The MamasteFit Podcast Episode 117 – Postpartum Nutrition with Ryann Kipping

Gina: Welcome to the MamasteFit Podcast. In this episode, we’re going to be talking all about postpartum nutrition with registered dietician Ryann Kipping. You may know her as the prenatal nutritionist, but now she is releasing information and content on. Managing postpartum nutrition as well.

Welcome to the MamasteFit Podcast. In this episode, we’re going to be talking all about postpartum nutrition with The Prenatal Nutritionist, registered dietician Ryann Kipping. And I’m really excited to pick your brain on what we should be thinking about postpartum, ’cause I am currently postpartum- I’m seven months, so I might be like a little bit outside the early window. But I’m still breastfeeding, and so there’s a lot of stuff that I want for myself personally. So I’m being selfish in this episode. But thanks so much for being here, Ryann!

Ryann: Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m so excited! And yes, I’m usually, I feel like I’m on every podcast talking about prenatal nutrition, but we’re expanding, and honestly, when I very first started this business I was covering everything. Like when I very first started, I was doing like preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, and then that got to be like too much. So then I really honed in on pregnancy for a bit, and now we’re like re-expand to do everything again. So I’m excited to be on here and talking about postpartum, too.

Gina: I’m really excited. So can you introduce yourself to our listeners who may or may not be following you already? So if you are not familiar with Ryann, she’s @PrenatalNutritionist on Instagram, I’ve been following you for years. So if you could just introduce yourself to our listeners?

Ryann: Yes. Hello everyone. I’m Ryann and I am most well known as @PrenatalNutritionist on Instagram, but I’m a registered dietician. Like I said, I have been really honed in on pregnancy for, I would say, the last four years- oh my gosh, i’ve been doing this for so long! I started the account in 2018, and now it’s 2025.

But yeah, I would say the last four years I’ve been super honed in on pregnancy nutrition, helping people decrease overwhelm, and all of the information that is out there today. Nutrition information is so confusing, but then when you throw in trying to conceive pregnancy, postpartum just seems to get more confusing, there’s like more misinformation. But, you want the right stuff, like it’s so important and everyone wants to get the right information. So that is basically my entire job is just to help you sort through all of that and focus on what is really important. And also making it easy, making it realistic, that’s what I’m all about. There’s never, truly, I hope you never encounter any content on my page that feels like totally out of reach to you.

Granted, there’s some things we post and people are like, “I could never eat that! I’m so sick during pregnancy,” we know that this happens! It never fails, if we post something about foods to eat during the first trimester that don’t include like nausea-friendly suggestions, people will be up in arms! But then if we make a post about nausea friendly food, then the other side will be up in arms. They’ll be like, “What if you don’t have nausea? What should I include?” And I’m like, “Okay, we have it all here. We have it all.”

But anyways, back to an introduction. I have an app called the Prenatal Nutrition Library. I also have a cookbook called the Feel Good Pregnancy Cookbook, which we’ll talk more about at the end too. But yeah, I’m excited to talk about postpartum nutrition today because that is a topic that we are re branching out to, to cover the whole progress and process and journey to and through motherhood.

Gina: Absolutely. I used the prenatal nutrition library during my pregnancies and it was so helpful ’cause I’d be like, “Can I eat charcuterie? Can I eat from a charcuterie board?” And you have a whole article like you can, yeah, you can type into the app, ’cause now I don’t have to go to Google where there’s 18 different answers. I can just go into the app, type in, “can I eat a grape?” and there’ll be like this little article that you’ve written on, “Yes, you can eat a grape. Grapes are totally fine.” And then there’s research articles that support your claims, which I found to be super helpful. And then you also talked about like the nuances of it- so like the charcuterie board, has it been sitting out for eight hours? Don’t eat that, don’t eat that one. If it’s freshly out, that’s probably a good option for you. So that was super helpful. And then in the app you can also ask questions.

Ryann: Yeah.

Gina: And so I like actually asked a question one time where I was like, “How many LMNT packets is too many?” And you actually replied to me, I think it was like a few days later, which is totally reasonable. And you replied to me to say, “Hey, this is how many I would probably recommend. If you’re doing all of this other stuff, maybe a little bit more. If you’re not exercising, maybe not quite as many, every single water you drink probably doesn’t need an LMNT salt in it.” But that was like really reassuring as well where I didn’t have to go to Google and look that question up, I can just ask a registered dietician on whether or not this is something that is appropriate for me during pregnancy.

But I was really sad there wasn’t anything for postpartum and I was like, “What do I do now? What can I do now?” So I’m really excited about this expansion in your app. Maybe I’ll have to rejoin again ’cause I stopped after my last pregnancy, ’cause I was like, “Well…”

Ryann: Yeah, totally.

Gina: “I’m not pregnant anymore, I don’t need this information.”

So let’s talk all about postpartum nutrition now. And obviously there’s a lot of nuance to it as well, similar to during pregnancy, ’cause we all have different nutritional needs based on what we’re doing. But what would be like your initial recommendations for someone to be thinking about when it comes to how to fuel their bodies after they give birth?

