Oriental cuisine - is it possible to eat pilaf while breastfeeding?

Pilaf. So aromatic, juicy, spicy and satisfying - a wonderful dish that makes your mouth water when you remember it.

But is it possible to eat it during breastfeeding? The baby reacts sharply to any changes in the mother’s diet, so you need to very carefully introduce new foods and dishes into the diet, especially pilaf.

After all, it contains rice (a rather heavy product), meat and spices.

In the article we talk in detail about whether a nursing mother can eat pilaf, and give 3 recipes for the safest options for preparing this dish.

Harm

• Rice strengthens, and in women after childbirth, the intestines work unstable for the first time, so rice, especially after a caesarean section, should not be consumed.
• Doctors do not recommend consuming rice during breastfeeding until the baby is 2-4 months old - by this time the child will be able to digest complex carbohydrates normally.
• Real pilaf includes fatty meat, a lot of oil, hot and aromatic spices - all this can cause allergies in a child, as well as intestinal colic, gas and constipation.
• Rice binds water, which can have a negative impact on milk production. Therefore, when consuming it, you need to additionally drink more water.

Benefit

• Rice contains a large amount of vitamins, especially B vitamins, as well as PP, E and minerals: zinc, calcium, iodine, iron and other microelements important for the body of mother and child.
• It has a fixing effect, so it is recommended to use it for diarrhea.
• Fills you up quickly and for a long time, without causing a feeling of heaviness (provided that it is a dietary pilaf).
• After a long diet, pilaf is one of the most delicious opportunities to please a nursing mother.

Harm and benefits of breastfeeding

The basis of pilaf is rice, which does not cause allergies and is one of the first components introduced into complementary foods. It has a beneficial effect on the stomach, if a woman usually does not experience negative effects such as constipation. Rice is a healthy product that gives you a feeling of satiety for a long time and contains a lot of microelements necessary for the body:

• amino acids contribute to the production of enzymes, hormones and antibodies;
• zinc has antioxidant properties;
• iodine stimulates brain activity;
• potassium normalizes heart rate;
• phosphorus maintains the body's energy balance;
• nicotinic acid reduces blood cholesterol levels;
• B vitamins are the best prevention of depressive conditions;
• Vitamin E preserves female beauty.

A distinctive feature of the oriental dish is its high nutritional properties. A small portion is enough to satisfy a woman quickly and for a long time. The complex carbohydrates that make up pilaf maintain the body’s energy at the proper level. Excellent taste and aroma are an ideal opportunity to please a woman after a long diet.

There is no clear answer to the question whether a nursing mother can eat pilaf - everything is individual. Some mothers calmly include new foods and dishes in their diet, others decide to play it safe and wait. Pilaf also has harmful properties:

1. During the postpartum period, a woman’s gastrointestinal tract takes the longest to recover. The intestines are unstable, and rice is famous for its binding qualities. Pushing during defecation after cesarean section is especially dangerous.
2. Rice “binds” water. It is necessary to drink more fluids so that breast milk production does not decrease.
3. Complex carbohydrates are practically not absorbed by the child’s body, so they can cause problems with the child’s intestines.

Experts answer negatively to the question whether real pilaf is possible while breastfeeding. It contains seasonings with a pronounced taste and aroma, a large amount of oil, and fatty meats. Almost all the ingredients in the traditional recipe cause constipation, colic, and allergic reactions in the baby, so it is advisable to choose safe products for cooking.

Rules of use

During breastfeeding, any foods and dishes should be introduced into the diet with caution.

For the first time, it is more like an experiment (or tasting) than a full meal: the mother should eat no more than 50 g of pilaf before 12:00-13:00 in the afternoon and always on a not empty stomach.

If neither the woman nor the baby experiences any negative feelings, next time the portion can be increased to 150 g.

The maximum portion of pilaf is 300 g per week. Even if the body's reaction is positive, an increase in the amount of rice can cause constipation and indigestion in a child.

Pilaf for a nursing mother should be prepared only from the lightest and lowest-calorie products. Instead of fatty lamb or pork, it is better to take chicken (preferably chicken fillet) or tender rabbit. Oils should be used as little as possible, since the baby’s body has difficulty digesting fats.

Another important nuance: the pilaf recipe will have to be greatly modified and such aromatic ingredients as pepper, barberry, tomato paste, etc., which add notes of spice and pungency to this dish, will have to be removed.

You also need to moderate the amount of salt. All these components can provoke an allergic reaction in the baby.

