The nutrition of a nursing mother should be healthy and varied so that the child grows up healthy. It should contain fish as a valuable product with a rich set of nutrients. Many women want smoked fish during the feeding period, since their diet is bland in terms of taste. But they are worried about the child’s condition. Only complete information on this topic can help.
Smoking fish big and small
Before drawing conclusions about the benefits and harms of fish, we need to consider the smoking process. It comes in two types - cold and hot. Proper smoking is considered a gentle processing method, because it has minimal impact on the product. It retains more useful substances than with other types of processing, for example, when frying in oil.
Hot smoking
With the hot processing method, smoking occurs under the influence of table salt and high smoke temperature. It is obtained by burning certain firewood and sawdust at high temperatures from 80 to 170 ° C.
Such fish turns out well-cooked, juicy, its flesh crumbles into fibers, and has a smoky aroma. Nutrients are retained. This product is not suitable for long-term storage. Maximum period: 3 days in the refrigerator.
Cold smoking
Cold smoking involves the use of a special liquid smoke product. The fish is immersed in it and heated to 40°C. It acquires the characteristic smell, taste and color of smoking. Nutrients become less abundant and high levels of carcinogens increase. The flesh of the fish is denser, yellow in color, and tastes salty. Products can be stored using this method of preparation for a long time due to the low water content in the carcasses.
Choosing the right fish
While a mother is breastfeeding, her body is the resource provider for milk production. Among the products there are many that are poorly compatible with breastfeeding and can cause unwanted reactions in the baby’s body. A nursing mother can eat fish. But with reservations.
What are the benefits of fish for breastfeeding?
Pediatricians and breastfeeding specialists agree: fish is good for breastfeeding. This is explained by the high content of valuable substances with easy digestibility of protein.
When breastfeeding, it is important for a woman to eat properly so that she has enough to produce milk. An infant has nowhere to get minerals, vitamins, proteins, and fats for growth except from the mother.
Therefore, the composition of breast milk is more or less constant and depends on the mother’s nutrition only in certain parameters. For example, in terms of the composition and amount of vitamins.
Everything useful that the nurse did not eat will still end up in the milk, but from her body: the bones will “share” calcium and phosphorus, the muscles will share protein, etc.
Therefore, nursing mothers need to make their diet rich and thoughtful. Then no one will be left out.
What is fish rich in, why should nursing mothers not exclude it from their diet:
- Mineral salts. Calcium, fluorine and phosphorus are useful for bone growth, magnesium and sulfur are useful for building nervous tissue, iron, iodine, etc. help proper hematopoiesis.
- Vitamins. Particularly rich in vitamins A, D and K, PP. But in the first place are B vitamins. They help the gastrointestinal tract of mother and child to work correctly, and the newborn especially needs this.
- Fish oil during breastfeeding is a rich source of fatty acids that control lipid metabolism, synthesize vitamin F, are responsible for the elasticity of blood vessels and protect against cancer. It can be taken both in natural form and in the form of dietary supplements in capsules.
- It is rich in enzymes that help digest food. And its protein contains all the essential amino acids, and it is absorbed by the body almost completely.
Precautionary measures
Although fish is useful for a young mother, during breastfeeding it is worth adhering to a number of rules to protect yourself and the child:
- For a nursing mother, it is important where the fish lived. It is better if it is sea or oceanic, because the vitamin and mineral composition is richer than freshwater, and there is more valuable fat.
- If it is verified that the child is not allergic to different varieties, the mother can eat almost any. Although it happens that a baby has no reaction to an inhabitant of the seas that grew up in the wild, but it may appear to one that is artificially raised. As a rule, in such cases, an allergy occurs to dyes that are added to the food to brighten the color of the fillet. It is better to protect a newborn from these chemical additives.
- When breastfeeding, salt the fish well and cook longer to ensure that possible parasites are neutralized. You may not notice them and eat them. The least number of worms is found in sea water, and among freshwater, you should prefer river water. Fish that lived in stagnant water (pond, lake) are more infected.
What kind of fish can a nursing mother eat?
When breastfeeding, you have to weigh the pros and cons when choosing foods.
Permitted and prohibited varieties
While breastfeeding, you can and should eat different types of fish, but some of them come with reservations.