Ryann: Yes. So I just want to say I’m so excited too, and that is like the number one request we’ve gotten for the app is like every single person will be like, “I wouldn’t be canceling if there was postpartum information,” and like, hundreds and hundreds of people! We’ve just been slow to get this out, which I feel horrible about because I’m like, “trust me guys, I want to do it. I want to do it. But we have such a small team.” But I do have two other dieticians who are on it now. One of them is also in the forums answering questions every week too, because we want to be able to get to your questions faster and all of that good stuff.

Yes, one of the biggest questions I think we get in regards to postpartum nutrition is, “Is it the same? What are the differences? Are there rules?” That’s a big question. Do the pregnancy rules still apply once you have the baby? And there are similarities, there are differences. The foundations of everything are the same, what we generally want to focus on. Making sure when we go to sit down to eat, we have all of the different macronutrients on our plate. We’re making sure we have protein, we’re making sure we have fiber, we’re making sure we have fats on there, those are things- something that’s going to satisfy us, I should never leave that out- those things remain consistent.

However, the tables turn a little bit where in pregnancy it does seem to be more so focused, unfortunately, I think it’s more so focused on things to avoid, which I hate and I try to push away from, but that’s just how it is. It’s like, “things to avoid,” “making sure we’re being food safe,” and the focus seems to really be on baby, because we can see that the baby is inside of us. So we’re like, “Oh, okay, what do I need to eat to help baby grow? What do I need to eat to prevent some of these pregnancy risks that could also affect the baby?” So it seems to be really focused on kind of those two things.

Whereas when we go into the postpartum period, it’s really about recovery and replenishment, these types of things where we do want to focus- we want both focuses on the mom and the baby, especially breastfeeding and things like that. But for as far as nutrition goes, you really want to focus on you, like you really want to focus on recovery, and you’ve just been through so much. Like you just literally grew a human for nine months. And during that time, like, baby took everything, like what they need, they take. And so that’s another reason why nutrition is so important during pregnancy. But afterwards it’s, okay, you need to go through this really long period of being able to replenish those nutrient stores because oftentimes pregnancy leaves us super depleted.

And what’s even crazier is that for so many nutrients, your needs are higher after the baby arrives, which I think is one thing.

Gina: Oh wow.

Ryann: Yeah, people are so like, I can’t believe that it’s not something that’s really talked about our people know, but especially if you’re breastfeeding for so many nutrients, your needs are even higher.

So we talk about choline and I talk about choline so much during pregnancy because it’s so vital for brain development in pregnancy, but choline needs are even higher after you give birth, because you have to remember, baby’s brain is still developing. And again, if you’re breastfeeding, you’re a huge part of that brain development still, in that whole time period that you’re breastfeeding. So you still have to think oh, okay, well I’m still transferring nutrients to baby through breast milk. So all of those nutrients that are needed for brain development in pregnancy are still needed for brain development after pregnancy. So things like choline and Omega-3s, which again we talk about so much during pregnancy, are still really important after the baby arrives.

And another thing that’s super interesting on just general nutrient needs after the baby arrives is that as far as the RDAs and adequate intakes, these nutrient levels, these nutrient needs that are like set when you go to like government websites and by the CDC and World Health Organization and stuff, you’ll notice that there aren’t recommendations for just postpartum. So there’ll be recommendations for lactation, pregnancy, non-pregnant, but there’s no form of recommendations for just postpartum without breastfeeding. And it’s purely because like we don’t even have that data. there’s such limited research and data behind this that they can’t even formulate those nutrient requirements, which is just mind blowing, and sad.

Gina: I’m also not surprised though, ’cause I think women weren’t even included in clinical research trials until the nineties. There isn’t really even a lot of like regulation on how they need to be included into stuff. So I’m not shocked, but I’m sad about it.

Ryann: It’s saddening, yes. It’s very saddening.

But anyways, there’s just so many things that are forgotten about after the baby arrives. And I do think people tend to just immediately put the focus on the baby, which is what a lot of people talk about on social media, too, is, okay, once the baby arrives, it’s forget you mom, everyone’s focused on the baby, when you need so much support and care. Even from a nutrition standpoint, there’s just so many things rapidly changing yet again. Because we talk about that a lot whenever you first get pregnant, which is so true, it’s like whenever you’re first pregnant, so many things are happening, like so many changes are happening in your body, but, at that stage, for most people in pregnancy, your nutrient needs aren’t that different from when you were pre-pregnancy. But when you’re postpartum, your nutrient needs just go even higher. And this is typically for the broader spectrum things, too, like when we’re talking about just general calorie needs, general fluid needs, general, like, protein needs too, these things are all still super, super high.

Gina: Yeah, so let’s start with like early postpartum, so like that first month. I would anticipate that the nutritional needs there is probably a little bit more elevated ’cause it’s like a high healing timeframe. Like we’re healing from the injury of birth, we’re starting to heal from pregnancy, so what are like the top nutritional demands that we have during that like first month to help really support our healing?