What problems can a baby get from pilaf?

Is it possible to have rice on gv? Despite the beneficial composition of the product, women should eat it carefully while breastfeeding. In rare cases, rice can cause allergies, but excessive consumption can cause constipation in the newborn and mother. In addition, a rice dish can cause bloating with increased gas formation and colic in the baby.

A mother who often eats pilaf runs the risk of getting:

• hypertension,
• diabetes,
• rock formations,
• atherosclerosis.

To avoid negative consequences, the use of the product during lactation should be rationed. How a woman is allowed to eat pilaf while breastfeeding, and in what quantity the pediatrician will tell you.

Recipe for a dietary version of pilaf

If you cook pilaf for a nursing mother, then only dietary pilaf. But “dietary” does not mean that the dish will not be tasty. Not at all! There are recipes that are almost as good as the original ones.

Pilaf without meat

This type of pilaf is cooked in the oven and does not contain meat - the lightest possible dish that is quickly digested and saturates the body with energy for a long time.

Compound:

• white or wild rice – 250 g, or 1 cup;
• sweet pepper – 2 pieces;
• tomatoes (can be cherry) – 2-3 pieces;
• onions - 1 large onion;
• vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons;
• salt (add to taste, but a little);
• greens to choose from - parsley, green onions, dill.

Before adding sweet peppers and tomatoes to the dish, you need to make sure that these vegetables do not cause allergies in the newborn.

Cooking process:

First you need to prepare the vegetables: chop the onion and lightly fry it in oil in a cauldron, then add chopped tomatoes and sweet peppers to it. Add rice to the vegetables and pour water over everything so that it completely covers the mixture + another 2-3 cm on top. Vegetables and rice are stewed in the oven for about half an hour at temperatures up to 180 degrees, until the liquid has completely evaporated. The finished pilaf can be slightly salted and decorated with chopped herbs.

Meat dietary pilaf

For this recipe you will need meat, but definitely dietary meat - chicken (drumsticks or chicken fillet).

Compound:

• chicken meat - 1 chicken breast or 2-3 drumsticks;
• brown rice - 2 glasses of 200-250 g;
• carrots – 1 piece;
• olive oil – 3-4 tablespoons;
• salt to taste.

Cooking process:

Chicken meat should be cut into small pieces or strips and fried in a small amount of oil directly in a cauldron. Add grated carrots to the meat. Pour brown rice over the meat and carrots and add water until it rises 3-4 cm higher. Everything needs to be simmered until the liquid evaporates and the rice is completely softened. It should be noted that brown rice takes much longer to cook than regular white rice, so it is better to pre-boil it until half cooked.

It is better to salt the dish at the end - this way there is less chance that the dish will turn out too salty.

Sweet pilaf

Sweet pilaf contains fruits and some dried fruits. This is a dietary and very tasty version of the dish that you can treat yourself to for dessert.

Compound:

• white rice – 1.5 cups;
• green apple (precisely green, because acid is important in this version of the dish) – 2 pieces;
• pumpkin – 300-400 g;
• raisins – 100 g;
• butter – 50-100 g.

Cooking process:

Before preparing the dish, you need to prepare the raisins: pour hot water over them so that they soften well, and then rinse thoroughly. Apples and pumpkin need to be cut into small pieces. Melt the butter in a cauldron, pour in some of the rice, raisins and apples, then again rice, raisins and fruit - it turns out that the components are laid out in layers. After this, everything is filled with water. Cook until the liquid evaporates (about 60 minutes).

Pilaf recipes for nursing

If pediatricians answer the question whether pilaf is possible while breastfeeding in the first month, then from 4 months it is allowed to prepare simple recipes. Basic rule: all components must be neutral and already included in the woman’s menu.

Vegetarian pilaf in the oven

The oven allows you to use a minimum of vegetable oil, so the calorie content of the dish will be acceptable:

1. Cut a small onion into half rings and fry in a cauldron. First, the bottom of the dish should be sprayed with oil.
2. Peel 2 medium tomatoes, cut into slices, add to the onion.
3. Chop a couple of yellow bell peppers into strips and add to the cauldron along with 200 g of washed rice.
4. Pour water 2 cm above the food, add a little salt, and place in the oven. Cook at 180°C for about half an hour.

Diet pilaf with chicken

To prepare the dish you will need 500 g of brown rice, which must be boiled in advance until semi-raw:

1. Cut 1 kg of chicken fillet into strips, peel the carrots, grate on a coarse grater - place in a thick-bottomed bowl, lightly fry in oil.
2. Add rice and add water 3 cm above the food level.
3. Cook until done, covered.