Red fish quite often ends up in markets and stores from farms. It has been proven that in terms of the content of useful substances, artificially grown individuals cannot compete with those caught in the open sea. If the product is not commercial, bypass it for now.
The river fish is quite suitable for a nursing mother, the same noble pike perch. But there are limitations here too. For example, bottom-dwelling catfish feed on carrion, everything that is on the bottom. Therefore, it is better to refrain from buying catfish during lactation.
Commercial salmon, chum salmon and other types of noble red fish (provided the child does not have an allergic reaction) are very useful to add to the diet. Especially if it was fished in cold waters: the content of healthy fats is an order of magnitude higher. You can detect artificial colors in farmed fish: they slightly color the water or oil in which the fish is cooked.
River trout with white tender meat is quite suitable for a nursing mother's menu. True, this freshwater species is readily bred by fish farms.
Varieties with low fat content - hake, pollock, cod - are suppliers of protein, and it is less likely to cause reactions in the baby and is digested by the body much easier and faster than animal meat.
The baby grows very quickly and doubles its weight by six months, which means that there must be more protein in the mother’s diet than usual, otherwise the body will take it from the woman’s muscles.
The low calorie content of these types of fish will help mom quickly return to her previous shape.
The champion in protein content is tuna. But hold off on it for now: it accumulates toxic mercury. The larger the individual, the more harm it causes. This also applies to tuna's relative, mackerel, although its fat is good for the heart and blood vessels.
Salty
Eating herring is good for you, everyone knows that. Due to the lack of heat treatment, valuable fats and fat-soluble vitamins are preserved as much as possible. It would seem that with such benefits, doctors should specifically prescribe herring during breastfeeding. But is this so clear during the Civil War?
Excess salt retains water in tissues. Although nursing mothers should drink more, fluid turnover is important in this process, not its retention in the cells. With excess salt, all liquids, including milk, become saltier. Not only is this level of salt harmful to an infant, it can also stagnate in the ducts.
Salted fish can also be dangerous due to parasites: helminth eggs die if the technological requirements for the duration of salting and the concentration of the solution are fully observed. But most people prefer lightly salted fish. This poses a potential danger of infection and subsequent intoxication. Therefore, despite all the benefits of herring, it is not recommended for a nursing mother to eat salted fish.
Smoked
When choosing fish while breastfeeding, you should avoid those that have gone through the smoking apparatus. First, smoked fish is salted and then treated with smoke for a long time.
It does not undergo heat treatment. Smoke contains combustion products that are far from healthy, some are carcinogenic.
The carcass, like a sponge, absorbs them, so nutritionists do not recommend smoked meats to anyone, not just young mothers.
Canned
Canned fish made according to Soviet technological requirements should not contain any preservatives, except for a small amount of salt.
Long-term storage is ensured by the very high processing temperature of the jars and strict compliance with the requirements for the preparation of raw materials. Nursing mothers can eat such fish without expecting a catch.
This is if there is no doubt about the quality of the products of specific modern industries. True, canned food no longer contains as many vitamins, but fish is still rich in mineral salts and protein.
Fried
Fried fish is tasty, aromatic and very appetizing. True, the benefits are less than steamed or boiled. Fatty acids are destroyed at very high temperatures, and carcinogens are formed in the crust.
But if you don’t get carried away with the crust being too golden and alternate between different cooking methods, then why not.
Dried
As is the case with salted fish, it is better not to eat dried fish during breastfeeding. The reasons are the same: parasite eggs may be viable, excess salt makes it difficult for milk to leave the ducts. In addition, the benefits of such food are questionable.
How to cook fish for a nursing mother
Pediatricians advise to refrain from including fish in the menu of a nursing mother in the first month. This is a period when a woman carefully tries new foods for her baby, gradually expanding her diet. But with potential allergens (and fish is one of them), it is better to wait 1-2 months.
In the future, it is important to choose gentle cooking methods. For the first six months, avoid frying; this can undermine the normal functioning of your stomach and will bring minimal benefits. It is healthier to bake, steam or boil fish.
By the way, broth made from bones, heads and fins contains more minerals than broth cooked from fish meat. Of course, not everyone is ready to eat boiled fish because of its specific smell.