I am definitely like a big believer that how we treat our body in this first like month to year postpartum really can impact us long term. Like the type of foods that you’re eating now and how you’re supporting your healing journey can help to decrease the risk of developing different diseases later on in life, to decrease pelvic floor issues, osteoporosis, like all of those things. I would love to dive into the first month and then we can just keep going from there.

Ryann: Yeah, absolutely. And I agree, I totally agree and I think part of that, part of being successful in that first month after baby arrives is doing that planning in the third trimester if possible, right? Like start thinking about it. Just making a plan as far as how you are going to get that support after baby arrives. Are you going to have somebody come and cook for you? Does your partner, will your partner cook for you? Or, is it going to be in your best benefit to start doing some meal prep, making some freezer meals before the baby arrives? Because maybe you don’t have that sort of support system where you know someone in your family is going to come help cook, or your partner doesn’t cook, things like that. Or if you just don’t cook, there’s so many other options too. There’s like meal delivery kits and there’s some even meal delivery kits that are specifically made for postpartum- and the name of the one is escaping me now. I would totally name drop it, but I am completely forgetting. We have it listed in, in the library in our guide.

Gina: I’m also, there’s one that I know that I am just completely blanking on what the name is for some reason.

Ryann: Same. I cannot remember. But there are specific meal delivery kits, which is so cool.

And then, there’s conveniences like grocery delivery and a lot of grocery stores had pre-made, like more fresh pre-made meals that you can buy. So there’s just, there are a lot of options as far as having a plan in place as soon as baby arrives because there’s a lot of unexpected things that might occur. You don’t know what type of birth experience you’re going to have. You don’t know if maybe you might have an extended hospital stay, you just, there’s a lot of unknowns around these things. So as much as you can put a plan in place for how you’re going to nourish yourself, I think that is one of the best things that you can do. Of course, if people are coming by and dropping food off, hopefully someone can set up some sort of a Meal Train for you where people can stop by and bring food. I would never say don’t eat things that people bring you. I would say just eat whatever people bring you, especially in those really early days, it’s eat things that sound good to you, if you have something you’re really craving or whatever after you have the baby, then eat those things. You want to make sure you’re being satisfied from that standpoint.

But then still keeping in mind, the first thing I said when I started talking is, we still want to make sure we’re hitting those really basic nutrition foundational components of making sure we’re getting enough fluid, making sure we’re just, from a calorie standpoint, eating enough. Those things are the most important things when we’re thinking about breast milk production, too, because that’s another question that immediately comes into our inboxes is, “What do I need to do to make sure my milk production is up and where it needs to be?”

And from a nutrition standpoint, I am not kidding you, those are the two things. Like you just have to remember to eat enough. You have to remember to drink enough fluids. That is the bottom line. But of course protein is going to be something you want to focus on for recovery. Recovering from any type of major like surgery or incident where you’re in the hospital just thinking about like you need more protein, that is no different with going through labor and delivery.

And then we can go into more specific nutrients, too, that are involved in wound healing typically. Or if you’re losing a lot of blood, we know that you need more iron, so you’re going to definitely want to make sure you’re focusing on high iron foods, high zinc foods, high vitamin C. These are all involved in the process of recovery and wound healing. And generally those are foods that are high in protein, too. So when we’re thinking about iron and zinc, luckily those two nutrients come together in those foods. So most like animal proteins are going to get you plenty of iron and zinc, plenty of protein. So that is generally what we encourage, putting the emphasis on, is these animal foods. And then vitamin C usually comes from fruits and vegetables.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is digestion after giving birth. That’s a big one that people often struggle with, which makes sense- there’s a lot going on. Your digestion gets thrown off a bit during that whole process, even during pregnancy, there’s so many digestive discomforts that go on. And that is typically pretty common too, especially like the first month after you have the baby. So, in addition to supporting just overall healing, we talk a lot about supporting digestion after the baby gets there. And that is going to look like emphasizing high fiber foods, which is usually cooked vegetables, from like a traditional standpoint- we can talk about that more too if we want to, and I’d be interested in hearing your perspective on this, too. Different cultures had different traditions when it comes to postpartum healing, and that typically involves like no cold foods.

Gina: Yes. I was going to ask about that. I was like, “Is there anything to that?” Because that was a huge thing that my mom, so my mom is originally from South Korea and so…

Ryann: Yeah!

Gina: A lot of these like Eastern Asian, like, customs, come with her. And so when we gave birth, with Roxanne and I, she was like, “No ice water, no ice cream, nothing cold.”

Ryann: Yeah!

