Can fresh, pickled and pickled cucumbers be eaten by a nursing mom?

The food set for a nursing mother should be selected so that it replenishes the body with necessary substances, stimulates lactation and maintains normal digestion of the baby. If the conditions are not met, there is less milk, or enough, but of poor quality. How do the most popular vegetables - cucumbers - affect the process? At what stage of lactation can a nursing mother eat cucumbers?

Can a nursing mother eat cucumbers and tomatoes?

Before introducing raw vegetables into the diet, mothers are interested in the most popular of them - cucumbers and tomatoes. After all, the vegetables eaten affect the child even more actively than the mother. For example, if fresh cucumbers act as a diuretic, then the child will urinate more often. As a result, his water-electrolyte balance may change. And the substances that give tomatoes their bright color pose a risk of allergy for the baby. So can a nursing mother eat cucumbers and tomatoes?

• Cucumbers are 90% water, the "dry residue" is vitamins and microelements. Young vegetables have more water, while mature ones accumulate pectins and fiber. Young ones act as a diuretic, while old ones are useful for constipation. The green color confirms the minimal risk of allergies.

Tomatoes consist of similar components; the main difference from cucumbers is the presence of citric and malic acids in the fruits. The rich mineral composition makes tomatoes especially useful for metabolic disorders, diseases of blood vessels, heart, kidneys, and joints.

It is difficult to say for sure whether a nursing mother can eat cucumbers or not. Everything depends on the baby's reaction. If a small portion consumed by the mother in the morning does not cause colic or allergies in the baby during the day, then the vegetable should be on the daily menu.

The amount of vegetables consumed is increased gradually: up to 2-3 cucumbers and one small tomato. This is the maximum, because the red pigment contained in tomatoes can cause an allergic reaction in a larger dose.

Can a nursing mother eat pickles?

We usually call home-made vegetable preserves "pickles" without thinking about how much salt they actually contain. And although there is no life without salt (it is no coincidence that blood has a salty taste), excessive consumption of salty foods cannot be considered a healthy habit. Hence the reasonable question: can a nursing mother eat pickles?

• Properly salted cucumbers for the winter not only retain the usefulness of fresh ones, but also acquire new useful qualities.

In particular, thanks to lactic acid, they improve digestion, and the increased amount of fiber and beneficial bacteria helps eliminate colitis and bloating. The only drawback that casts doubt on whether a nursing mother can eat cucumbers or not is the abundance of salt, which acts as a preservative.

• The popular belief that pickles make milk thicker has not been proven. Salt retains liquid, reduces the production and quality of breast milk, which is why there is not enough of it, and the baby is malnourished.

If mom can't bear it without pickles, then drinking more is not a solution: the salt will still bind water. To maintain normal metabolic processes, the only solution is to undersalt the rest of the food. This way, mom won't have to refuse pickles, and the baby won't go hungry.

Can a nursing mother eat lightly salted cucumbers?

Lightly salted cucumbers – and this is what cucumbers intended for short-term storage are called – despite the name, contain a lot of salt. In any case, enough to make a woman who has given birth think: can a nursing mother eat lightly salted cucumbers, at least a little, or is it absolutely not allowed?

• All the useful things that fresh vegetables are rich in are also present in lightly salted ones – due to their short shelf life. The benefit of crispy cucumbers is that they smell appetizing, promote the secretion of gastric juice, enrich the body with vitamins and minerals that are quickly absorbed. And most importantly, they do not contain harmful vinegar, since the preservative is natural lactic acid formed during the salting process.

However, any pickles, including cucumbers, bind water and provoke agalactia - a complete blockage of breast milk production. Therefore, at first, they are undesirable in the menu of a nursing mother. Relatives, together with her, should control the diet, not allowing such food. Lightly salted cucumbers can be eaten during pregnancy and again returned to the table after the baby gets stronger or after lactation stops.

As a consolation prize, to increase appetite and taste diversity, a woman can allow herself to drink a few sips of vinegar-free brine. It is considered useful due to its saturation with potassium, enzymatic substances, essential oils, which are rich in marinade spices.

Can a nursing mother eat fresh cucumbers?

A cucumber straight from the garden is the most neutral of all possible products in terms of its effect on the digestive organs. Only to such a product can one say a confident "yes" when deciding the important question: "Can a nursing mother eat fresh cucumbers?" And then with a caveat: if we are talking about truly fresh produce grown in the vegetable season on ordinary soil, and not in greenhouses.

• Imported or domestic vegetables, grown year-round in artificial conditions, are stuffed with all sorts of chemicals: fertilizers, poisons against pests and fungi, stabilizers for long-term storage. Explaining what this is fraught with for a small child is probably unnecessary.

The time when you can offer cucumbers to a nursing mother is conventionally called the post-newborn period. It begins at the age of one and a half months. As with all other products, you should start with a small portion, monitoring the baby's mood over the next 24 hours. If it is normal, you can safely make a cucumber salad.

