14 Easy and Healthy Breastfeeding Snacks for Every Mom
Are you about to give birth to your first baby? Congratulations! You’re probably busy planning every detail of your little one’s life. One vital detail to plan is breastfeeding.
Unfortunately, not every woman can breastfeed. If you can, you should definitely nurse. Breastfeeding offers many benefits to both baby and mommy. Your breast milk is powerful enough to help babies fight off viruses and bacteria.
One of the complaints mothers have is they develop an insatiable hunger while breastfeeding. Fortunately, healthy snacks can satisfy your appetite and keep you energized while providing essential nutrients to your baby.
Healthy and Delicious Breastfeeding Snacks
1. Hard Boiled Eggs and Whole Grain Crackers
There are six grams of protein in each egg. Why is this important? Breastfeeding moms need protein. Even your baby’s little mouth and teeth cause damage to your nipples and breasts. Protein ensures your tissue can repair itself.
Hard boiling your eggs is the best way to ensure you eat the egg’s whole protein source. Pair your hard boiled eggs with whole grain crackers. The crackers provide extra calories and essential nutrients such as fiber.
2. Trail Mix With Dried Fruit
Trail mix is a yummy way to get essential vitamins. The assortment of nuts such as peanuts, almonds, cashews, Brazil nuts, and sunflower seeds helps supply your body with protein.
Make sure you include dried fruit in your trail mix. Dried fruit contains essential vitamins such as magnesium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, and vitamin A.
Should you buy the bagged trail mix or make your own? Whatever you want to do. As long as you stay away from chocolate and excess sugar (sorry).
3. Greek Yogurt With Granola
Greek yogurt is a super snack that many people rave about. And rightfully so. Greek yogurt contains ample amounts of protein, it’s low in calories, and it contains natural probiotics that you and your baby need for healthy digestion.
Here’s the issue — many brands load their Greek yogurt with tons of sugar and flavors.
The best course of action is to buy plain Greek yogurt and load it with crunchy granola! The granola gives the yogurt a slightly sweet flavor without the added sugar.
Want to add even more protein? Replace granola with crushed almonds!
4. Banana and Rice Cake
Bananas are packed with essential nutrients such as potassium, vitamin B6 and fiber. If you don’t want to eat bananas straight out of the peel, you can make many simply tasty snacks from bananas.
For example, a banana rice cake is a delicious snack. Slice a banana and put the banana slices on a rice cake. Rice cakes are puffed rice pasted together. They’re a low-calorie substitute for crackers and bread and pair perfectly with bananas.
5. String Cheese and Carrots
There’s a reason why kids love string cheese. It’s delicious! It’s a healthy option for a simple snack.
Cheese is a great source of protein, calcium, and vitamin D.
Because of its popularity, there are many types of cheeses available. All string cheese is mozzarella, because mozzarella has a natural thread-like quality. But string cheese is often mixed with cheddar for a more unique flavor.
What’s the other best healthy snack that pairs well with string cheese? Carrots.
Carrots contain antioxidants and vitamins that provide a myriad of health benefits. Baby carrots come prewashed — all you have to do is open the package and snack away.
6. Cherry Tomato and Mozzarella Basil Bites
If string cheese isn’t your thing, stick to good ol’ fashioned mozzarella cheese. If you don’t want to eat mozzarella alone, pair it with cherry tomatoes with a dash of basil! Here’s the recipe:
- 2 one-ounce mozzarella balls
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- Shredded basil leaves
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
Place washed tomatoes on a plate with the cheese. Drizzle olive oil and add the basil. Cut them up and eat them as a salad or just pick the tomatoes and cheese with your fingers.
7. Dark Chocolate and Raspberries
Yes, we said to not eat the trail mix with chocolate. But if you need that extra bit of chocolate, stick to dark chocolate.
Dark chocolate is not only lower in sugar, but it’s also actually nutritious. Dark chocolate contains antioxidants. Dark chocolate can also contribute to lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease.
So don’t feel bad about snacking on dark chocolate. For more complex flavors and extra vitamins, pair the dark chocolate with raspberries. Raspberries also contain antioxidants in addition to vitamin C.
8. Apple and Peanut Butter
Did your mom or dad smother apple slices in peanut butter to get you to eat your fruit?
Your parents had the right idea. This is an extremely healthy snack. Apples are abundant in antioxidants and fiber. This helps reduce your risk of cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.
Peanut butter is not only delicious but is also healthy. Peanut butter contains the healthy fat oleic acid which reduces cholesterol and lowers the risk of heart disease. Peanut butter also contains mass amounts of protein.
9. Oat and Nut Waffles
Who said you can’t enjoy the occasional waffle and still eat healthily? The only unhealthy aspect about waffles is we like to load them with maple syrup and other types of sugar. Instead, load waffles with nuts to give them a protein boost.
Are the nuts not enough flavor? Try topping your waffles with fruit and Greek yogurt.
10. Milk and Protein Bars
Your baby shouldn’t be the only one drinking milk. Milk contains bone-healthy calcium. In addition, protein bars contain lots of protein. As long as you don’t buy those loaded with sugar, these are a healthy and stomach-filling snack.
Many protein bars are made with fruit and other ingredients to provide more nutrients.
Are you vegan? You can easily swap a glass of cow’s milk for unsweetened soy, almond, or coconut milk.
11. Cottage Cheese and Pineapple
If you’re the type of person who loves cottage cheese then chow down! Cottage cheese is rich in vitamins, protein, and calcium. These vitamins support bone health and aid your immune system.
If you’re not crazy about cottage cheese, add in some pineapple for sweetness.
Pineapple also contains high amounts of vitamin C, which also helps aid your immune system.
Keep in mind, cottage cheese does contain a bit of sodium. So eat your cottage cheese snack in moderation.
12. Granola Bars
Granola bars are an easy and portable snack. You can munch on one while caring for your baby and while you’re out and about. Granola bars also help support lactation.
Look for granola bars that contain whole oats to receive the most benefits. You’ll also want to eat natural granola bars with flavors deriving from fruit and nuts.
Avoid granola bars that contain a mass amount of sugar.
13. Hummus and Celery
Celery is a great snack for all breastfeeding moms. Even though it’s a water-based vegetable, celery is loaded with potassium, folate, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and vitamin K.
Wash and cut celery. Dip it in hummus for extra flavor. Hummus is packed with protein, high in fiber, and has a low glycemic index.
14. Popcorn
Unfortunately, we’re not talking about the movie theater popcorn packed with butter and other flavors. We’re talking about air-popped popcorn. This type of popcorn is high in fiber which helps aid digestion and makes you feel full.
Is air-popped popcorn still too bland? Spray on some butter-based cooking spray for mover theater-style popcorn without the extra calories.
Other good ways to flavor popcorn include sprinkled cheese, chili powder, paprika, cinnamon, garlic powder, cumin, and thyme.
Are You Looking for Lactation Snacks?
These breastfeeding snacks are all delicious and healthy. Now, we want to emphasize on one main point — lactation snacks. If you don’t want to eat sugary cookies, our Milkful Nursing Bars might be exactly what you're looking for.
We make our bars with minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. Our bars are also made with lactation-boosting ingredients such as rolled oats, brewer’s yeast, flax seed, and black sesame seeds.
Our bars are also delicious and portable, so you can snack on one anywhere.