Gina: “Cold hinders healing. Only warm foods.” And I’ll say, personally, I felt like I preferred like room temperature water, and like warmer things as well. Like I had my little bowl of oatmeal and my husband put like a collagen in it with peanut butter and a banana. And then he’d make me like a little breakfast sandwich with eggs with like super runny yolks, ’cause I could finally eat those again, with like bacon and cheese. And I would eat that like every morning, and then she would bring me like seaweed soup that was like this warm broth that had the seaweed so we got all that iodine and a whole bunch of other really great stuff in it. But is there anything to that? Are some of these like cultural things, like rooted in something that actually has evidence, or is it just like a cultural belief, I guess?

Ryann: I think there’s part yes, and part just a cultural belief and that it’s like just something that has been passed down for like centuries. But there’s definitely research to support it. Like the iodine you just mentioned, there’s research to support, the need for iodine after giving birth. The need for vitamin D, right? We can talk about that on a separate topic too, but, vitamin D and that being passed down to baby through breast milk. So there’s definitely evidence to support this, and I think we’re finally like diving into these like cultural practices and realizing that, “Oh, no wonder they’ve been doing these things for centuries. Like, it actually does work! Like it actually does support healing.”

And it is interesting to hear you say like you didn’t want things that were super cold. So I do think that is what people gravitate towards naturally just because anytime, when you think about anytime you’re sick, or you don’t feel good, or you’ve just gone through some sort of surgery or something like that, you generally want foods that are more comforting and warming. So it does make sense. But all that to say, if you are craving like, fresh fruit, or smoothies, or salads or something, I wouldn’t say don’t eat them. Definitely eat foods that you’re craving, there’s nothing wrong with eating those foods! But in general, it’s like a warming time. So I was interested, ’cause I do remember you posting about this on social media too, about like the seaweed soup and stuff, so I was like, “That’s so cool,” and so like awesome to have had that support and those type of foods being made for you. I just, I don’t think that’s like the norm for most people, so that is just really amazing to have that.

Gina: Yeah, my husband is a huge fan of cooking, and we’re really grateful that he was able to have paid paternity leave. So he had six weeks off with the military- I think he actually gets 12 weeks off, but he only took six, and then he is saving the others for later, which I think is phenomenal.

Ryann: Yeah! Yeah.

Gina: So he was able to be home and just cook for me. And then my mom also lives nearby, so she would come and help with the other kids and also cook more of like the seaweed soup and a lot of like the broths and stuff.

Ryann: Yeah.

Gina: And then we also have a local meal delivery company where we have two chefs that make like food, and so we’re also grabbing food from them to feed the family. So that was just one less task for us.

But yeah, the postpartum meal delivery company, I remember the name, Mama Meals, I think they ship out of California, and they can deliver nationwide, which I think is really awesome. Their meals are definitely on a little bit more on the expensive side, in my opinion, for like the quantity that you get, but they’re really intentional with their ingredients choices, and like the nutritional content of their food. But I would say if someone can find like a local caterer or like a local chef that does like cooking, I would, or even like a postpartum doula, like those can be really great options to you. So there’s definitely a lot that folks are needing in that early timeframe.

What are like good sources- just to come back to some of the first nutrients that you recommended- for a choline and Omega-3. I have an idea of where they can find them. Where should our listeners like look for that type of nutrient, because they are in higher demand in the postpartum?

Ryann: Yeah. Yes. So eggs is generally one of the best sources of choline, egg yolk specifically, that’s where all the choline is found, so don’t leave out the yolk. That’s the best source that people typically have as a common food. You can also get choline in high amounts from liver. Most people don’t love liver. but it is a super, super nutrient dense food, and it’s going to get you, even if you can in just eat a little bit of liver, like two or three times a week, you’re going to be so much closer to meeting your nutrient needs for several of the essential nutrients. So if there’s any way you can work liver into any form of meals that you get, highly recommend doing so. Honestly, it’s been more easier than ever before now, because so many food companies are incorporating it into meat blends. So at Whole Foods, and I think Sprouts, several different grocery stores across the nation are now carrying, I think the brand is Force of Nature, but there’s multiple brands that sell, just like you would buy a ground beef package when you’re making burgers or tacos or whatever they’re selling like an ancestral blend. This is what I do because I’m like, I don’t want to cook with liver. People do…

Gina: Yeah.

Ryann: And it’s really brave and adventurous. But personally for me, I’m not doing it!

Gina: I like to blend it with a lot of other stuff.

Ryann: Yes, exactly. And so they have these pre-made ancestral beef blends that include organ meats, and that includes liver and some other organ meats too that’s already blended in there. So you literally just use that like you would use regular ground beef and use it in any dish that you would use brown beef in. This is what I’ve been doing, and it’s so easy and I feel like, oh, I’m meeting my nutrient needs so well by just doing this, like even once a week. I’m not currently pregnant or postpartum, but even not being that, I feel so good about it, and like I feel like I’m getting so many of these nutrients in. So it’s just, it’s generally so easy to do now, when you don’t have to go to the butcher and be like, “Hey, can you gimme some livers and then chop ’em up in your own kitchen?” because I would not be doing that, personally, either. So that’s a good source. That’s where you can get choline, you can get iron, zinc, those other nutrients that I was talking about, too.