But when baked and properly seasoned, the fish will not only retain its vitamin and mineral wealth to the maximum, but will also surprise you with a pleasant taste and wonderful aroma.
Doctor Komarovsky's opinion:
— the goal of all advice is to make the life of a nursing mother comfortable. Whatever you ate before pregnancy and childbirth, eat after. There are only two “buts” about fish. First, hold off on seafood to begin with, as these are strong allergens. Long-lived large fish such as tuna and swordfish accumulate mercury. You don't need this!
Source: https://ProGrudnoe.ru/pitanie/kakuyu-rybu-mozhno-kormyashhej-mame.html
Effect on mother and baby
Good fish will always be good for the body. A piece of hot smoked, freshly prepared food will be useful for a nursing mother, rather as a small change to a boring bland diet. A small piece that a mother eats will not affect the child. After all, not all products immediately enter breast milk in full.
However, you cannot experiment like this with a newborn baby. But if the baby is already more than 6 months old, his digestive system is fully formed, then a nursing woman can afford a little variety.
Hot smoked fish will not bring benefits to the body (except for taste pleasure). High salt content can negatively affect kidney function. Too fatty varieties can cause exacerbations of gastritis, liver and pancreas diseases. To treat these diseases, a woman will have to take medications, which will affect breastfeeding.
If a nursing mother has eaten smoked fish, she needs to monitor her baby for a day. Reactions from the digestive system (bloating, increased gas production) and skin (rash, redness) are possible.
The benefits of fish for a nursing mother
- Vitamin D contained in fish allows calcium ingested in food to be completely absorbed in the baby’s body;
- Fish is easier to digest than meat, and thanks to this it normalizes stool and has a beneficial effect on the intestines of a nursing mother;
- Essential omega-3 acids, which fish is rich in, strengthen the cardiovascular system of both mother and child;
- Fish protein is perfectly absorbed by the body, and it creates a barrier to the formation of salts of lactic acids and uric acids, which has a beneficial effect on the mother’s kidneys, which after childbirth rearrange their function into a “pre-pregnancy” mode of operation and need additional protection.
A contraindication to eating fish during breastfeeding may be the mother's predisposition to food allergies. If she has previously had allergic reactions to any type of food, it is worth postponing the introduction of fish into food during breastfeeding. In this case, you should start eating fish six to eight months after birth, 20-30 grams per meal.
Now let’s look separately at the different types of fish that are most popular and most often on our table, and evaluate the benefits of each of them for a nursing mother.
Types of fish and features
1. Red fish (salmon, pink salmon, trout, salmon, etc.) are champions in the content of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Red fish is allowed for consumption during breastfeeding, but in moderation, because it is a fairly allergenic product.
2. Salted fish, by definition, contains a large amount of salt, which can lead to an imbalance in kidney function and the appearance of edema. Therefore, salted fish during breastfeeding is not recommended for breastfeeding mothers.
3. Smoked fish will not bring any benefits, because when processing fish with smoke or in a smokehouse, most of the beneficial substances are destroyed. But carcinogenic substances, on the contrary, accumulate, which, with prolonged use, leads to the formation of chronic diseases of the body, and even oncology. Also, insufficient processing of fish ensures that parasites are not destroyed in it, which can lead to serious damage to the body.
4. Dried fish in most cases is soaked in salt, which disinfects it, but is still unsuitable for food for a nursing mother. Eating too much salt can cause it to accumulate in the breast ducts and change the taste of the milk, which can lead to your baby refusing to breastfeed. Dried fish is not the best product for breastfeeding, so take care of your baby’s health and avoid using it during lactation.
5. River fish contains a lot of bones, but this does not deprive it of its beneficial qualities. If you steam this fish or make broth from it, this is an excellent dish for a nursing mother. River fish is healthy during breastfeeding, but only when it is cooked correctly and without the use of oil.
6. Fried fish is contraindicated for consumption. Since frying takes more than 15 minutes, this time is enough for all the beneficial substances to be destroyed during high heat treatment in oil.
