During lactation, any spices are strictly prohibited for a nursing mother, so vegetables, especially of “local” origin, are an excellent substitute.
Greens help give dishes a healthy and pleasant taste, and one of the most popular in our latitudes is green onions - when breastfeeding, they are not always present in the diet. It will perfectly replenish the body’s reserves with essential vitamins, but this article will tell you what restrictions there are and when breastfeeding women can eat this vegetable.
Beneficial features
Onion is a very common plant, the bulb and feathers of which have been used as food and used to treat diseases for about 4 thousand years.
When breastfeeding, green onions are very useful, especially considering their ability to fight pathogenic bacteria.
Onions contain:
- vitamins C, PP, E, B;
- microelements (iron, potassium, sulfur, calcium, chlorine, phosphorus);
- carotene;
- organic acids;
- quercetin (this substance gives onions bitterness);
- phytoncides.
Green onions help replenish the lack of vitamins in the winter-spring period, because they can be grown on your windowsill. Whereas vegetables and fruits in stores contain a lot of chemicals and few useful vitamins.
Onion will help:
- Get rid of constipation, this is especially important in the first months after childbirth.
- Recover from colds faster. A substance called “phytoncide” helps with this, which inhibits the growth of pathogenic bacteria. This is a very valuable property of onions due to the fact that pharmaceutical medications are prohibited during hepatitis B.
- Strengthen your immune system.
- Increase breast milk production.
- Raise blood pressure.
- Restore weight, return to the figure you had before pregnancy.
The effect of onions on breast milk
It is widely believed that onions can spoil the taste of breast milk and the baby will refuse to eat. This statement is true for fresh onions. However, it is far from 100%. Only 5% of babies refuse to breastfeed if there is a significant change in the taste of mother's milk.
In any case, in the first month after childbirth, it is not recommended to eat any raw foods, and onions are no exception. Add green onions to soup, porridge, and meat when cooking - heat-treated onions are safe and healthy.
Onions for breastfeeding
For example, if a girl did not eat onions during pregnancy, then the taste of milk will be unnatural for the child. If there was too much of it on the mother’s menu, then due to the increased concentration of onions in the milk, its smell and taste may deteriorate.
During pregnancy, eat whatever you want, within reason, of course. As you know, children absorb well everything that their mothers took in food during pregnancy; they are already familiar with their taste through milk. If a mother wants her child to eat onions and like them, then she should definitely start eating this vegetable.
Can a nursing mother eat green onions?
Green onions, stewed, boiled, or baked, are welcomed as part of mother’s dishes from the first month of a baby’s life. However, avoid dishes in which onions are the main ingredient. For example, onion pie, onion soup. Too much onion, even heat-treated, can cause colic in your baby. Such dishes can be eaten from about 6 months.
Fresh green onions can be introduced into the diet of a nursing mother starting from two months after the baby is born, 1 per in the morning. Monitor your child's condition throughout the day. If the baby feels great, then you can gradually increase the amount of fresh onions. If the day did not go as well as you would like, then postpone the introduction of greens for a month.
At three months you can safely eat green onions in any form, but still in small quantities.
Symptoms in a baby, when they appear, you should postpone the introduction of green onions:
- skin rash;
- nausea or vomiting;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- colic;
- restless sleep;
- elevated temperature;
- lack of appetite.
If you ate onions during pregnancy, then during lactation the introduction of this product into your menu should be successful.
The gradual introduction of green onions into the mother’s diet will help the baby get used to the bitterness of breast milk and will not cause breast refusal. A slight bitterness in the milk will stimulate the appetite, which will have a positive effect on the development of the baby in the first year of life.
Dill is considered the safest herb for breastfeeding. This is where it is recommended to start introducing greens into your mother’s menu. But don’t introduce more than one type of green at a time!
May be interesting: dill during breastfeeding.
Can a nursing mother eat leeks?
Leeks are a popular variety of green onions. It is used mainly in cooking for preparing first and second courses, as well as in appetizers and salads.
The peculiarity of leeks is that they do not have such a strong taste as onions and are safer during breastfeeding.
The rules for introducing mom into the menu are the same as for onions:
- In the first two months after birth, only stewed or boiled.
- In the third month of a baby’s life, you can add a little fresh food to your mother’s food.
Leeks freeze well and retain their beneficial properties in the freezer for three to five months. Before freezing, wash the onion thoroughly, cut into small rings, and place in a plastic bag. When you want to use frozen onions, simply cut off the edge of the bag with scissors and pour the required amount of onions into your food. Place leftovers back in the freezer.
Recipes with leeks
I bring to your attention two recipes with leeks that can be eaten already in the first month of a baby’s life:
- Chicken soup with leeks. This recipe uses the white part of the leek.
- Leek casserole. And in this recipe use greens.
And remember that first you need to enter each ingredient into the nursing mother’s menu separately, making sure that the baby is not allergic to any of the components. And only after this can you prepare the entire dish.
100% healthy greens
Every mother wants the best for her child. And what could be better than fresh onions grown at home without the use of chemical fertilizers? You don’t know how the greens sold in the store were processed.
We grow onions with our own hands:
- Take a jar. A jar of baby puree or vitamins will do.
- Pour in tap water and let this water stand for a day so that the chlorine evaporates from the water.
