Breastfeeding Soups: Vegetable, Meat, Fish

Can nursing mother soups? This question is very obvious, for young mothers need a daily hot meal. But besides this, such food should also be useful for the child. Therefore, you need to figure out which soups should be preferred during lactation.[1]

The benefits of vegetable soups during lactation

To achieve active and good breastfeeding, a mother should eat healthy, well-balanced food. Hot soup before breastfeeding is known for its lactation enhancement properties, i.e. An increase in breastfeeding.[2]

Hot soup that contains nutritional ingredients, when consumed before breastfeeding, increases blood circulation in the blood vessels, which leads to an increase in milk flow. [3]Protein-rich soup enriched with nutritious fresh ingredients is essential for maintaining health for every part of the body. Thus, the level of essential vitamins, minerals and folic acid in breast milk will depend on the consumption of nutrients by the mother. Nutritious soup also provides energy for milk production.

Soups provide the necessary level of fluid. Breast milk consists of 87.2% of water. Therefore, to enhance the function of lactation, it is necessary to consume enough liquid, including hot soups.

Mothers who are vegetarians can also successfully breastfeed their babies if there is an adequate intake of vegetable protein from various sources in the form of vegetable soups.

Every nursing mother should pay close attention to her diet, as this can affect your production of breast milk. Your diet should include the most important food groups, such as protein, calcium, iron, and vitamins.

Moderate bean soup can be very useful for lactation. Beans are a mature form of legumes, and you can easily find them on the market in canned, frozen or dried forms. They are an excellent source of vegetable proteins, and also contain nutrients such as iron and zinc. Vegetarians can consume bean soup as a substitute for animal protein. Beans also contain high levels of potassium, folic acid and dietary fiber. A nursing mother can safely cook black bean soup during the entire lactation period. Bean soup is very useful for the body.

The researchers conclude that a higher consumption of beans reduces the risk of heart disease. The phytochemical present in the component helps protect your body from myocardial disruption.

The soluble fiber present in the beans helps regulate blood cholesterol levels during lactation. Studies show that 10 g of soluble fiber per day reduces LDL cholesterol by 10%. The components of saponins and phytosterols play a significant role in lowering LDL cholesterol levels.[4]

After giving birth, one of the problems that plague the mother is weight loss. The rich fiber content of beans helps satisfy the appetite and provides a constant source of energy. It helps maintain a healthy body weight, especially after the birth of your baby.

But we should not forget that the beans can increase the fermentation of the mother, and then the child. Therefore, using bean soup, you reduce the amount of the bean itself, and the liquid helps to properly assimilate the beneficial properties of the bean.

Some types of beans can cause allergic reactions and migraines in women. In such a case, the mother should immediately remove the specific type of bean from her diet.[5],

Some of the types of beans, such as soybeans, can interfere with the absorption of vitamin D, B12 and beta-carotene. When you cook beans under high heat, the components of the beans can sometimes become inactive and initiate the absorption of the vitamin. Therefore, bean soup must be properly cooked. Therefore, always try to use canned beans and rinse thoroughly with tap water several times. This will speed up the cooking process with the maximum amount of useful elements.

If you want to use non-cooked beans for the soup, try infusing the beans in water overnight. While cooking soup, boil the beans in water for at least 2-3 minutes and drain the water. This helps in the elimination of indigestible carbohydrates from the beans and reduces gas formation. By adding herbs such as fennel, lemon balm or cumin to bean soup you can prevent flatulence.

Pea soup is one of the most healthy vegetable soups. Like most vegetables, peas can help meet your daily fiber needs. In 1/2 portion of pea soup contains 4.4 grams of fiber. Fiber also lowers blood cholesterol. In general, women need 21–25 g of fiber per day.

Eating pea soup can also improve heart health. In addition to fiber, pea also contains lutein. Lutein is a carotenoid, such as lycopene. It primarily acts as an antioxidant, protecting your cells from oxidation. Lutein and vitamin A in peas also protect your eyes. Lutein, a natural plant pigment, is concentrated in the eye, and its antioxidant activity can protect you from cataracts and macular degeneration, preventing oxidation. Vitamin A helps maintain eye health. 1/2-cup servings of peas contains 1,610 IU of vitamin A, which is 32% of the daily value for vitamin A.

