New moms that breastfeed have weird everything.
(Yes. You read that correctly.)
Weird emotions (all the hormones!). Weird boob proportions. Weird chest pressure (time to nurse!). Weird leakage problems. Weird style (#pjsallday).
And – namely – weird football-player-rivaling appetite. This isn’t a problem, except it’s matched with our weird sleep schedule! Food isn’t exactly convenient in the middle of the night.
We’re nocturnal. I mean, babies are around the clock. And we ourselves want to eat everything, usually during these 3 am feedings because baby needs to nurse and be changed and nurse again. So, by the time you sit or lay down to perform said 2nd feeding, your stomach is crying at you, too.
Feeeeed me!
This is why my husband is a genius: he instituted a by-the-bed snack basket. Hooray! Now, I do this every time I’m postpartum and I will preface that though these snacks aren’t awful (in a perfect world, there’d be fruit snacks in there!), I wouldn’t call them highly nutritious. But they do the trick in the middle of the night when you’re hungry and nursing and unwilling to leave your bedroom. They hold you over until morning when the real hearty food can begin.
Here’s how to fashion your own:
Step 1: Get a basket! Whatever will hold a sufficient snack stash. Extra points if it’s pretty and makes you happy. Mine is a 10” x 13” basket.
Step 2: Fill with goodies! Here are some of my must-haves:
- Granola bars
- Belvita breakfast crackers
- Trail mix*
- Goldfish crackers*
- Peanut butter crackers
- Dried mango & other fruit*
* For these options, we buy big packages and divvy them up into snack bags. When your wife eats everything, you must be economical!
Step 3: Add a bottle of water (the thirst is real!) and a plastic bag for trash. Optional: wet wipes for your hands.
Easy! Yet so helpful. You can get right back to bed with your newborn and still pack in those much-needed extra 500 daily calories.
How does Marabou support women?
We live in culture where “bouncing back” is more valued than proper rest. As admirable as it may be for a sports star to get back on the field, the same rules don’t apply to postpartum recovery. The traditional resting period has been stolen from women through pressure to get back to their job or simply through lack of presence.
Grandmas, sisters and best friends who otherwise would have been there to help a woman transition into motherhood often live too far away to be of any help. Household chores and caring for older children inevitably fall on the mom. But she just delivered a new life! She needs rest.
Marabou Services is a unique gift registry which provides services instead of stuff. Most mom’s get too many onesies, too many baby blankets and not enough helping hands. Break out of a destructive cultural norm and start a Marabou registry today.
With a Marabou registry you can sing up for any service which will benefit you or someone you know during the postpartum recovery period.
Postpartum doulas for a first time mom
House cleanings for moms of multiples
Childcare for moms with older children!
Once your registry is created, add it to any other registry or post it to your Facebook and ask friends and family contribute to your postpartum service, rather than buying you more stuff.
More and more moms find they have to figure out postpartum alone. Is it any wonder why PMDs are on the rise? Or women are embittered by the journey of motherhood? We can change that by giving the gift of peace.
