Butter during breastfeeding: effects on the body and rules for use
A young mother feeding her newborn baby is always responsible for her diet. Sometimes those foods that she used to eat in large doses are “overboard” after childbirth. This is exactly what many do with butter, believing that the components contained in it will harm the child. Whether this is so, we will understand in our article.
The benefits of butter
Butter is a food essential for maintaining good health. It contains a large amount of fat-soluble vitamins A, E, D, polyunsaturated acids, and phosphatides. All these elements are necessary for the full development and functioning of internal organs. So, vitamin A improves visual acuity, vitamin D improves calcium absorption and thus prevents the risk of rickets in a child, and also allows bone tissue to grow and develop normally. Vitamin E improves immunity due to its high antioxidant properties.
Fats in an easily digestible form are considered an invaluable source of energy for a child.
Butter contains cholesterol, and it is very important to understand that horror stories about its dangers are nothing more than a publicity stunt for vegetable oil manufacturers.Cholesterol is one of the main participants in the metabolism in the human body, it is involved in the construction of cell membranes, stimulates the production of steroid hormones and has the most beneficial effect on intellectual capabilities and brain development. Cholesterol can be dangerous only in excessive amounts, but the same can be said about any other nutrient or mineral substance.
It has been proven that the use of butter promotes the production of serotonin, which is better known as the "hormone of joy." It is responsible for the general emotional background and stress resistance of a person. In addition, serotonin helps to increase the body's resistance to stress, and after all, pregnancy and subsequent childbirth is a big burden on a woman's body.
Regular intake of oil in food allows you to fight the pathologies of the respiratory system, and the linoleic acid contained in it contributes to the prevention of tumor processes.
Harm
However, the fears of nursing mothers should not be considered completely unfounded. Butter is made from cow's milk, and this product is considered quite allergenic. In a situation where the child's body does not accept such a product, then the most unfavorable manifestations of an allergic reaction are possible - rashes, irritations, breathing difficulties and interruptions in the digestive system.
The appearance of such a reaction in infants is due to the fact that newborn babies have a rather high permeability of the intestinal walls., and the number of secreted enzymes is still insufficient. Therefore, the protein is practically not digested and almost completely penetrates into the blood, this causes a reaction.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to imagine for 100% whether the crumbs will have an allergy or not, therefore, the product should be introduced into your diet in small portions.
Over time, the child's body learns to exist in new conditions, and by three months, allergies appear less and less. Nevertheless, in this case, it is still worth being more careful about the health of the baby, and not lean on butter.
In addition, if you use such oil in large quantities, it can worsen the functioning of the heart and blood vessels, as well as lead to pathologies of metabolic processes.
Measure is good in everything and the intake of oil by young mothers should also be strictly regulated.
How to use?
Butter is allowed for use by a woman during lactation. A small piece, along with a portion of porridge in the morning or a sandwich, will only benefit both the mother and her newborn baby. However, it is important to understand that in the first month and a half of her life, the child's gastrointestinal tract is imperfect, so a nursing mother should especially strictly monitor her daily diet.
When the breast milk received by the baby is too fatty due to the abundance of butter, this can cause the most adverse effects in the form of pain, as well as vomiting, colic, bloating and gas formation. In addition, it is possible that such nutrition from the early days will lead to serious problems in older age.
That is why doctors have established that during breastfeeding a woman should eat no more than 30 g of oil per day. At the same time, it is best to add it to mashed potatoes, cereals, stewed vegetables or pasta, but it is strictly forbidden to take foods fried in this oil at the stage of lactation.
You can also eat one sandwich a day.Pediatricians advise using rye or bran bread for this.
Selection Tips
When weighing the pros and cons of using butter during breastfeeding, do not forget that not only the butter itself in its pure form can harm a mother and her baby. It is much more important to pay attention to the quality of this product.
Today, the counters are literally lined with all sorts of fakes with a small content of natural fat. Young mothers who seek to regain their weight as quickly as possible often fall for this bait, believing that if there is little fat, then there will be nothing left on the waist and hips. Perhaps, only such a product, most likely, will consist of an artificial milk fat substitute in the company with various preservatives, flavor enhancers and flavors, and the necessary consistency is given to it by the fat of marine animals. It is unlikely that such a set of components can bring at least some benefit to a young mother and a newborn baby.
Be sure to pay attention to the price of the product - high-quality oil cannot be cheap. Consider the composition, if at least one of the above components is present in it, immediately refuse to buy - this is an unnatural product.
When a woman is breastfeeding her baby, it is best to purchase only real farm products. The best option would be to buy oil from a familiar grandmother from the village, who had never heard of all kinds of preservatives. An alternative option would be to buy in highly specialized stores that sell only butter and dairy products.
Cooking at home
Butter can be easily prepared at home.In order to make it, you will need homemade village milk, store-bought is not good.
The recipe is pretty simple. First you need to decide on the quantity of the product that you want to receive. From 1 kg of cream, 300-400 g of butter can be prepared. If you do not need so much, then you can buy full-fat milk, leave it for a day, and then skim off the cream. This will be the raw material necessary for the preparation.
The cream should first be cooled to a temperature of 15-16 degrees, then removed from the refrigerator and gently beat until the consistency is smooth and fluffy. Immediately after this, the mixer speed should be increased to a maximum and beat until fatty lumps begin to separate. Then the mass can be laid out on gauze folded in several layers and gently squeezed out to get rid of the resulting liquid.
After that, you should resume whipping until the liquid separates completely, and squeeze again. By the way, the resulting paste can be used to make pancakes or sweet dough.
What remains after its separation is oil, it should be washed in cold water and squeezed again, then transferred to a plastic bowl and beat for the last time until a homogeneous consistency.
The prepared product is put in the refrigerator and left for several hours.
The butter is stored for about a month, if desired, cocoa and sugar can be added to it, then you get some kind of chocolate mass, which has the same pleasant taste, but does not pose a danger to the child.
How to make butter at home, see the following video.