7. Dried fish is similar in nutritional value to dried fish. Of course, when prepared naturally - salting and drying, both omega-3 acids and protein are preserved, but the increased salt content negates all the benefits for a nursing mother. Therefore, dried fish is temporarily prohibited during breastfeeding.
Remember that fresh and chilled fish has the greatest value, but frozen fish already loses half of its beneficial qualities.
The health of you and your baby depends on the organization of your diet during breastfeeding. Include boiled or stewed fish in your diet once or twice a week within 50 grams . This will be enough to provide the body with everything useful that is found in fish.
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Video about nutrition during breastfeeding - what is possible and what is not
A small child, during the period of breastfeeding, along with the milk he feeds, receives the same harmful and beneficial microelements as his mother.
Therefore, only high-quality food products should be present in the mother’s diet, which raises a completely logical question: is it possible for a nursing mother to smoked fish? This is a favorite delicacy of many, because the product has a special taste, but the method of preparing it confuses not only mothers with breastfeeding, but also other people who care about health.
The benefits and harms of smoked fish
For a nursing woman, smoked fish is included in the menu for variety, and not for the sake of enhancing nutritional value. After all, there are practically no useful elements left in this product after this type of processing. But even introducing something new into a monotonous menu is also necessary. This improves mood, which is important for a nursing mother, baby, and the whole family.
Cooking principles
During breastfeeding, it is necessary to choose the right food products and prepare them in such a way that the dish does not cause harm. A nursing mother can eat fish:
- steamed;
- boiled;
- baked.
When frying, a lot of fat is used, which, moreover, is partially burned. As a result, carcinogenic substances penetrate into the product, which is dangerous for the baby; in addition, the risk of an allergic reaction in the child increases, and the mother receives extra calories.
Fried fish in small quantities is allowed to be included in the menu, but provided that it was prepared at home, in fresh oil (in public catering, frying oil is rarely changed, which is why the concentration of carcinogens increases sharply). The fried skin should be removed, as it contains a maximum of harmful substances.
Salted fish is considered a dangerous product for a nursing mother, since this method of preparation excludes heat treatment. As a result, there is a high risk of becoming infected with parasites. The same drawback is present in dried fish. In addition, a large amount of salt in the body provokes edema and increases the load on the kidneys and cardiovascular system. All this negatively affects the health of the mother and the composition of breast milk.
We will separately consider whether smoked fish can be consumed while breastfeeding, or whether there are serious restrictions on the use of this product.
From what month is it better to introduce smoked fish?
You can introduce smoked fish into your diet no earlier than 2-3 months after the baby is born. You need to do this during a favorable period. The baby should not be sick at this time, be capricious, or be in the recovery period after an illness. This will make it easier for him to cope with the change in his mother’s diet.
A nursing woman should not get carried away with such a product, eat a little, and evaluate the baby’s reaction. You need to choose high-quality, fresh fish. The later this product is included in the diet, the better it will be. You should eat the fish immediately after feeding your baby. Then, before the next feeding, harmful substances will be absorbed in the mother’s body and will be less likely to pass into breast milk.
When the child is 1.5 years old, the mother will be able to eat hot smoked fish all the time. But at the same time, be sure to monitor the child’s reaction to this product. Carcinogens can affect the nervous system, so increased irritability and tearfulness can be a reaction to smoked fish in the diet of a nursing mother.
Can a mother eat smoked fish while breastfeeding?
The main problem with smoked fish while breastfeeding is that many contain benzene to produce such a marine product. The substance belongs to the category of carcinogens, which, in high concentrations and with fairly long-term consumption, cause protracted chronic diseases, as well as serious cancer.
In addition, all parasites in fish are not completely destroyed due to insufficient heat treatment, which leads to very serious disturbances in the functioning of the body of the mother and child.
Based on the above, the conclusion suggests itself: a nursing mother should consume smoked fish with great caution, because:
- In addition to dangerous liquid smoke, manufacturers often use stale fish, and the smoke clogs other odors.
- There is no assurance that this seafood product was transported and stored under appropriate conditions and that all product sales deadlines were met.
- The fish does not undergo heat treatment, which increases the risk of infection with parasites.
- The product contains a lot of salt, which negatively affects lactation.