Then Omega-3s, your best sources of Omega-3s is going to be fatty fish. So, salmon, sardines, herring, there’s some different forms of trout that are good sources, but generally fish. And if you don’t like fish, then you’re probably looking at an Omega-3 supplement just because your needs are so high. So if you’re not eating fish, yeah, that’s probably your best bet. But of course, we recommend fish because there’s lots of other good stuff in there, again, like iodine, we were just talking about too, vitamin D, we were just talking about that, you’re going to get all of those nutrients by consuming fish. Where if you do an Omega-3, most of the time Omega-3 supplements just have EPA, DHA- sometimes they’ll have vitamin D and vitamin A if you’re doing like a cod liver oil. But most of the time you’re just getting that EPA, DHA, not the other good stuff.

Gina: So speaking of liver, ’cause you always see all these supplements that are being marketed towards certain things. Would like an organ meat capsule, or like a beef liver capsule, are those beneficial as well, or would having the whole food be better?

Ryann: Having the whole food of anything is always going to be superior, but that is an option, I would definitely say that is an option. With any supplement, there’s always more of a risk there than consuming the whole food, too- again, why the whole food is superior. So that’s why you just want to do your due diligence and make sure wherever you’re purchasing your supplements from is third party tested, you really verified that they’re a company that you trust, those types of things. But yes, that definitely is an option if you’re like, “There’s no way in hell I’m eating any form of liver at all,” and you’re not capsule or pill averse. Because the next question that we usually get there is, “will that replace a prenatal vitamin or a postpartum type of multivitamin?” The answer is typically no, that’s not going to replace your prenatal vitamin, it would just be like in addition to, but then we have to consider getting too much of a good thing because that can happen as well. And generally that happens with overdoing supplements, that’s not really something that happens with overdoing real whole foods, but you can definitely take too many supplements. So in that case, I would absolutely recommend, at the least, joining the prenatal nutrition library and going through our guides on liver supplements, prenatal vitamins, reviewing those very well, at the least. But definitely meeting with a registered dietician or nutrition specialist to make sure what you’re doing as far as supplement goes is like safe, during pregnancy or postpartum breastfeeding.

Gina: Absolutely. And I know like certain supplements taken at the same time are less effective. And so knowing like the timing of when to take certain ones can also be beneficial. So I definitely agree with working with a professional to help you figure out what your specific needs are. Because even for Roxanne and I, our like nutrition deficits, or deficiencies, are different from one another. Like, I am like totally fine on vitamin D and she’s like super deficient on it, like, I am like fine on iron and she’s like super low on it, but like for me, my B12 is like super low and hers is totally fine. And so even if she and I took all of the same exact supplements, we would not be supporting our bodies in the way that we need it. Which is a big reason why like I don’t really ever share, like, “these are the specific regimens that I take with supplements,” because it’s going to be different depending on your individual needs, and I only knew that stuff because I got blood work from my provider.

So what are like the, what’s the number for like for- I’m sure it varies from person to person- what’s the number for like protein, and how many bottles of water or ounces should someone be drinking? Because I think everyone likes to just have a goal number to aim for? Is there like a general number for both of those?

Ryann: Yeah, I think there’s a general number and yes, of course it’s going to be individualized based on a lot of factors, and I appreciate you saying that too- and on social media saying that as well. Because I think it’s so common for people just to see what other influencers are taking during their pregnancy, or postpartum, or fertility journeys, and think, “Oh, they’re taking that, I should take all the same things,” and in reality, you could be doing more harm than good when you’re just like putting in a cookie cutter plan that might not be right for you. So I really appreciate you pointing that out and saying that here and on social media.

But yes, in general, I think a good goal for protein is around a hundred grams per day. Again, depends on a lot of different factors, but that usually shakes out to shooting for around 30 grams of protein per meal. I think in general during pregnancy and postpartum there are a lot of snacks that happen. It was so funny,

I did like a poll on my stories the other day and I’m like, “How many snacks is everyone eating?” and it was like, way more than I had thought! Which is funny because I should have expected that, but I was like, “Dang, people are out here eating tons of snacks.” And it’s funny, too, because I think that 30 grams of protein goal per meal, that can be harder in pregnancy, especially in the later stages, whenever you feel you get super full faster. So sometimes you just can’t eat a big meal, like you have to space it out, which is totally fine. But I’m just saying that to say like when you hit 30 grams of protein per meal and then you’re having at least two snacks in there that have around 10 grams of protein, like you’re easily at a hundred plus grams for the day. That could be more or less, depending on how active you are, what type of pregnancy, what type of birth you had, all of these things, like there’s so many factors involved.