• Signs of concern, clearly related to a change in diet, should be a stop signal for a nursing mother. Resuming cucumbers in the diet is possible some time after the baby's undesirable reaction.

Another delicate point is related to the compatibility of products. Cucumbers, like other vegetables, do not like to be mixed with certain components. Thus, it is not recommended to eat them together with dairy products, dried fruits, soda, cabbage, beets, plums. Any of these mixes can intensify the formation of gases in both the mother and the baby.

Can a nursing mother eat pickled cucumbers?

Pickling is one of the ways to preserve vegetables by eliminating putrefactive microbes. Marinades contain vinegar, pepper, garlic and spices, which negatively affect the intensity of lactation and the taste of milk, and in a newborn, such milk increases the formation of intestinal gases, and the risk of allergic reactions increases. Therefore, when asked when a nursing mother can have pickled cucumbers, nutritionists answer: not earlier than three to four months after giving birth. And it is better to abstain for up to six months.

• Marinade liquid containing vinegar should not be consumed under any circumstances, neither during this period nor later. It does not fit into the gentle menu of a recently born mother and must be disposed of.

The negative decision regarding whether a nursing mother can eat cucumbers if they are prepared using the pickling method is related to the cooking technology. It involves the use of vinegar or lemon juice. These acids have an adverse effect on the digestion of a nursing baby. Sodium nitrate, often present in pickles, is also dangerous. It leads to oxygen starvation, with long-term consequences in the future.

Salt, which is abundant in pickles and preserves, is also an undesirable component for a breastfed baby. Therefore, it is better for a mother to postpone the use of such products until the time when the child grows up and no longer needs mother's milk.

Can a nursing mother eat canned cucumbers?

Canning differs from pickling in that acid is added to marinades immediately, without waiting for the natural fermentation process. The recipe for marinades for making pickled cucumbers involves a high concentration of salt and vinegar. Can a nursing mother eat pickled cucumbers in winter, when natural fresh ones are unavailable? And how will the newborn's body react to them?

• Home-canned vegetables are not inferior to fresh ones in terms of the amount of nutrients and taste. Although the taste, of course, is significantly different. Spicy vegetables increase appetite and have a positive effect on the digestive microflora.

But there is also bad news for women who want to know the truth about whether a nursing mother can eat cucumbers or not if they are preserved for the winter and stored in jars? Unfortunately, canned food can cause undesirable consequences in the bodies of the mother and the baby:

• retain water and inhibit lactation;
• greatly increase the feeling of thirst;
• disrupt bowel movements, produce gases;
• cause nervousness.

Therefore, pickled products, even those made by hand, should wait in cellars and basements until the baby strengthens its digestive system and its mother can eat a more varied diet.

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Can a nursing mother eat cucumber salad?

Before answering the question of whether a nursing mother can eat cucumber salad, let's look at the beneficial properties of fresh cucumbers. Here are these properties:

• low calorie content;
• presence of dietary fiber;
• rich composition: iodine, microelements, vitamins, water;
• the presence of potassium, which supports the coordinated work of the heart and kidneys.

Thanks to these components, cucumbers provide a mild laxative effect, normal metabolism and digestion, timely removal of fluid, and protein absorption. Green vegetables also stimulate appetite, improve the taste of salads and other dishes, the ingredients of which are.

All this clearly confirms the invaluable benefits of cucumbers for humans, but whether a nursing mother can eat cucumbers is a separate question. A mother should proceed from how useful this or that food is for a small person who is not adapted to new nutritional conditions.

• In this context, cucumbers included in the menu in time are certainly useful. Optimally, this is 4-5 months of life; by this time, most infants get rid of the digestive problems inherent in newborns.

Cucumbers should be included to a minimum, necessarily in the morning. For a start, a piece of the vegetable is enough, not necessarily in a salad. During the day, the mother will calmly observe the child and draw conclusions about his reaction to the new product. If the experiment was successful, and the baby's usual behavior does not change, then the portion for the mother is allowed to be increased to a reasonable size.

• The most popular vegetable salad consists of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions. It is better to season the dish with vegetable oil or fresh sour cream, but not mayonnaise.

If breastfeeding occurs in the second half of summer or early autumn, then, observing moderation, cucumber salads can and should be introduced into the diet. If it is the winter-spring season, and only vegetables from under the film are available for sale, then you will have to wait with such a salad.

Infants are extremely dependent on their mothers and react sharply to food that is safe for an adult organism. This happens due to the immaturity of the microflora and the small volume of the stomach. The introduction of any dish into the mother's menu can cause the baby to be restless. Whether or not a nursing mother can eat cucumbers, and when to start eating them, is up to the mother to decide - listening to the advice of specialists and observing the behavior of her own baby.