Diet taboos after vaginal delivery

Don’t blindly drink high-fat soup to take supplements in the first three days after delivery, don’t force yourself to follow “traditional taboos” that are inappropriate for your body type, don’t blindly fast from certain foods because you’re afraid of lactation, and don’t overeat to aggravate the gastrointestinal burden. Most of the remaining rules are reference points that vary from person to person, and there is no unified standard answer.

Not long ago, I accompanied my baby who had just had vaginal surgery and was discharged from the hospital. Her mother-in-law brought a thermos bucket and boiled old hen soup for 4 hours, saying she wanted to replenish her milk supply. As a result, her breasts swelled like two hard stones that night, her fever reached 38.5°C, and she cried in pain for almost half an hour during the breast feeding. In fact, most obstetrics departments in public hospitals now warn in advance that 1-3 days after delivery, the mammary ducts are not completely unblocked, and the amount of milk secretion is already low. Drinking this thick soup full of oil will only block the unblocked mammary ducts, which will delay the release of milk. If you really need to take supplements, wait until about a week after delivery, when the mammary ducts are unblocked and the gastrointestinal function is almost restored, and then add it slowly. It is not too late.

Speaking of which, I have to mention the "traditional taboo" that everyone has been arguing about for eight hundred years. Can it be eaten cold? Can I eat salt? Can I eat spicy food? I was so greedy on the second day after the procedure that I stared at the room-temperature strawberries on the bedside table and drooled. My mother stopped me from touching them, saying that if they were cold, they would suffer from postpartum syndrome. When the nurse on duty came in and saw them, she said, "As long as you don't have diarrhea after eating cold foods, it's totally fine. Eating some fruit can also supplement vitamins and prevent constipation, which is better than eating egg custard every day." But I asked a Chinese doctor I know well before, and she also mentioned that if you have a weak constitution and your stomach hurts when you drink cold water, don't force yourself to cool down after giving birth. It's not troublesome to warm the fruit with warm water for half a minute before eating. It’s even more outrageous to say that you can’t eat salt. I already suffered from sweating after giving birth and had to breastfeed. If I didn’t eat any salt, I would suffer from electrolyte imbalance. My whole body felt so weak that I couldn’t even hold the baby. My mother forced me to eat salt-free egg custard for three days. I was so weak that I couldn’t even get out of bed. After I asked the doctor, I dared to add less salt, and I felt much better instantly. As for spicy food, there is no unified standard. If you can't live without spicy food, it's perfectly fine to eat less spicy food after giving birth to satisfy your cravings. If you can't eat spicy food at all, suddenly eating spicy food will not only make you constipated, but may also irritate your stomach, which is not worth the gain.

There is another more controversial topic: can we touch milk-recovering foods? There are dozens of kinds of milk-returning lists listed on the Internet, including leeks, barley tea, hawthorn, Sichuan peppercorns, and even beans. My Sichuan baby had Sichuan peppercorns in every dish after giving birth. The amount of milk was so much that the baby couldn't finish it, and had to squeeze it out and freeze it in the refrigerator every day. But my former colleague took a sip of a fruit drink with barley tea added, and her milk supply dropped by half that day, and it took her three days of drinking crucian carp soup to make up for it. This is really due to individual differences. No food is 100% able to restore milk. If you are really worried, just try a small amount and observe it for a day or two. If you have no pain, no decrease in milk volume, and the baby has no discomfort, then eat with confidence. There is no need to feel sorry for yourself for not being able to eat what you want for half a year.

Oh, by the way, there is another little pitfall that many people overlook: don’t eat too much at once after a natural birth. After all, the stomach and intestines were squeezed by the uterus for ten months, and they slowly returned to their original position just after giving birth. The peristalsis speed was still slow. On the day after the birth of the little girl who was in the same ward with me, her husband bought a bunch of things that she would not dare to eat during her pregnancy. Barbecue, milk tea, and strawberry cake were placed on the bedside table.

There is another reminder that is basically uncontroversial: If you are allergic, eating seafood, mango, pineapple and other foods will easily cause rashes. It is best not to touch them after giving birth. Allergens may be passed to the baby through breast milk, which can easily induce eczema in the baby. Both obstetricians and pediatricians have mentioned this, so it is better to pay attention to it.

To be honest, there are at least a dozen mothers around me who have been in confinement for forty days without touching a single mouthful of confinement according to the old rules, and some drank iced milk tea just after confinement. Everyone is in good health, and no one has suffered from the so-called confinement disease. You really don’t need to regard the diet after vaginal delivery as a huge difficulty. Avoid the core pitfalls and make the rest as comfortable as possible. Once you feel better, the amount of milk will naturally increase. It’s more effective than any expensive supplement.