Five Foods for Postpartum You Can Eat With One Hand

They tell you about the perineal tearing, the sleepless nights, and that cute moment when your baby first smiles. But what they don’t tell you is that you’ll be holding this precious bundle in your arms one heck of a heavenly lot. 

Breastfeeding, bottle feeding, rocking to sleep, walking from one place to another – your baby will want to be with you (or should I say on you) as much as humanly possible. And that’s wonderful! We want that, baby wants that. All of the scientists want that. 

But what do you do when the inevitable time comes (and it comes a lot) when you have to eat? 

Either your butler brings you a platter of nibblies, or you do what most of us do, you go to the pantry or the fridge and figure out what you can eat with one hand. If you’re not clued in about the philosophy of postpartum nutrition, you might reach for a bag of chips, a granola bar, or the granola box.

You might find yourself clawing at the secret top shelf cupboard with the out of reach chocolate bars from Halloween, you may find yourself at the wheel of a large automobile (oh wait, that’s the Talking Heads song) and before long, you have woken the baby and don’t feel any more nourished than before you began this whole process. 

Our mission is to get mom out of the week-old bag of corn chips, and back in bed with a spoon, a snack, or a bonbon in her hand, so she can watch that week old baby in peace.

Which brings me to – my top Five Foods for Postpartum You Can Eat With One Hand.  

SOFT BOILED EGGS + SEA SALT 

Eggs are a postpartum woman’s superfood. They are affordable, protein rich and deeply satiating to a depleted body. But why soft boiled? Egg yolks contain vitamins A, D, E and K, folate, B12, choline and omega-3 fats. The yolks are also packed with tryptophan and tyrosine (hello mood friends!) as well as the building blocks of life, amino acids. To preserve all of this goodness, the yolks should be consumed lightly cooked. To do so, place your organic pastured eggs in gently boiling water and then set a timer for 6 minutes while you gaze at your baby. Once the timer is done, remove them from the heat and peel the shells under cold running water. Cut in half and add a mineral rich sea salt to either yolk. Eat warm. Heaven!

Fun fact! The cholesterol in egg yolks is not associated with high blood cholesterol levels or heart disease, and in fact assists with cellular communication and even digestion, since it is a precursor to bile acids. Cholesterol also plays an essential role in your brain, which contains about 25 percent of the cholesterol in your body. It is critical for synapse formation, i.e. the connections between your neurons, which allow you to think, learn new things, and form memories. 

SEEDED SOURDOUGH BREAD WITH SMASHED AVOCADO 

Bread. If you can digest it, it is your best friend, is it not? Choose a seeded variety for added nutritional oomph, or make your own sourdough loaves (actually – have someone else make them for you. You should be resting, mom!) Then, when you get hungry, layer some toast with half an avocado. You need all the plant fats you can get while feeding a baby and nurturing your own body’s recovery. That’s a lot!

Avocados take nine months to ripen on the tree, are shaped like a womb (or a woman’s body), carry a little baby seed inside of them, and are rich in pregnancy friendly folate for neurological development. Folate is also wonderful for postpartum women, with studies showing that those who take folic acid during pregnancy are protected from depression at 21 months postpartum.*  However, folic acid is the synthetic form of folate, which some women have difficulty metabolizing. Good news – one half of an avocado contains 82 mcg of folate, or about 21% of what you need for the entire day. 

MILK MAKING NUT BUTTER BOMBS 

We’ve all heard of lactation cookies. These are not cookies, but they satisfy just the same, and according to traditional postpartum wisdom, are more in alignment with your body’s recovery needs than a sugary grain product. (Don’t get me wrong, I really love cookies.) Milk Making Nut Butter Bombs are a fancy Fat Bomb, friend of keto and paleo dieters. Because we are all about long lasting energy over here in the postpartum world, we want satiation and good fats all-day-every day. Our Milk Making Nut Butter Bombs dress up the paleo fat bomb with some lactation inducing shatavari, brewers yeast and black sesame seeds – making these the perfect breastfeeding food to eat with one hand. Just be sure to keep them refrigerated when not on your plate, otherwise they will melt at 70F, all over your nice linen bedspread. 

*For postpartum women in the first 40 days – make sure to have a warm drink or hot cup of tea to sip when eating these, as we don’t want to introduce cold food into the body during this tender time.  

SALTED CARAMEL GHEE BON BONS 

If you aren’t yet a convert to the ghee train, I highly recommend you pay us a visit. Ghee is clarified butter. Is it butter on crack. It is butter oil, liquid sunshine, or alchemical mother oil, if you ask me. The beautiful cow is revered in India, and so she should be – she is a mother, and she feeds so many of us. When we make ghee we are stripping the butter of its common allergenic properties: lactose and casein. Ghee is what remains after the milk proteins have been removed, and it hosts a plethora of benefits. (In India grandmothers will boil milk three times for a new mother, to break down the proteins thus making it easier to digest.) Ghee is rich in fat soluble vitamins A, D and E, as well as butyrate – the preferred food source for the cells of the gut lining. It is suggested that butyrate makes the gut function more efficiently and smoothly, therefore aiding in function and regularity of digestion and metabolism.  

To make Salted Caramel Ghee Bon Bons just whip equal parts ghee (or coconut oil/vegan butter) and honey together with a fork and sprinkle with salt. Spoon the mixture into silicone ice cube molds or drop into Hershey’s style kisses on a parchment lined baking tray before placing in the freezer. Pop out and enjoy. Easy and oh so satisfying! 

*For postpartum women in the first 40 days – make sure to have a warm drink or hot cup of tea to sip when eating these, as we don’t want to introduce cold food into the body during this tender time.  

DATES WITH TAHINI AND HONEY 

Fiber, iron, enzymes, naturally occurring sugars, what’s not to love about this delicious one-hand friendly snack!? One small study found that consuming dates immediately after delivery resulted in significantly less blood loss and hemorrhaging than when given oxytocin. Tahini is made from ground up sesame seeds (our breastfeeding friendly super seed) and is rich in iron, powerful antioxidants and healthy fats. Just open and pit a date (or seven), pack it with tahini and drizzle some honey. You’ve got yourself a nourishing postpartum snack that you can eat with one hand. Just make sure the dog is around to lick the honey drips off baby’s head afterwards.  

*Folic Acid and Risk of Perinatal Depression: Is There an Association https://womensmentalhealth.org/posts/folic-acid-and-risk-of-perinatal-depression-is-there-an-association/