Help, I'm nursing!

[Liz]

I had surgery recently, and I am breastfeeding my baby daughter. I have been on a prescribed extremely low residue diet for THREE MONTHS in hopes of healing up. I am expected to remain on it longer. I am so sick of basic starches! Rice and mashed potatoes....yuck. I hope to never see Jello again as well. Does anyone have any meal ideas that have very little fibre, minimal residue (for my healing wounds), and are not too spicy or fatty (these irritate the little one)?? I am out of ideas and my appetite is suffering. I need nourishment so I can continue nursing.

 

[humanbeing]

I had surgery recently, and I am breastfeeding my baby daughter. I have been on a prescribed extremely low residue diet for THREE MONTHS in hopes of healing up. I am expected to remain on it longer. I am so sick of basic starches! Rice and mashed potatoes....yuck. I hope to never see Jello again as well. Does anyone have any meal ideas that have very little fibre, minimal residue (for my healing wounds), and are not too spicy or fatty (these irritate the little one)?? I am out of ideas and my appetite is suffering. I need nourishment so I can continue nursing.

Low residue? Can you explain? ...

Hmmm... making it low fibre and low fat really kills the vast amount of choices, or at least, many of the healthy foods I could recommend in large quantities. Still, there are tons of things.

Can you be more specific as to how low in fibre you must have? If you were still eating potatoes and rice, I guess you can still have a decent amount of fibre eh?

How about omega 3 fatty acids? They must still be okay, no?

Right now might be an especially good time for you to experiment with different foods...

Instead of just potatoes, try other things like sweet potatoes, yams, beets, and carrots.

Instead of just rice, try other grains like quinoa and millet. A bit of buckwheat might not hurt either. You can make some neat stuff out of buckwheat, though I'd imagine it has comparable amounts of dietary fibre to brown rice. Buckwheat can be used to make a wicked pilaf. It can be used to make cereal if you roast it well. Good stuff I say. A nice replacement for rice every now and then.

Try using different spices too. They can work well with some old dishes and make things exciting again. Chives (nice on those potatoes when applied liberally along with low fat margarine), allspice, onion flakes, garam masalah, anise, cilantro, coriander, dill, basil, thyme, mustard seed, peppermint, oregano...

Again, it sounds like a small bit of dietary fibre isn't hurting you too much if you are eating potatoes. Therefore, you *might* still be able to toss in salads and stuff. I'm a fan of romaine lettuce with homemade crutons, myself.

I don't wanna speak for your doctor though, especially if a condition is forcing you to eat a certain way.

 

[Liz]

I cannot much fibre at all. White rice is my only real source. No skin on my potatoes. All in small quantities. I do eat carrots cooked to mush. Yikes. Lettuce is very strictly off limits. The nutritionist at the hospital suggests crustless white bread. I cannot have any foods that are not easily and almost fully digested BEFORE they complete their tour of my tracts. (Simply...Nothing that makes poop.) Especially nothing that can pass through even slightly intact. Liquids are ideal. I cannot have anything that might cause any gas. At the same time I am breast feeding a baby with a sensitive stomach. Pretty much anything with much fat or flavour makes her projectile vomit. This has been a brutal time for me since I love to cook and I love good food. Haha tough one eh?

 

[humanbeing]

Re: RE: Help, I'm nursing!

Bummer.

I hope you heal soon, because that kinda sucks.

I'm honestly not sure what you should do myself. I guess just look harder for the answers and/or tough it out until you heal, and push yourself to eat more of that stuff in the meantime so that you stay somewhat well nourished. If you gotta go longer, it may be worthwhile to talk with a specialist on what you can eat, even if it costs a bit of cash or takes some time - after all, this is you and your baby's health, as well as your happiness, that we are talking about.

Really, I'd experiment with some of different spices though, they really might help with the palate. The ones I suggested are generally okay while breastfeeding, I am pretty sure.

Also, try cooking the potatoes and rice in different ways. Try a rice pilaf or rice pudding. Make potato salads or potato wedges. Try healthy recipes for baked french "fries".

In the meanwhile, I guess you might consider taking certain supplements that are okay for breastfeeding mothers if your doctor gives the okay. (I assume your doctor has already briefed you on this, so I probably didn't even need to say anything, but it might help you in the nourishment department).

Hopefully, this can help you during the time that you must wait until you heal and are then able eat better.

 

[Liz]

Thanks... I know its kind of a futile mission to search for much variety. I have spiced things up a bit but only with spices ground to dust. I am taking vitamins and minerals. ( I can't have iron either.) Mostly I guess I am just whiney because my other half is chowing down the chocolate and the veggies and all the stuff I wish I could have. He is great and tries to avoid me while he does it but he can't always avoid me.