Sea buckthorn can be considered a native Russian berry. In almost every country house, this tree grows with prickly branches and bright orange berries. Sea buckthorn is brewed for tea, made from its berries jams and preserves, as well as sea buckthorn oil, which is very popular in medicine.
But is it possible sea buckthorn during breastfeeding? Would she do harm? And what benefit can this berry bring when breast-feeding a baby? Read this article.
The benefits of sea buckthorn
Why do many mothers think about adding sea buckthorn to their diet when breastfeeding?
As you know, everything that a mother eats is processed by her body and enters the milk for the baby. It is not in vain that sea buckthorn is considered a storehouse of useful substances, so the desire to introduce it into the baby’s diet is quite natural.
Here is what sea buckthorn is useful for:
- It is a natural antibiotic.
- It contains a huge amount of vitamins: A, E, group B, C, P and K.
- It boosts immunity.
- Sea buckthorn helps fight cough, bronchitis, throat and lung diseases.
- Reduces the likelihood of oncology.
- Sea buckthorn helps strengthen blood vessels and improves blood composition.
- It cheers you up, helps reduce stress and alleviates depression.
- Prevents eye diseases.
Contraindications
Sea buckthorn, like other plants, has a number of contraindications:
- Acute or chronic liver disease.
- Acute or chronic diseases of the gallbladder, removed bladder.
- The tendency of a mother or child to loose stools or indigestion.
- Urolithiasis or a tendency to form sand in the kidneys. Sea buckthorn strongly acidifies urine.
- Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Acids contained in sea buckthorn increase the production of gastric juice.
- The presence of hyperacid gastritis.
- Sea buckthorn during breastfeeding is strictly contraindicated if the child or mother is prone to allergic reactions.
Harm of the berry while breastfeeding
A strong enough allergen is sea buckthorn. With too frequent use of sea buckthorn during breastfeeding, the following symptoms are possible:
- The manifestation of allergic reactions. Redness, rash, itching are the most common symptoms. Allergies can occur in both a nursing mother and a baby, it all depends on the individual reaction of the body. If at least a hint of an allergy occurs, sea buckthorn must be taken out of use immediately.
- Liquid stool in a child. Most often observed in children aged 1 month. Sea buckthorn during breastfeeding very rarely leads to upset stomach, but if you notice this problem in a child, then it is worth restricting the use of berries. Also, the disorder may occur due to too sharp addition of sea buckthorn to the diet of a nursing mother.
Any discomfort of the mother that manifests itself after the start of the use of sea buckthorn should be thoroughly investigated. If you have a sick stomach, at least a hint of an allergy, or you feel weak, then try not to eat a berry for several days and monitor the state of your health.
Can sea buckthorn be breastfed?
Despite the many useful properties of the berry, we must not forget that it is a strong allergen. Do not rush to add sea buckthorn to the diet of the mother, if she only gave birth. This can negatively affect the child.
The recommended age for adding sea buckthorn to the diet during breastfeeding is 4 months.
It’s worth remembering that you can’t just start eating berries. So that sea buckthorn does not harm, you must follow the rules for introducing it into your diet.
How to introduce sea buckthorn into the diet?
There are several simple recommendations, following which you will successfully start using sea buckthorn when breastfeeding:
- To exclude allergic reactions for the first time, you should try a small amount of sea buckthorn juice or a couple of berries. After that, it is necessary to monitor the state of health of the child: his health, the presence of skin rashes, activity. If neither the mother nor the baby has a negative answer, then you can gradually increase the number of berries consumed.
- Gradually increase the amount of berry eaten. The transition to the maximum dosage should be carried out for at least a week.
If a child is allergic or upset after a test use of sea buckthorn, then you can try to repeat the test after a month or two. If the symptoms recur, the child should not eat the berry, nor the mother.
How much can you eat?
The maximum daily dose is about fifty grams. A week is not recommended to consume more than one hundred and fifty grams.
These figures are intended not only for the use of sea buckthorn during breastfeeding. Sea buckthorn should be treated more as a medicine than as an edible berry, so you should not exceed the recommended amount of consumption.
How to use?
Processed sea buckthorn during breastfeeding is absorbed by the mother better than raw berries.
Berries are not recommended for use on an empty stomach. Sea buckthorn increases the secretion of gastric juice, which can cause an ulcer if it is empty.
Tea with sea buckthorn when breastfeeding
For brewing sea buckthorn tea, both fresh berries and the leaves of this plant can be used. It is the fruits that are of great benefit if properly brewed.
Indeed, healthy sea buckthorn tea takes time. In order for the berries to fully reveal their taste, aroma and useful potential, they must be poured with boiling water, cover the container with something and leave for at least three hours. Ideally, let the drink brew for one night.
Fifty grams of berries are enough for one serving of tea. Add sugar is to your taste, but only before the tea. The drink should be infused without sugar to prevent fermentation.
Sea buckthorn tea has become especially popular among women who have recently given birth due to several of their properties:
- First of all, it accelerates the regeneration of body tissues and helps a woman recover faster after giving birth.
- Tea from sea buckthorn can be drunk immediately after the birth of the child, without waiting for the prescribed four months. It is less allergic than fresh berries or jams. Nevertheless, before using it, it is worthwhile to conduct a test test: drink fifty milliliters of tea and monitor the reaction to it during the day with mom and baby.
- Sea buckthorn tea stimulates lactation. It contains a record amount of vitamin C, which improves iron absorption.
- Thanks to the good vitamin composition, sea buckthorn strengthens the mother’s body and solves the problem of bad nails and hair.
- Sea buckthorn tea lowers the level of cholesterol in the mother's body. In turn, this reduces the likelihood of heart and vascular disease.
- This tea lowers blood sugar. The main thing is not to add sugar to the sea buckthorn drink.
- The berries contain calcium, which is necessary for the formation of the bone tissue of the child. Since the main growth of the baby is in the first year of life, the quality of the milk consumed by him should be at its best.
- Due to the content of sodium and potassium in tea, it normalizes the water and salt balance in the mother's body. This is extremely important: no water - no milk. And joints and internal organs suffer from excess salt. In addition, edema, which bothers most pregnant women and women in labor, will disappear without excess fluid.
- Sea buckthorn tea, like fresh berry, contains B vitamins. They participate in the work of almost all systems of the human body, including the development of the brain and nervous system in a child.
- The substances contained in sea buckthorn tea have a mild sedative effect on the baby, strengthening his sleep.
Sea buckthorn recipes
If you don’t like tea, raw berries didn’t taste, and you still want to get the benefit of sea buckthorn, then there are some simple recipes with this berry:
- Sea buckthorn jam. For it, you will need a pound of pure berries and a kilogram of sugar. Sea buckthorn should be rubbed with it and put into sterile jars. Keep such a jam in the refrigerator with a minimum of light. To use according to norms: no more than fifty grams a day.
- Sea buckthorn juice. To make it, you will need a metal sieve to remove seeds and unnecessary peels from berries. Rub the berries through this sieve and sterilize the resulting juice. To do this, it is worth warming up in a water bath, an hour will be enough. Keep refrigerated.
- If there is too much juice, then you can make sea buckthorn mousse. You need two glasses of juice and about two tablespoons of sugar. Mix, pour two tablespoons of semolina, boil for ten minutes. Then cool the mousse and beat thoroughly.