- Place the onion in the jar and make sure the bottom of the onion touches the water. The onion should not fall into the jar.
- Place the bulb on a windowsill or other bright place.
Onions planted in a jar on the windowsill in December. To make it easier for the feathers to break through, you can slightly clean the top of the bulb. - In the spring-summer period, after 1–2 days the bulb will take root, and after 5–10 days a feather will begin to emerge. After 2 weeks, you will be able to cut off the long beautiful feathers and season your food with them. In the autumn-winter period, growing onions will take 2-3 times longer. And don't forget to add water to the jar!
Onions planted in December only appeared on the tenth day.
The same onion on the twentieth day after planting - the first leaves appeared. Hooray!
When you start cutting off the feathers, plant the next bulb. By the time the first one ends, the second one will already have grown. And so on in a circle.
Can onions affect breast milk?
To answer this, take cow's milk as an example. Cows produce milk in virtually the same way as all mammals, including humans. A fairly correct decision would be to compare cows' milk.
Anyone who knows homemade cow's milk well should be aware that it can often change flavor. It directly depends on the grass. If a cow eats legumes and onions, the milk will taste bitter. But due to chamomile, the drink may acquire an unpleasant odor. Radishes and cabbage can also affect the taste of milk.
And this also applies to nursing mothers. The quality of the milk will vary depending on what they eat. But it is worth saying that a calf still drinks milk, just like a human child. In very rare cases, newborn babies refuse breast milk. Since they do not know how to talk at that age, it is simply impossible to understand the reason for the refusal; one can only speculate.
conclusions
- The consumption of thermally processed green onions by a nursing woman is completely safe. The exception is individual intolerance to the product by the infant.
- Eating fresh green onions by a nursing mother leads to the baby refusing to breastfeed in about 5% of cases.
- To avoid problems in the first month after giving birth, do not eat fresh green onions. Introduce onions into the diet gradually, watching your child. If there are signs of discomfort on his part, postpone the introduction of onions to the menu for a month.
- It is preferable to eat leeks than onion greens.
- Onions grown with your own hands in the window are safer than store-bought ones.
Contraindications for use during lactation
Answering the question whether a nursing mother can have green onions, breastfeeding experts warn that you need to know moderation in everything. However, there is a strict taboo on consuming the plant if a woman is diagnosed with:
- gastrointestinal diseases including increased stomach acidity;
- damage to the liver, gallbladder and bile ducts;
- bronchial asthma.
You will have to exclude fragrant arrows from the menu if you have kidney disease and hypertension.
When should you include onions in your diet?
Spices or hot seasonings are prohibited during breastfeeding. Adding fresh or cooked vegetables to a nursing mother’s diet will add zest to the dish and also saturate it with vitamins. Green sprouts, as well as onions, are used in preparing a variety of dishes.
Boiled or stewed vegetables do not have a pronounced taste or bitterness, therefore they are safe for babies. Fried onions are prohibited during lactation like other dishes. Carcinogens formed after frying penetrate all cells of the baby’s body.
It is important for a woman to know when to properly introduce stewed onions into her diet. Until your child is six months old, you should not experiment with adding onions. During this time, the baby's digestive system will become a little stronger to introduce new foods into the diet.
The fact of choosing a vegetable is important. For example, onion feathers should be bright green and emit a pleasant, familiar aroma. There should be no yellow, white or other spots or defects. White, onion or red onion has elasticity and structure density. A change in color after removing the husk indicates a violation of storage or transportation. It is not advisable to consume this vegetable while breastfeeding.
From five months you can eat a little green feathers. One feather is finely chopped and added to all dishes before lunch. Over the course of several days, the mother observes the change in the child’s condition. To introduce onion into the diet, one small head is cut into three parts. The diced vegetable is used fresh or boiled or stewed.
As time passes, the amount of vegetable is increased. Adding onions to dishes is postponed for a month if a rash, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, delayed bowel movement, lethargy, apathy, loss of appetite, colic or abdominal pain occurs in a child.
Sorrel
Sorrel is a vitamin plant containing the potassium salt of oxalic acid, which gives the plant its characteristic sour taste. Such greens effectively help with colds and coughs, remove toxins and cleanse the body, and reduce allergic reactions.
Sorrel is an excellent substitute for white cabbage in soups or stews. After all, it is known that such cabbage is not recommended for consumption in the first six months while breastfeeding. It is very difficult to digest and often causes severe colic and increased gas production in babies. Find out what kind of cabbage a nursing mother can eat here.
Beneficial features:
- Increases hemoglobin levels;
- Strengthens the immune system;
- Reduces cholesterol levels;
- Normalizes digestion, relieves inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract;
- Stimulates the functioning of the kidneys and liver;
- Cleanses blood vessels and the body, increases the elasticity of blood vessels;
- Improves the functioning of nerve cells;
- Stabilizes fat metabolism.
Sorrel should not be used for pancreatitis and ulcers, gastritis and kidney stones, or for disorders of salt metabolism in the body.
Only fresh sorrel leaves can be used for food, since old sorrel leaves accumulate a large amount of oxalic acid, which harms digestion and provokes the formation of kidney stones. To neutralize the aggressive effect of oxalic acid, you need to add a fermented milk product to the dish. For example, season the soup with sour cream, and the salad with natural yogurt.
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