Pilaf with cumin and raisins

The spicy taste of the dish diversifies the meager menu of a nursing mother:

1. Pre-soak 250 g of rice in water for no longer than an hour.
2. Pour cumin in warm water for half an hour.
3. Melt 100 g of butter, add 80 g of steamed raisins and simmer lightly.
4. Separately, cook the rice until half cooked, mix with a pinch of cumin, add raisins and butter.
5. Add water to cover the ingredients, add salt and simmer for 30 minutes.

Sweet pilaf with pumpkin and apples

To prepare the dessert you will need large green apples:

1. Wash 100 g of raisins, steam, mix with 2 chopped apple cubes.
2. Melt 100 g of butter in a cauldron, lay out 500 g of pumpkin slices, top with 100 g of washed rice and 1/3 of a mixture of apples and raisins.
3. Repeat the layers twice, add salted water so that it just covers the food.
4. Simmer for an hour.

Sweet pilaf with dried fruits

You can prepare the food from 4-5 months, when nuts are introduced into the menu:

1. Boil 400 g of rice until half cooked.
2. Crush 30 g of walnuts.
3. Cut 50 g of raisins, dried apricots and prunes into small pieces - these ingredients should be steamed first.
4. Pour 4 tbsp into the cauldron. l. olive oil, add nuts, dried fruits, after 5 minutes add rice. Fry the mixture, add water to the level of the food.
5. Boil for another 5 minutes, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

At the end of cooking, you can add a little salt.

In the absence of negative reactions to rice, you can introduce an oriental dish into the diet of a nursing mother from 3-4 months after birth. Allergies to pilaf do not occur in infants if a woman begins her acquaintance with small portions and carefully monitors the child’s well-being. By observing the measure and using dietary recipes, mother can pamper herself with food no more than 2-3 times a week.

How to choose and cook rice correctly?

The basis of any pilaf is rice. You need to choose this product carefully, since there are many products in stores that are treated with harmful chemicals.

Such a product is dangerous not only for the mother and baby, but also for the average person.

To choose high-quality rice, you need to carefully examine the pack.

GOST should be indicated on it, and the grains themselves should look the same in size, even and white or slightly yellowish (depending on the type of rice).

You can check the quality of rice at home. To do this, pour boiling water over the grains: if they spread, separate and turn into porridge, the product is of poor quality and has been treated with chemicals. They should only swell, but no more.

The healthiest type of rice is unpolished. It is not without a shell, is hard, and requires more time to prepare. And most importantly, this rice is healthier, since all vitamins and minerals are preserved in it.

Less healthy, but soft and not requiring a long wait, are polished and steamed types of rice. They are processed (complete removal of the shell, steaming), so they contain less nutrients, but the dish turns out to be more tasty and easily digestible.

The following types of rice are most suitable for preparing pilaf:

• Basmati is an Indian variety with a characteristic nutty aroma;
• red – does not boil over and does not turn into rice porridge, tasty and nutritious;
• Spanish - easy to recognize by its small grains. It quickly absorbs water and does not stick together;
• Uzbek rice is large, absorbs a lot of moisture, but does not stick together. The finished dish from it turns out crumbly, with a slightly sweet aftertaste.

Proper selection and preparation of rice

In order for milk to be nutritious and complete, a woman must eat properly. The quality of a natural product intended to nourish an infant depends on the diet.

On store shelves you can find rice treated with chemicals. This raw material lacks useful components. On the contrary, you can get a lot of problems. For example, poisoning or constipation in mother and baby.

When choosing a product, you should carefully inspect the packaging.

1. The grains must be the same size, shape and shade.
2. There should be no debris inside the package.
3. The packaging must have GOST markings.
4. An important point is the date (the grain must be fresh).

To determine the quality of rice (a couple of spoons) is poured with boiled water. Swollen grain indicates high quality of the variety. If the product has spread, separated, or turned into mush, it has been chemically treated.

Most often, for women during lactation, rice is used to cook porridge, puddings, meat or vegetable stew. The product is added to soup and salads. Side dishes are prepared from snow-white, crumbly, and hard (brown) varieties. Steamed grain is not suitable for risotto and casseroles (thickness is required). Desserts, meatballs, and meatballs are prepared from cut-grain, round rice.

