Non-Veg Feeding New Vegan Mom

Message: I will be cooking for a vegan which I am not. She is a new mother and just gave birth. I wanted to be given a good idea what to feed her, and a shopping list on what to buy, so she can get off to a goood start. – P.H.

Hi PH,

If your new mom is nursing, everything she eats gets passed along to the baby. In that case she needs food that’s not too spicy or acidic.  Also no cabbage, broccoli or other members of the cabbage family, onions, garlic or other gaseous foods.

New moms need to re-gain their strength as well as produce milk, so rich nourishing food is good. The midwife who looked after my daughters told them to keep taking their prenatal vitamins while they were nursing.

Rice is good, wheat if she’s not gluten intolerant, oatmeal, granola, quinoa, bulgar, hemp or soy milk, all breads, chick peas, mung dhal or red lentils, pinto beans, coconut, almonds and other nuts and seeds, nut butters (not peanut), mild hummus, yams, sweet potatoes, winter and summer squash, potatoes, green beans, peas, asparagus, avocados, greens. Tofu seems to go down ok.

Sauces or gravies made with coconut milk, cashews or chick pea flour are great.

Muffins, cookies or cereals with dried fruit and nuts added. Sweeteners can include sugar, maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup. Bananas are good, dates, figs, pears.

Make extra so there’s leftovers for the starving times when nobody’s there to feed her.

Make sure she gets plenty of water and other liquids, not juices so much, but hemp or soy milk is good, teas – fenugreek tea is good for building the milk supply, or try moo tea for nursing moms. She should always have a cup of water close by and something else to drink .

Here are some savvy vegetarian recipes I recommend – there are plenty more:

Thai Tofu Butternut Squash – skip the jalapeno and ginger
Mung Dhal Vegetable Soup
Vegan Tofu Burgers
Tofu, Pasta, and Veggies
Tofu Veggie Stir Fry
Lentil Loaf
Pinto Bean Stew
Cashew Gravy
Dhosas: Indian Vegetarian Flatbread
Hummus – leave out the garlic
All the bread, muffin, flatbread recipes on this page

Mom’s tastes should prevail – her body knows what it needs. One of my daughters who recently had a baby ate up to 1/2 lb of almonds a day for quite a while!

Thanks for writing! Congratulations to the New Mom! – JK

Tags: breast feeding, healthy food, new mom, non-veg, non-vegetarian, nursing, nursing mom, vegan

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