And then as far as fluid needs in pregnancy, we generally say around 100 ounces for total fluids is a good goal, but I would up that even slightly more to maybe 120, 130 ounces after pregnancy. Especially if you’re breastfeeding, I would definitely shoot for 120 to 130- total fluids, right? If you’re doing a lot of soups and broths, like those all count towards your fluid goals. If you’re eating, if you’re drinking smoothies or if you’re eating high water fruits and vegetables, those all count towards your total fluid goals. So anything that is liquid counts, not just drinking straight up water. And we do recommend- going back to the electrolyte packet question- for most people, it is a good idea to add extra electrolytes and mineral support to at least one of your waters throughout the day. Just because, again, you’re so depleted. That really is going to help with a lot of things. It’s going to help make you more regular, so hopefully if you’re experiencing any sort of constipation or trouble going to the bathroom it can help with that, just general energy levels- a lot of things!

Gina: So with breastfeeding, are there- I know that you don’t like doing what foods to avoid- are there foods that like someone should not be eating if they’re also breastfeeding? Or, like I know…

Ryann: That’s a good question.

Gina: Like the drinking alcohol thing is like it’s usually fine ’cause it doesn’t transfer, but is there any like foods that someone should like not eat if they’re breastfeeding?

Ryann: In general, no. A lot of those pregnancy rules don’t really transfer to after you have the baby. There are some things that you do still want to be cautious of, like the alcohol thing, that’s something to obviously be cautious about. It’s not something that, like pregnancy, you don’t have to avoid alcohol completely, again, just being cautious around that. Kind of same thing with caffeine, not something you need to like completely avoid and a lot of these things, it’s going to be highly individualized on the mom and baby together. How that, when you drink it, do you notice that baby is more fussy, more irritable? Then if so, stop drinking coffee, or drink a little bit less or whatever it is. And then the other one is high mercury fish, that’s generally one you still want to stick to. You still want to stick to avoiding high mercury fish, sticking with the low mercury fish because mercury can transfer through breast milk. Those are the only three, otherwise there’s not really any rules or anything you really need to absolutely avoid. There’s some like herbs and supplements that can potentially decrease milk supply when they’re taken in high doses, like peppermint and sage. But other than that, there’s really nothing that is like, “strictly avoid.”

Gina: So speaking of the herbs and supplements for breastfeeding, I see a lot of products marketed to- I can’t remember what the name of it, it’s like Gluconeogenesis, or something like that, where it’s vitamins or supplements that are supposed to help your milk supply. Are those like, true? Would those be things that you would recommend somebody include? Is it kind of like, if you feel like it, like the lactation cookies and the drinks and lattes and all that stuff.

Ryann: Oh, the galactogogues!

Gina: Yeah! I’m like, “What are they called?!

Ryann: I know what you’re talking about!

Gina: Yeah.

Ryann: But generally, there is like no scientific evidence or research to support any of them, which is crazy because there’s so many of them on the market, so many of them! The best thing to do is, if you feel like you’re having trouble with supply, is to call a lactation consultant as soon as you possibly can, because that is going to be your best bet in fixing any potential supply issues that you think you might have.

When I very first started my career, I worked at a WIC clinic and I did so much breastfeeding counseling. That was like one of the biggest things that I did was breastfeeding counseling, and really postpartum like nutrition, that was honestly like the majority of work that I did. And there was just so many people that had perceived low milk supply, when they actually really didn’t have low milk supply, there were just a lot of factors that they thought meant that their supply was low. Like for example, if they would pump, they would only get like a certain amount, they’d be like, “There’s no way this is enough.” Versus if they’re just feeding baby at the breast, baby would eat and be full and be fine. But just like seeing the amount, like scares people a little bit. Or just like generally when your breasts still empty, people are like, “Oh my gosh, there’s nothing in there,” type of thing. So I think that’s a huge reason to go see a lactation consultant because they can really help you identify if you really do have a supply issue.

But, with a lot of these like mother’s milk tea, and lactation cookies, there’s no harm in doing those things. So if you want to include them, you’re not going to do any harm. You can absolutely include them, but you do want to make sure you’re taking these other steps first before you’re just like, “Let me try all these things,” and also spend all your money on them.

Gina: Yeah.

Ryann: Yeah, fenugreek, fennel… what is the other one?

Gina: Like Brewer’s yeast is like another one.

Ryann: Oh, Brewer’s yeast.

Gina: There’s like a goats thing. Yeah. I can’t remember what it is.

Ryann: Goat’s rue, yes.

Gina: Yeah.

Ryann: Yeah. So those things, you can try, I’m not saying you can’t try ’em, they’re not going to be harmful. But just know that frequent and effective milk removal is the best way to increase your milk supply. And then going back to the very first things I was saying too, making sure you’re drinking enough fluid, making sure you’re eating enough calories. If you’re not doing those three things, that is always where you should start, always where you should start. Go see a lactation consultant, try these other things, but, they’re not going to be miracles.

