What kind of fish can eat a nursing mother?
Nursing mothers are more reverent and attentive to their diet, because what a woman eats, partly with breast milk comes to the baby. The digestive system of the baby is very fragile, imperfect, it can be damaged by many products that are loved by adults. Therefore, the issue of eating fish during lactation is one of the most frequent.
Benefit and harm
Popular rumor warns newly minted mothers against eating fish. It is believed that neither river nor sea fish is undesirable during lactation, especially in the first 1-2 months after childbirth. In fact, this is a myth, according to nutritionists and pediatricians.
A small amount of properly cooked lean fish will benefit everyone - both the mother, who needs to recover from childbirth, and the baby, who many substances contained in fish are needed for harmonious growth and development.
- The main advantage of fish is Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. They have nowhere else to take, except for fish, and the benefits of them are obvious. Omega-3 acids contribute to the normalization of the cardiovascular system, are actively involved in metabolic processes, and also have a calming effect on the nervous system, which is very useful for a nursing mother.
- Large amounts of B vitamins It is useful for both breastfeeding participants, because these vitamins are directly involved in metabolism at the cellular level, and also regulate the activity of the nervous system.
- Protein as part of the fish fillet is very easy to digest, does not stress the digestive system. At the same time, it is important not only for a growing child who will receive it with her mother's milk, but also for the woman herself, since easily digestible proteins participate in the normalization process of the kidneys (after birth, an intensive reorganization of their functioning takes place).
- The fish, especially the sea, is very rich vitamin D, which is involved in calcium absorption. Using fish twice a week will allow mother to adjust the work of her own intestines. It certainly does not harm the child.
Fish will diversify the menu of a nursing woman, which is fully consistent with one of the main principles of breastfeeding - diversity and safety.
However, you need to understand that there are varieties of fish that are too fat, which can adversely affect the composition of breast milk - it will become fat and will be more difficult to digest the children's body.
There are also exotic varieties of fish that can cause allergies in both mom and baby. The fish absorbs many harmful substances that get into the water, and therefore the fish caught in environmentally dirty regions or in areas of man-made accidents can be rich not only in Omega-3, but also in radioactive substances and refined products.
How to choose?
Fish for mom babies must meet a number of important requirements.
- It must be fresh, not expired, quality. You should not buy it from unknown vendors, in the markets, from the roads - such products usually do not have certification, and no one can guarantee its safety.
- It is best to take a fish that is geographically characteristic of a particular region in which the family lives. Exotic warm sea varieties, unusual for the North or the Far East, are unlikely to benefit.
It is important that the fish be lean.For the first month after giving birth, varieties such as pollock, carp and Baltic herring are excellent.
- The fillet should have a thin icing glaze, if it is frozen, and the whole carcass must have entire fins, intact scales. The smell should be moderate. A strong smell or an unnatural color is a signal of danger, just like muddy fish eyes.
What fish can be consumed
Introducing fish into your diet is allowed to a woman within 15-21 days after birth. But it must be remembered that sea fish is more allergenic than river fish, and therefore, to begin with, it is advisable to eat the inhabitants of the rivers during breastfeeding of the newborn and the entire first month. In the second month, the menu is quite possible to diversify low-fat varieties of sea fish.
In the first month, you can cook and eat soups in fish broth. At first, it is advisable to cook fish in two waters. Primary broth is poured, and from the secondary make soup. Boiled fish can be eaten whole, steamed, or baked with vegetables, also when stewed fish is allowed.
Among all river fish, it is best to give preference to perch, which contains a relatively small amount of bones and calories, bream, which is rich in chlorine and potassium, river trout, burbot, pike and pike perch.
It is clear that sea fish is more pleasant to prepare and eat, because it contains fewer bones, and you can also cut a fine fillet from it. At the end of the first month, you can carefully begin to enter into the diet and the inhabitants of the sea. But this should be done from small portions, literally from a piece of fish.
If after a day the child does not develop an allergic reaction, the digestion and stool will not be disturbed, the product can be administered. Especially carefully introduced all varieties that can be attributed to the so-called red fish - pink salmon, chum. Salmon is a fish that is recommended to be tried in very small portions, as it is more likely to cause allergic reactions in infants. Sea fish is also steamed, boiled, baked and stewed.
When breastfeeding it is quite possible to afford the following sea fish:
- salmon (rich in selenium, iodine and beneficial protein);
- sea bass (does not contain a large amount of fat, but is the real leader in the amount of vitamin B12);
- hake (rich in vitamin A, has a low calorie content per 100 grams of product);
- pollock (rich in potassium and calcium, contains almost no fat, has a low calorie content);
- sardine (rich in magnesium, selenium and zinc).
These varieties are convenient because a woman can enter them into her menu without fear of getting better. These are dietary fish varieties; if they are also properly prepared, the benefits will be undeniable.
What better to abstain from?
With all the visible benefits of a nursing woman should know that the uncontrolled and improper use of fish during lactation may well harm both the baby and the mother's body.
Any fish that has been stored incorrectly has been frozen and thawed several times (which will be clear from the state of scales and dull eyes), and this increases the likelihood of not only food poisoning, but also infections with dangerous parasites, who choose fish as an intermediary, but are just waiting to get into the human intestine.
