 2 oz Put all the ingredients in the blender - apart from the broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and alfalfa - and blend to make a smooth creamy sauce. Then chop the broccoli, and cauliflower finely, shred the lettuce, and place in a serving bowl. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and garnish with alfalfa. Lentil Burgers Makes about 16 burgers -- enough for four people. Serve with raw ketchup and the salad above for a hearty, nutritious dinner. 2 ½ ¼ 1 1 ¼ cups green lentils, sprouted cup sunflower seeds, sprouted cup olive oil dsp miso onion, chopped small bunch parsley small bunch basil cup flax seeds, ground water to blend Sprout the lentils for two or three days, and the sunflower seeds for a day. Put them in your food processor, or Vitamix if you have one, with the oil, miso, onion and herbs. Process until it forms a paste, adding water if necessary to help it turn over. Once all the ingredients are amalgamated, add the ground flax seeds to help thicken and bind the mixture. Once it's ready, shape into patties and dehydrate for 18 hrs, turning after about ten hours to ensure they're crispy on both sides. About Kate Kate Wood is an energetic yet grounded mother of 3 boys. Her raw vegan family live in south west London. Kate helps to edit Juno magazine and writes for several others. Kate's main passion is raw and living foods.She is author of the best selling book Eat Smart Eat Raw. Kate uses these recipes on a daily basis to feed her family. As such they are quick and simple to prepare, but tasty enough to tempt reluctant husbands and children. She is currently working on her second book, Raw Living. Kate has been on a high raw diet since September 1993; currently the entire family eats a diet of over 90% raw foods. We don't know of any other UK family that has the same experience on feeding a raw family. Please show your support to this incredible woman and check out her web site today!

You can order raw foods, my products and lots more online. or by phone. Give us a tinkle on 08700 113 119.

Copyright © 2000-2008 Shazzie | All Rights Reserved | Privacy statement | UK raw food events | Raw food UK | Special things | Products | About