When breastfeeding, many mothers change their diet and begin to adhere to certain restrictions. Each lactating woman understands that the health status of her baby depends on the incoming products. Some of them have a question: "Is it possible to barley with breastfeeding?" Since ancient times, dishes from this porridge were served only to royal persons.
What is cereal
Pearl barley - barley grains polished from the top layer. Barley is light yellow or beige. The shape of the grains is oblong.
Pearl barley got its name because of the outward resemblance to river pearls.
Positive properties of porridge
Is barley porridge good for breastfeeding? She has earned tremendous recognition among people leading a healthy lifestyle and trying to maintain a balanced diet. The beneficial properties of pearl barley include:
- A high content of amino acids, especially lysine, which is responsible for the production of collagen, which helps the skin stay supple and smooth.
- A significant number of trace elements that are not contained in any porridge. It includes iron, calcium, zinc, potassium, iodine, phosphorus, which favorably affect both the mother and her newborn baby.
- Barley dishes rich in vitamins A, B, D, E and PP, which are necessary for the normal functioning of the body.
- The amount of protein in pearl barley exceeds the content of this element in wheat.
- The presence of a large number of natural antibacterial substances.
- This cereal is a powerful antioxidant; barley has more selenium than rice porridge.
- Porridge is able to normalize metabolism, and will also be useful in liver diseases.
- Barley is rich in fiber, which distinguishes it from other types of cereals.
During breastfeeding, pearl barley affects a woman's body as follows:
- Improves the composition and nutritional value of breast milk.
- Promotes rapid recovery of the female body after childbirth.
- Stimulates the lactation process.
- Gives the body of a woman strength and energy.
- It takes care of the health of the heart and blood vessels.
- With regular use, it helps to get rid of excess weight, which is especially important for the restoration of the former forms of a woman after childbirth.
The calorie content of pearl barley is low, so it can be used to maintain the usual weight and saturate the body with useful substances.
Possible damage to cereals
Barley while breastfeeding a baby can not only benefit, but also adversely affect the health of the mother and child. The negative effects of barley include:
- The composition of cereals includes gluten, which is not suitable for people who can not tolerate this ingredient.
- Barley is digested for a long time, so it is not suitable for dinner.
- Porridge can cause colic and increased gas formation in infants.
- Milk porridge boiled in milk is prohibited for lactose intolerance.
When you include it in the diet, a woman must observe some precautions, which will be discussed later in the article.
When to introduce barley in the diet
Can barley be given during breastfeeding? Croup can be introduced into the diet of a woman in the absence of contraindications within a month after the birth of the baby.
However, a woman should know that barley is a difficult to digest product, so you can delay the inclusion of dishes from it in the diet for another 1 month.
Rules for eating porridge
Is it possible for a nursing mother to pearl barley? According to the advice of specialists, a woman begins to include porridge in her diet when the baby is 1-2 months old. This is not recommended before, because the baby’s digestive system does not produce enzymes for processing porridge components.
If the child is constantly suffering from colic and increased gas formation, then the introduction of pearl barley into the body should be postponed for 2-3 months. It does not apply to allergenic products, however, some children may experience intolerance to gluten, which is part of it. When pearl barley is introduced into the diet of a nursing mother, experts suggest adhering to the following recommendations:
- Start the reception with porridge cooked on water and without oil.
- Initially consume 1 teaspoon of pearl barley for breakfast.
- Within 24 hours, a woman monitors the baby's reaction to the product.
- If an allergic reaction occurs and a digestive process is disturbed, exclude the use of pearl barley for 1-2 months.
- In the absence of negative manifestations, the daily pearl barley rate is brought to 100 g.
- It must be consumed in a warm form and in the morning.
- In a week, the amount of cereal in the diet should be no more than 200 g.
If a woman observes all the recommendations of experts on the inclusion of porridge in the diet, then she will rid the body of the baby from the negative impact of the product.
Ways to cook porridge
Can barley be given during breastfeeding? The difficulty in its preparation lies in the fact that the cereal is cooked for a long time. Barley is a whole grain of barley, which even after the heat treatment process retains most of its nutrients. In the store you can find crushed groats. It boils faster, but has a leaner composition than whole grains.
To speed up the cooking process, barley must be soaked for several hours. Then it can be cooked within 1 hour. If you cook porridge from dry cereals, then it will take 5-6 hours.
In the first months of a baby's life, a woman should only boil it in water. After a while, when the child’s body gets used to pearl barley, it can be prepared using a mixture of water and milk (1: 1). You can add a little butter and sugar to the porridge.
To improve lactation, a woman can prepare a pearl barley. To obtain it, 1 part of the cereal is poured with 4 parts of water. It is necessary to cook for 1 hour. The resulting broth is filtered and consumed 50 ml three times a day. The tool can increase the amount of produced breast milk.
What dishes to cook from barley
Can I eat barley while breastfeeding? Porridge, due to its useful properties, benefits the body of the mother and child, if properly cooked.
Experts recommend starting with pearl barley. This is due to the following:
- If you use porridge without any spices and additives (butter), it will immediately become clear whether the baby has an allergic reaction to a new product or not. It does not always occur in the first hours after an irritant enters the body. Sometimes an allergy can manifest itself in a slow motion. Within 2 days after the inclusion of pearl barley in the diet, it will be clear whether there is a negative reaction to it in infants or not.
- In this case, the mother herself can control the amount of porridge. It is best to eat it hot to speed up the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
How to eat porridge while breastfeeding? If barley does not cause an allergy in the baby, then a woman can introduce barley soup into her diet. You can add vegetables, low-fat meat (veal, turkey), a small amount of oil to it. Vegetables should be administered carefully; many babies are allergic to carrots. Tomatoes, pickles and similar components can also negatively affect the children's body.
If there is no allergy to pearl barley, then a nursing mother can drink a decoction from it. Since it has an enveloping, emollient and antispasmodic effect, this prevents problems with stools in infants. Secondly, the decoction has a diuretic and anti-inflammatory effect. However, the main benefit of pearl barley is to increase lactation, due to the inclusion of protein and phosphorus in its composition.
Contraindications
Can barley be given during breastfeeding? Despite the many positive properties, porridge has some restrictions on consumption. It should not be eaten by women who have increased acidity of the stomach.
A nursing mother needs to know that with regular use of pearl barley, constipation and the appearance of gas formation problems in infants are possible. Therefore, with a predisposition to such conditions, it is best to limit the use of pearl barley.
Conclusion
Properly prepared pearl barley porridge and other pearl barley dishes will provide support for the woman’s body during lactation due to saturation with useful substances and vitamins. Compliance with simple rules for introducing a product into the diet and its preparation can reduce the risk of allergies and other negative effects in infants.