Smoked fish should be eaten carefully and not in large quantities, and it should be introduced into the diet no earlier than your baby is 3 months old.
What kind of smoked fish can a nursing mother eat without causing a bad reaction from the baby? Should she really give up the product until the lactation process is complete? Not at all:
- If smoked fish is such a valuable or beloved product for a woman,
- If this type of fish was constantly present in her diet before pregnancy and during pregnancy,
- If the nursing mother is confident in the quality of the fish,
- If the mother does not suffer from allergies, and she is 100% convinced that her baby is not allergic, a little fish, not every day and not in large quantities, will not harm her.
How to choose?
When going shopping, it is important to know how to choose the right smoked fish. Basic purchasing rules:
- the color should not be bright. High-quality fish has a uniform yellow tint, gray color is a violation of technology;
- If the product has packaging, it must not be damaged. Apart from salt and water, no other components are added to the composition;
- It is better to choose a fish with its head. The head of a spoiled fish is cut off;
- The flesh of the fish is dense, there should be no traces left on it. But there may be imprints of the tray mesh, since the fish is smoked on a grill;
- The fish should have a smoky aroma. If it is not there, the product has been lying on the counter or stored in the refrigerator for a long time;
- It’s better to buy the whole carcass rather than pieces.
During pregnancy and feeding, you need to select non-fatty varieties of fish (pike perch, sea bass, burbot), they will be better absorbed by the stomach. Also, sea fish is preferable to river fish.
For a nursing mother, it is better to buy smoked fish in a store rather than at the market. In large retail chains, you can control manufacturers, there are supervisory organizations, storage conditions are checked, and you can officially file claims.
Home smoking options
Smoked fish will be healthy if prepared according to all the rules yourself. To do this, you need to use frozen sea fish or fresh, caught fish. It is necessary to defrost the carcasses in salted water at normal temperature to preserve all the useful elements. Smoking should be done on wood from deciduous trees that do not contain resinous substances - oak, hornbeam, alder, maple, cherry, apple tree.
You need dry sawdust and firewood. Humidity above 25% will give the product a dark, unattractive appearance, but will not allow it to become smoked inside. The smoke temperature should be 80 degrees Celsius to completely smoke all layers of pulp.
Fatty varieties will be tasty;
- zander;
- mackerel;
- flounder;
- greenling;
- catfish;
- Baltic herring
During the feeding period, it is better to choose less fatty types, but they will also turn out well. These are perch, pike, crucian carp.
Smoking recipe
Before the smoking process, carcasses must be gutted. But small ones (up to 700 g) are left uncut. The fish is not cleaned, that is, the head and scales are left behind. This will prevent soot from getting inside. Large specimens may not fit into the smokehouse, so they are cut lengthwise or chopped crosswise. This is at the discretion of the owners; technology is not violated here.
Salting occurs first to add flavor and kill parasite larvae. If the carcass is smoked in pieces, rub them with salt and seasonings and leave for 2-3 hours, depending on the size.
When salting the whole thing, you need to prepare a salt solution. 80 g of salt dissolves in one liter of water. You need to calculate - for every kilogram of fish, prepare 1.5 liters of salt solution. The carcass is salted in such conditions for 12 hours. If such salting occurs at a fishing spot, then the solution should be more concentrated - 300 g per liter. But the soaking time in it is reduced. It's only 2.5 hours. Before dipping the fish into this salt solution, rub it with black pepper and seasonings.
Approximately 500 g of wood chips are placed in an even layer on the bottom of the smokehouse. A grill is placed above, and the carcasses are laid out on it in one layer. They must be chosen the same size. Lay out at intervals for better passage of smoke. You need to tightly close the smokehouse with a lid on top so that the smoke remains inside
This design is most often installed on a grill for uniform, long-term heating. But you can make a regular fire downstairs. When white smoke comes out of the smokehouse, the fire below must be extinguished, but do not remove the smoldering coals.
The entire smoking process will take from 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the carcasses. Then you need to remove the smokehouse from the heat and carefully remove the fish. Readiness is determined by the color of the pulp. A dark, brown tint indicates readiness. Light colors indicate a damp place in the carcass. The process will have to be repeated.
It must be remembered that a product made by hot smoking should be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days.