Gina: Absolutely. And some of the like breastfeeding supply supplements are expensive, too. Some of the cookies are, they are like $4 each, like it gets pretty pricey. So if someone is completely relying on those to increase their milk supply, they might be doing a disservice to themselves. Because, like you said, it’s really about how well is that milk being removed? What type of hormones do you got going on in your body that’s helping to sustain your milk supply? And then if you want to add ’em on, as like a treat or like a fun thing. So like for me, instead of drinking like eight cups of coffee a day, I’ll drink like one of these like lactation lattes, ’cause they taste good, and I’m like, “Oh!” But I don’t have any issues with my supply, it’s just like a fun warm drink that I’m incorporating. But definitely agree, if you have an issue with your supply, my first step would not be to eat a lactation cookie. It’s more of a fun treat to add in every once in a while.

Ryann: Yes, totally agree. I think the money thing is like, hopefully people can do a little sigh of relief that they don’t have to spend all their money on these things that probably aren’t going to actually work.

And of course some people will swear by them. Some of your friends and family might be like, “I swear this worked!” And it might have! I am not knocking that there’s a bunch of anecdotal stories of people- like, “I eat oats every day or included a scoop of flax seeds in my smoothie every day, and that really worked.” And that, I’m not saying that you are wrong, I’m just saying we don’t have the evidence for us to all be out here recommending everybody do that.

Gina: So let’s go beyond like early postpartum. Like what are the general recommendations throughout like the first year? I know you said that there’s no recommendations for somebody that’s not lactating, in like the governing bodies, but what are like the general recommendations in the first year postpartum for somebody? Are those protein needs still pretty high? Is there a point where it starts to taper off? Or is it just, as long as you’re breastfeeding, 100 grams a day, drink a ton of water or fluids?

Ryann: I think in general, yes, if you’re still breastfeeding, those are going to be things that you are going to want to focus heavily on for the entirety of your breastfeeding journey, just because it takes so much energy to produce breast milk. Like you are, just by producing breast milk, the general big range people say, and what you’ll see online, is between 500 to, I think up to 700 calories you burn, just by producing breast milk every single day. So it’s thought that, like in your head, okay, if that’s what it takes, you might need an extra 500 calories per day every day that you’re like producing breast milk- and that could, generally speaking, for most people, that would start to decline as baby’s not drinking as much breast milk. But also, follow your cues, right? If there are times when you’re super, super hungry, and I often hear this reported a lot, is that people are way hungrier after baby arrives than they were in pregnancy, the hunger is crazy after baby arrives versus in pregnancy. And that does make a lot of sense based off our entire conversation today, that makes a ton of sense as to why you would be so hungry after baby gets there, you’re breastfeeding exclusively. Even if you’re not, right, even if you’re not breasting at all, yeah, I could expect you to be really hungry after what your body has just gone through.

But I think generally, as you are going throughout that first year, you’ll see a lot more of a gradual decrease in the hunger, in all of these things. But for you, I would say someone that’s super active, that would be a good indicator that your protein needs, fluid needs would probably just stay pretty high. And those same nutrients that we’ve been talking about remain important because you’re still producing that milk that is making up the large majority of your baby’s nutrition. Their brain is still developing- heck, their brains still develop well into a year or two of their lives! It’s really crazy.

Gina: So I think the thing I want to finish up on- ’cause I don’t want to keep you here forever, even though I could, we’ll just have to do another Needed retreat where we could just talk the whole time.

Ryann: Yeah!

Gina: The last thing that I want to touch upon is, and I think this is something that is more common than I wish it was, is in the postpartum, there’s sometimes this pressure to “bounce back,” and to diet, to get to take up as little space as possible, to look like pregnancy didn’t affect you in any way. What are your recommendations, as a nutritionist, for folks who are feeling the pressure to lose weight? How can we help them reframe that the goal right now is not to be small, and small doesn’t equal healthy? Like we’re trying to help us support our healing and how important it is to help support that nutritionally. What would your kind of take on that be?

Ryann: I love how you said it, honestly, and I am backing that 100%. I think there are a lot of pressures and it’s not, not normal to feel that pressure. I think everyone feels that pressure of, “Oh God, okay, now that the baby’s here, I gotta work as fast as humanly possible to get this weight off and go back to how I used to look,” and all of this stuff. When in reality it’s like you’re creating a new version of yourself. You’re not really going back, you can’t go back. You want to go back to how you felt most comfortable as you, is how I like to frame it. And, again, I do want to acknowledge how hard it can be, that pressure, because you do feel like that’s all that everyone else is focusing on. But just remind yourself that this can be a really long journey. For some people, it takes several months, for some people it can take several years to actually and fully recover and start to regain your strength, or the stamina, or energy that you had before baby was here. It can take a long time.

So I think it’s all about just giving yourself grace, moving really slowly through that process of healing. Again, it depends on so many factors, like how your pregnancy experience was, how your labor and delivery was. There’s so many factors that are there to account for in how long that healing journey could be. I think it’s really hard not to be hard on yourself if you’re not healing and going through that recovery process as fast as you thought, too. But just give yourself grace. Realize that you’re becoming a new person along with the new person that you just created, and that takes… that takes a lot of time to do!