Peas can also help you meet your breastfeeding needs. ½ serving of pea soup contains 1.2 milligrams of iron. Inadequate iron intake reduces oxygen supply, which makes you feel tired, reducing your ability to concentrate.

1/2 serving of boiled pea soup contains 2 grams of protein and 0.4 grams of total fat. Proteins and fats are important nutrients like carbohydrates. Protein in food, such as peas, is used to strengthen the immune system and the formation of hormones and enzymes. Your body also uses fat in food as a source of energy. Fat is essential for maintaining cell membranes and helps absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. You should get from 10 to 35 percent of your calories from protein and from 20 to 35 percent of your calories from fat.

Cooked peas will also help you meet some of your vitamin and mineral needs, including vitamin C, folic acid, and potassium. You need vitamin C to restore tissue during feeding. It is also an antioxidant that protects your cells from free radical damage. Folate is a vitamin B that helps create new cells. Women who breastfeed need enough folate for their children. Potassium is a mineral needed to build protein and muscle, and it also helps control the balance of the acidic base in your body.[6]

Therefore, pea soup should be in the diet of every nursing mother. But keep in mind that the presence of this dish can increase colic in young children.

Mushroom soup during lactation can be both very useful, and can affect the well-being of the child. [7]B vitamins are important during lactation because they help you use energy from the food you eat, and they contribute to healthy skin, nerves and digestion. Mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins, especially riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid. One serving of mushroom soup has 8% of the daily recommended amount of riboflavin for lactating women and 21% of the recommended amount of niacin. Studies have proven that mushrooms improve immunity, promote weight loss.[8], [9]

Vitamin D is another important nutrient because it is necessary for your body to absorb calcium in the intestinal tract, as well as for the development of bones and teeth in a child. Very few food sources contain vitamin D, and mushrooms are the only plant food that contains vitamin. Most children are deficient in vitamin D, so they should get this supplement.

Anemia during breastfeeding threatens the development of anemia in a child. This means that the body of a young mother also requires additional iron, since iron is an important component of hemoglobin. It may be difficult to get 27 milligrams of iron in your diet, but one portion of mushroom soup has 8 milligrams of iron.

Another nutritional benefit of mushroom soup during breastfeeding is the antioxidants that they provide. Selenium found in mushrooms helps protect your cells from free radical damage and boost your immune system and baby. Fibers in mushrooms, along with other high fiber foods, can help prevent constipation that is common in babies in the first months of life.

Why mainly mushroom soup? Mushrooms are considered hard food for a young mother. Therefore, they must resist good heat treatment. Mushrooms in the soup can be considered an excellent option. A soup from champignons to a nursing mother can be considered the easiest type of food from all types of mushrooms.

Sorrel soup provides a large amount of vitamins and minerals. Eating sorrel also poses some dangers, so understand the likelihood of a risk to your health before including it in your diet.

You can use both French sorrel and garden sorrel to make soup, although French sorrel creates a milder lemon flavor, and garden sorrel has a more sour taste.

Sorrel soup is low in fat. Most of the calories in this soup are derived from carbohydrates from 6.5 grams per serving. You also get 2.3 g of protein. One serving is an excellent source of vitamin A.

But the use of oxalic soup may be limited for some nursing mothers, because the sorrel contains a large amount of oxalic acid, the main component of kidney stones. You may need to avoid using sorrel if you are prone to developing these stones. In addition, it can also increase the synthesis of gastric acid, which can worsen heartburn, and also has a diuretic effect. If you have any symptoms when eating sorrel soup, then you should remember that this soup is not recommended.

When cooking oxalic soup, do not use cast-iron or aluminum dishes, because oxalic acid in this green state reacts with metals to get a metallic aroma in sorrel, which makes it inedible. When using aluminum, acids in this food can be potentially toxic.