- White fish varietiessuitable for introduction into the diet in a timely manner, as described above, Do not serve fried or dried. River fish, fried in a frying pan with a crispy crust, is categorically not suitable for a woman when feeding her baby with breast milk. When frying healthy and light food turns into food, which is much longer and harder to digest.
- Dried and dried fish - too salty, which can lead to an accumulation of fluid in the body, to edema.If you ignore these requirements, the child may already start stool disorders quite quickly - constipation will alternate with diarrhea, breast milk will have high fat content, which may adversely affect the condition of the baby's stomach, pancreas and gall bladder.
- Smoked fish dangerous for three reasons.
- It is salty, which again has a bad effect on the state of water-salt metabolism and can cause edema.
- When smoked, it is not subjected to total heat treatment and may well be inhabited by parasite eggs (especially when it comes to river fish).
- Often smoked fish is treated with chemical smoke, which contains carcinogenic substances. They perfectly penetrate into the milk and are transmitted to the child, increasing the likelihood of serious consequences for his health, including cancer. And this is the most compelling reason to refuse smoked fish with HB.
- Salty fish also undesirable due to the presence of salt and spices and the lack of heat treatment. This also applies to salted fish.
- When breastfeeding a baby also it is necessary to refuse canned fishbecause they are rich in sugar and preservatives. Such a composition affects the quality of breast milk, in which up to 75% of all preservative substances are released without obstruction.
- All fatty fish should be discarded., even boiling and steaming mackerel and herring are strongly not recommended.
More often than twice a week, eating fish dishes is undesirable, because even healthy iodine can cause an overdose with excessive consumption. Two tricks of fish is enough for a woman to fill the weekly need for Omega-3, as well as selenium, iodine and magnesium.
Recipes
To facilitate the task of nursing mom will help the proposed recipes that will allow you to prepare a fish dish so that the benefit was, and there was no harm. Many of them have been tested not by one generation of mothers with babies, and therefore it is safe to say that they fully comply with the rules of therapeutic nutrition.
Steam pollock on the second
In order to prepare such a simple dish, it does not take much time. Cut the pollock carcass, previously cleaned and washed, into pieces, add a little onion and salt (do not overdo the dish, it can cause disturbances in the work of the kidneys). You can also use pollock fillets.
Put the pieces into a double boiler or a slow cooker in the double boiler mode and cook for 25 minutes. You can eat with a side dish of buckwheat, mashed potatoes or vegetable stew.
Baked carp
Baked river fish will be an excellent dinner option not only for a nursing mother, but for the whole family. For the preparation will need a large carp, a small carrot, onion, 10 grams of butter. Grate the carrot, cut the onion into thin half-knees. Fold the vegetables into a baking dish, brushing it with a piece of butter.
After cleaning and rinsing, the fish should be slightly salted. If it is planned that a woman who is breastfeeding a baby will eat the dish, avoid using spices for fish. Carp is completely laid on top of the vegetables, add a little water so that the vegetables are extinguished. Form put in the oven, heated to 200 degrees. Bake need about 45 minutes.
Pike or Pollock Cutlets
You can cook them in different ways - steamed, stewed or baked in the oven. Regardless of the method, you will need fish fillets, egg, salt, a little semolina. After scrolling the fillets in a meat grinder, all the ingredients are mixed and a little semolina is added to ensure that the mince does not turn out too thin.
They form the cutlets and cook them in the chosen way without pre-frying: in the oven - at least 35 minutes, in a double boiler - at least 25 minutes, in a small saucepan with half a glass of water or fish broth to simmer the cutlets for at least 30 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes or any other kind of side dish.
Fish in sour cream sauce
For the dish, both river varieties and sea fish, such as hake or pollock, can be used. Cut the fish into portions, salt and fold into a small container. Simmer for half an hour on low heat with a small amount of onions, a spoon of olive oil and half a glass of water.
10 minutes before readiness add a few tablespoons of sour cream, mix gently and hold under the lid for about 10 minutes.
Fish with apples
To prepare such a dish, it is best to take sea fish, the aroma of which will be beneficially complemented by apples. For one pollock carcass you will need a bulb onion and two green apples.
Apples are washed, peeled, cut into small slices. The fish, washed and cleaned, is added to a bowl with apple slices, put onions, salt and incubate for half an hour, until it gives juice. First put apples and onions in the form, and fish slices on top. Bake in the oven for at least 45 minutes.
Fish Casserole
Cut the fish fillets into small pieces and leave for half an hour in the marinade of one grated green apple. You can immediately salt the fish. Then the fish pieces are mixed with finely chopped onion, grated carrots and spread in a form. Bake in the oven should be about 40 minutes.
Then pour in the form of cooked sauce - sour cream, water and a little dill. With the sauce, bake the casserole in the oven for another 15 minutes. It is possible to eat a casserole, either cold or hot, with a side dish or as a separate dish.
We also suggest to take note of a simple and quick recipe for fish soufflé from the following video.
General recommendations
Before adding fish to the diet with HB, It is important to clarify a few important points:
- whether a woman has ever had an allergy to fish and seafood;
- Is there any such an allergy to fish and other seafood from the father of the child?
The fact is that some types of allergies, including food, are inherited from parents. And even if a woman eats fish with pleasure and does not have negative immune reactions to this product, there is no guarantee that the child will not experience an allergy borrowed from the father at the genetic level.
Before you add fish dishes to the menu, a nursing mom should definitely inquire about this possibility from a pediatrician who observes the child.