And generally, we don’t recommend any form of weight loss efforts for the first six months. So that’s a big question that we get all the time, it’s, “Okay, when can I start trying to lose weight?” But if you go in and you cut your calories a bunch, that is something that can affect your milk supply, is just drastically cutting your calories. So if you, if that is something that you’re thinking about, from a healthy and supportive mindset, then it’s something you’d want to do very gradually, go in that sort of calorie deficit, super gradually. Because if overnight you decide, “Oh, I’m cutting out all my snacks,” or something, and that was like 500 plus calories of making up your day, then that can absolutely affect a lot of things- and not only your milk production, but you’re probably going to notice a dip in your energy and things like that, too. So that’s not something you recommend for a really long time. And you don’t ever have to like intentionally put in a weight loss effort either, I want to, make that clear too. At the prenatal nutritionist, we teach intuitive eating, which is basically just focusing on what your body needs, leaning into that, focusing on, am I hungry, am I full? Making sure you’re including foods that you enjoy every single day- just listening to your body and, following that.

Gina: I would add on, too, there’s not a lot of recognition, I think, for postpartum moms, or the accomplishment of growing and birthing a baby, and I think acknowledging that the only body that has produced life is the postpartum body. It is such an incredible accomplishment that it’s like, who cares if I’m smaller, if I fit into these jeans, or…

Ryann: Yeah!

Gina: It’s like, I did this super badass thing, like who cares?

And then I had another thought and it just totally slipped my mind, but… Oh! Essentially if your goal is to be smaller, or to lose weight, or to look a certain way, and you want to take steps with your diet to achieve that- what is the end state that you’re hoping for? What is going to happen, what are you envisioning for yourself when you fit into those jeans, when you look this certain way? Is it, “Oh, other people are going to look at me and admire me for being small again, for having abs, or whatever.” Or is there something internal that you feel like you’re lacking or that you don’t deserve until you reach that? And so just I would say do some work to kind of assess like where is this need for weight loss, or being smaller, kind of coming from.

And for our listeners, we have an entire podcast episode where we talk about body image with Lexie, who’s from More Than A Body. She wrote this amazing book with her sister, all about approaching body image. So we’ll link that podcast episode in the show notes, ’cause I think it’s a really important conversation to have, especially when we talk about nutrition postpartum.

So thank you, Ryann, so much, for coming on the podcast and talking all about what we need to be thinking about for postpartum. It’s a lot more than we may be like considering. I think a lot of our focus is prenatal nutrition.

Ryann: Yeah.

Gina: And now that the baby’s here, like the focus is no longer on ourselves. Or we may have a little bit of focus on that early postpartum, and then we’re like, “All right, I’m not postpartum anymore.” Where can our listeners learn more from you?

Ryann: Yes. So come see me on Instagram @PrenatalNutritionist, or TikTok, I’m the same handle basically everywhere. The app is called The Prenatal Nutrition Library. We’re actually working on, I don’t know when this is going to release, but we’re about a month away-ish from a massive upgrade for the app, like everything is changing essentially. But postpartum nutrition content, no matter when this launches, it’s currently available, so you can go in and join today and access that postpartum nutrition information. But we’re adding like a giant recipe index where you’ll be able to search based off stage, any symptoms you have, any craving, the course, if you’re looking for smoothies or soups. So we’re really excited about that too. And then there will be like broken down learning by stage, too, so there won’t be as much of sifting through our giant library of information, you’ll be able to immediately click on “postpartum” or “lactation” and dive into the content that is relevant for you at that specific time. So we’re so excited about that. We’ll still have that “ask an RD forum” where you’ll be able to ask me questions, and my other dieticians questions, at any time. So we’re really excited to keep that and keep on moving.

But yeah, thank you for having me!

Gina: Thank you so much for having that resource as well. It was super helpful for me during my pregnancy. I’m excited to utilize it for postpartum now.

Ryann: Yes!

Gina: I know that everyone who is probably in it right now is super stoked that there’s postpartum, and Ryann also has like meal plans in it, too. She has like a first trimester meal plan, a second, a third, and I’m assuming a postpartum one.

Ryann: Yes!

Gina: As well. So if you are like me and you have a hard time figuring out how to feed yourself, then I would highly recommend the meal plan options as well. So thank you so much again, Ryann, for coming on the podcast.

Ryann: Thanks for having me!

Gina: I utilized Ryann’s Prenatal Nutrition Library throughout my own pregnancies to help me figure out what I wanted to eat, what I should or should not eat, maybe there’s certain foods that would be more beneficial for me at different points, and so I highly recommend the library. Within the library you can also ask your own specific questions that Ryann will respond to you about, and so what I had some questions on whether or not I should be drinking this electrolyte salt, she was really helpful in helping me to navigate what are maybe things that are more optimal for me, versus what are some dosages that may be beneficial for me instead? So definitely check out Ryann’s Prenatal Nutrition Library, ’cause it now also provides education on supporting you after birth in the postpartum.

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