When choosing a variety and dish, you should lean on the baby’s chair. If it is thin and frequent, it is recommended to eat liquid porridges with water, soups, and casseroles. can be eliminated with undercooked, long grain or parboiled rice with a vegetable or fruit smoothie.

During lactation, the woman chooses her own diet (individually). If you consume pilaf within reasonable limits, then there will be no harm to the child or mother.

1. The first month after childbirth, mothers should protect their and their children's digestive tract from changes. Then you can introduce the rice dish in small portions.
2. The most valuable components are found in unpolished grain varieties.
3. The first tests are carried out with the product cooked in water without the addition of other ingredients. SS of the third month, you can diversify the porridge with fruits or vegetables (carefully). Before introducing new components, it is necessary to make sure that the child’s body reacts positively to additional products.
4. You should not get carried away with dishes made from rice grains (2-3 times a week).
5. If your baby develops colic after feeding, the amount of product consumed should be reduced. If reducing the portion does not bring the desired result, rice is excluded from the diet altogether. A second attempt at introducing the product is possible after a month and a half.
6. It is better to avoid milk porridge for the first 4.5 months, as cow protein is a strong allergen for the child.
7. From the age of five months, the baby is introduced to dairy products and cereals. Milk for porridge is diluted with water in half.
8. For nursing women, herbs, spices, onions, and garlic are not added to the dish (so that the milk does not have a taste).
9. It is better to eat pilaf at lunch.

Cooking technology

Before adding rice to vegetables and meat or fruits and dried fruits (if the pilaf is sweet), it must be rinsed well with running water.

To make it boil faster and be softer, you must first boil it until half cooked.

Then drain the water, rinse the grains with cold water and only then put them in the cauldron.

During cooking, do not stir the ingredients with a spoon. After all, this is what distinguishes real pilaf from rice porridge - it is not stirred, so the fat in which vegetables and meat were fried does not stick the grains together, and the dish turns out crumbly and traditional in appearance and taste.

You should also not stir because this will cause the rice to start to burn.

Without mixing, all components heat up evenly and do not burn. Due to this, the characteristic taste and aroma of the dish is preserved.

Can a nursing mother eat this dish?

Reference! There are a huge number of pilaf recipes: from classic Uzbek with lamb to sweet with dried fruits.

Pilaf is not a prohibited dish on the menu of a nursing mother, but it must be prepared in a dietary version: the meat can be stewed, not fried.

It is worth preparing pilaf from lean and hypoallergenic varieties of meat: veal, turkey, rabbit, chicken. The only spices allowed are turmeric and a little barberry.

From what month?

Pilaf can be included in the diet of a young mother when the baby reaches 2 months. In the first month after childbirth, you should not rely on rice (it causes constipation, which is especially important after childbirth). And meat is introduced gradually, starting with easily digestible varieties. Before preparing pilaf, it is necessary that all its ingredients are already in the diet of the lactating mother separately.

Benefits for the mother

Pilaf is extremely healthy and includes the following properties for the nursing mother:

• high content of B vitamins, as well as E and PP - support immunity;
• the presence of many microelements (potassium, iron, zinc, calcium, iodine) – contribute to the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system, brain and central nervous system;
• maintains the beauty of hair, the strength of nails and the elasticity of the skin;
• helps improve mood.

Before you try pilaf

Before a nursing mother decides to try pilaf, she should start with regular rice porridge on water. You can start preparing such porridges with milk only from 3-4 months.

Rice porridge will help determine whether such a dish is suitable for the baby and mother or not. This is excellent preparation before tasting pilaf.

Another “test” dish is rice casserole. It is prepared with vegetables, eggs, low-fat sour cream and herbs. Salt and spices are not added. The dish is quickly digestible, it is light and easy to prepare.

Rules for eating pilaf during lactation

• It is better to introduce pilaf 3-4 months after the birth of the baby. The first course should be dietary and as simple as possible. If the baby does not have allergies, various ingredients can be included in the dish in the future;
• If your child has an allergic reaction, stop eating the allergenic food and consult a doctor! Read more about what to do if your baby has a food allergy here;
• The first portion should be 50-60 grams, gradually increase the rate to 130-150 grams;
• It is recommended that a nursing mother eat pilaf in the first half of the day no more than twice a week, and no more than once if there are also rice dishes on the menu;
• Avoid pilaf if you or your child experience frequent constipation. If you have this problem, it is better to cook plain steamed rice;
• First, it is better for a nursing mother to introduce regular rice porridge with water (2-3 months of lactation), and then start eating other rice dishes.