Breast-fed soup with cabbage has a low vitamin content, and at the same time it can increase the formation of colic in your nursing baby. Since the cabbage in the soup or borscht is heat treated, the amount of vitamins there is less than in the cabbage raw. Therefore, of course, soup with cabbage can be eaten during lactation, but its benefits are not so significant. [10]]

Pickled soup is considered one of the varieties of soups, which contains cabbage. But cabbage in such a soup is used pickled or salted. Such cabbage can enhance the fermentation processes in the intestine. Therefore, pickle soup during lactation is not recommended.

The benefits of meat and fish soups during lactation

Meat and fish for nursing mothers are the main sources of beneficial proteins, as well as sources of energy. Soup with meat or fish can be a great dish for a young mother. Since the meat and fish in the boiled form contain enough vitamins and are not harmful for the baby, they must be used in the diet. Fish should be in the diet of each nursing mother, at least twice a week. Since it is not only a source of phosphorus and calcium, but also amino acids, fish dishes are very healthy and nutritious.

Fish soup is considered a nutritious food and is considered an especially good dish for nursing women, as part of the postpartum diet. Although there is a concern for moms that the contaminants present in fish can leach out in the soup, which may pose a risk to their infant, but for our region, such fish in the diet is practically not used.

Fish contains high-quality proteins and many essential nutrients, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, moderate consumption (including lactating women and small children) of various fish is recommended. Fish broth is a tasty, vegetarian alternative to bone broth that offers an amazing array of health benefits.

One of the most important and unique advantages of fish soup for nursing mothers is iodine, which is necessary for your diet.

Speaking of intelligence, fish soup is a powerful brain food, in every sense of the word. It provides a mixture of fats, vitamins and minerals, which is ideal for keeping your brain in excellent condition. Therefore, fish soup from varieties of white sea fish must become a source of necessary elements and an indispensable dish.

Canned soup is sometimes considered as an alternative to fish soup. However, these are not exactly identical concepts. Canned food is a processed fish product that contains a lot of oil. Fish in this form also contains protein, but the amount of vitamins is less. Due to the oil content, canned soup can be greasy. Therefore, when lactation is better to give preference to boiled fish or fish soup from fresh fish.

Chicken soup for young mothers who are nursing can be the number one tool for maintaining the health of all organs and providing energy needs for both mother and child. Chicken broth or soup, obviously, can be part of a healthy diet and has certain advantages for nursing mothers. Very nutritious and healthy food, the soup is made by combining ingredients such as chicken and vegetables. Chicken soup is usually made with chicken meat and chicken pieces with a high ratio of flesh to bone. Chicken broth is produced mainly from chicken parts, which have a very low ratio of meat and bone. Water, vegetables, herbs and salt are ingredients that are common to both soup and broth. Onions in the soup provide the advantage of antioxidants, which reduce inflammation and act as antihistamines. It contains a protein complex of calcium, sulfur and vitamin A, B, C and E. They contain sulfur compounds and have an anti-inflammatory effect. Therefore, the onion adds to the soup not only taste, but also benefit, and at the same time there is practically no allergy to onions.

The main and most beneficial ingredient in chicken soup is protein in chicken. It helps strengthen your strength when your body feels drained from energy, as well as in the intervals between feeding the baby.

Chicken soup has been shown to inhibit the formation of neutrophils, leukocytes, which eat bacteria and cause inflammation. These are cells that rush to attack an invading virus. This is important because while neutrophils kill pathogens, their antimicrobial products damage host tissues. It also inhibits leukocytes, which cause an inflammatory response (causing throat inflammation and sputum production), which clears the accumulation and facilitates the flow of nasal secretions. Chicken soup can also be used in this capacity in order to prevent viral diseases during their prevalence season.[11]

Chicken soup or broth contains nutrients such as protein, calcium, phosphorus, which enhance the activity of the immune system. This increases the body's ability to fight infections. During poor health, the digestive system becomes sensitive and is unable to effectively absorb nutrients from food. Chicken broth supplies nutrients in a form that can be easily absorbed from the intestines. It provides easily digestible calories, vitamins and, therefore, some of the nutritional requirements of the body when breastfeeding can be supported. Vegetables and herbs can be added to chicken soup to enhance. These ingredients add flavor and trace elements necessary for the better functioning of body systems.

Although chicken soup has numerous health benefits, some drawbacks are also observed, especially when you are breastfeeding.

While chicken soup provides good trace elements, this may not be enough. The inclusion of vegetables and herbs will increase the nutritional value of chicken soup. For example, dill in soup adds a lot of useful elements. It contains two components that provide unique health benefits: volatile oils and flavonoids. The activity of volatile oils of dill qualifies it as a "chemical-protective" food - food that can neutralize certain types of carcinogens. Sometimes your baby may be allergic, but it may not be a reaction to the soup at all, but to one component of it, for example, to carrots in soup or dill. Moms should take this into account, and if there are no bad reactions in the child to this product, then chicken soup is considered a healthy meal and can be included in the daily diet.

Cheese soup can be a very tasty dish, but during lactation it is not so useful. Different types of cheeses contain calcium, the amount of which can reach significant figures. When cheese is heat treated, calcium can break down, and fats can form that can irritate your intestines. If you combine low-fat cheeses with vegetables, for example, broccoli, you can get a very tasty cheese soup. Therefore, you can eat cheese soup, but reducing the amount of harmful products in it by adding more vegetables.[12]

A lentil soup to a nursing mother is considered to be the most useful soup made from legumes. Lentil soup is a healthy diet and contains many nutrients. One serving of lentil soup contains 163 calories.

Lentils are a healthy source of carbohydrates, macronutrients that your body converts to glucose, which provides energy during lactation. Each serving of lentil soup provides 26.7 g of carbohydrates. This soup is a good choice for protein; one serving is 8 grams of protein in accordance with the recommended daily intake of 46 grams for women. Lentil soup has 11.1 g of fiber. Fiber benefits your digestive system by preventing diarrhea, constipation and diverticulitis.[13]

One portion of lentil soup almost completely meets your daily need for iron. Women need more iron every day when feeding a baby. A serving of this soup contains 16.2 mg of iron, which is conducive to the production of red blood cells and is crucial in helping you maintain and prevent anemia in your mother and baby. This soup also contains potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin E, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, manganese and pantothenic acid.

Although the fat content of lentil soup is not excessive, you consume 6.9 g of fat per serving. You can reduce fat by choosing low-fat broth.

Lentils help lower cholesterol in the blood because it contains high levels of soluble fiber. Lowering cholesterol reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, keeping your arteries clean.

Lentils are also an excellent source of folic acid and magnesium, which contribute greatly to the health of your baby’s heart and nervous system. Folate reduces homocysteine, which is a serious risk factor for heart disease. Magnesium improves blood circulation, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.

Of all legumes and nuts, lentils contain the third highest protein level. 26 percent of lentil calories are protein, which makes them an excellent source of protein for young mothers.

Milk soup during lactation may give more benefits than it seems at first glance. Calcium in milk really helps us not only to create strong bones, but also strong, healthy teeth. Protein in milk can give us an extra boost of energy and help us feel fuller longer. Potassium in milk helps maintain stable blood pressure. Vitamin A promotes a strong immune system. Vitamin D and phosphorus also help with bone strength. Vitamin B12 helps to create red blood cells. All these advantages are undeniable, but there is one "but." If you are breastfeeding a baby for the first three months, then you should refuse milk as the risk of colic in a baby increases.[14]

Rice soup can be consumed when breastfeeding, and it is considered a dietary product. Especially if the child has functional diarrhea, the use of rice soup in the diet can cure this problem. Rice soup contains a large amount of selenium. One of the main roles of selenium in the body is the recycling of vitamin C, which ultimately increases antioxidant protection. Rice soup contains a large amount of dietary fiber, which can help lose weight. Rice soup instantly activates the body due to the high concentration of carbohydrates. Different types of wild rice stimulate neuroprotective enzymes in the brain that inhibit the action of free radicals and other toxins. [15]Phenolic compounds, especially in brown or wild rice, have anti-inflammatory properties, so they are also good for soothing irritation and redness. [16]Therefore, rice soup can be considered the least allergenic product.[17]

Soups for nursing mothers should be an obligatory dish, as hot food not only provides energy potential, but also stimulates the normal functioning of the intestines. Before choosing a dish, you must understand which soup will be most useful for mom and baby, and which one is better to refuse for the period of lactation.