Good Snacks for Nursing Mom

Nuts, every kind you like. Hazel, peanut, pecans & walnuts. Sunflower seeds, string cheese, seedless tangerines, Bananas, apples & pears.

If you are a health food person you might want to keep around some hummus and flatbread, cottage cheese & fruit, rice cakes w/ peanut butter and jam, the small whole wheat bagels & cream cheese, granola or protein bars, cut up extra broccoli and other veggies with some dip. My husband especially likes the hummus and flatbread (or pita chips) so I always keep some from Trader Joes in the fridge so he has a healthy snack around and won't eat other junk. My daughter is 28m and I find myself eating a lot of bowls of cereal for snacks because I can give her spoonsfull and it keeps her occupied while I eat.

Hi K.,
I kept a bunch of Kashi bars and snacks in a bowl on my counter. Yes, I got tired of eating granola bars, but they really filled in the gaps when I was starved (all the time) and not able to "make" something. Plus they are easily portable without being messy. I also ate a lot of cheese sticks (Horizon) and pre-cut fruit in the container from the grocery store.
Several times while grocery shopping, I would buy some vegatarian fresh made sushi at the store and gobble the box down while shopping. It was always funny to see the cashier's face as she scanned the empty box!
Congrats on your new baby1

Don't go hungry. That could make your milk production slow.
Take one night after the baby goes to sleep to do alot of preparations for the foods you like and stick them in the frig to grab all week long. One thing that I always liked is to get those small croisants and put ham and chees on them and put in plastic bags and set in the frig. I could always grab one out of the bad and it was already made. Another suggestion is something that is frozen where you could take it out of the freezer and pop in the micro and you could even fix a plate at night as if you were taking a lunch to work, and you could get it out of the container, pop it in the microwave and leave it till the bell dings.
Take it out and it is ready. For something sweet, the little individual packaged cakes are easy to grab.
If you like salads, you could always make some of them up ahead of time in individual bowls and boil some eggs up ahead of time and put them on the salads. When you get hungry just take it out and squirt dressing on it and there was nothing to do but take the covering off of it.
You can do almost anything, just do it ahead of time when the baby goes to bed at night. I know you are ready to crash as soon as the baby goes to bed but if you already go to the story and have all the stuff, you can do it fairly quickly then jump in the bed at night. I remember those days so clearly. I think that I pretended that I had to go to work the next day and fixed meal accordinly. That helped my thoughts in preparing.
Good luck. I hope that helped.

I ate Kids Cliff Bars. They are smaller, less fat and calories and filled me up for at least 1 1/2 hours. I also had a 2 1/2 year old with a newborn and I worked my tail off to get them napping on the same schedule in the afternoon. My baby is now 8 months old and my son 3 and they nap from 2:00-4:30pm each day allowing me to prepare dinner, clean nap etc. I have had them on the same schedule for 5 months now! It is bliss (although I know my 3 year old will quit napping soon. eek!) Soon your baby will be napping on more of a regular schedule and all will be much easier!!!! Trust me! :) Also, don't feel bad about putting your baby down in a bouncy seat or swing for awhile while your toddler colors on his own. You need your own time too!!! And it's good for them to be on their own as well. :) Good luck!

Hi K.-

Cheese and crackers is always a good choice, because of the protein and calcium. I also like Luna Bars, they taste GREAT! and very good for you. I always keep Luna Bars in my purse/car for those times I miss a meal.

When I was a Nanny, I took care of 3 children under 5. When it was time to feed the baby a bottle, the other kids were always hungry too. To keep everyone happy, I would make a snack box every morning of cheese, sliced veggies, fruit etc. and but it in the fridge. This allowed the kids to make a snack I would approve of without me scrambling. You may want to so something like that as well.

I hope it helps!

R. Magby

Kashi bars save me! High protein, low sugar. I have them stashed around the house, car and the kids' bags. You cam buy them in bulk at Costco.

Also, bananas, nuts, baby carrots, string cheese, microwaveable burritos (Amy's Kitchen makes natural ones), bagels, dried fruit - all things my oldest will eat too.

Hi K.,

I too have been going this this. Our first baby girl is 10 weeks, I'm exclusively breastfeeding and even without an older child, I was having a hard time getting enough to eat. I now keep snacks like nuts, raisens, coconut flakes in small jars that I just grab and bring to my nursing chair or leave on the end table within reach. A few time, I've washed and chopped up carrot sticks, celery and cucumber..... Lately have been feeling like I haven't been eating enough protein so am planning to slice some cheese and dish out yogurt in serving portions so I can just grab those from the fridge. Hope this helps! You're not alone! ~M.

First off GOOD FOR YOU! I nursed both of my children and boy does it take a toll to your already hectic life.A friend turned me on to Soy Crisps, kinda like rice cakes with better texture. They sell them at Fred Meyer in the Organic section. Like 5-6 flavors for about $2-$3 also I like to take roast beef cold cuts with pre-sliced provolone or string cheese and roll it with some creamy horseradish. Turkey with swiss and zesty mustard. You can just keep ziplocs of each . Great for on the go (kids love them to)

Remember to get yourself a drink of water before you eat. As you know, nursing takes a LOT of fluids from out bodies and thirst is often masked in our hunger.

You can still keep up with the healthy, non-processed foods then keep stock of apples, bananas and carrots. If you don't even want to take time for peeling carrots you can resort to the "baby" carrots.

Young Thai Coconuts are a great source of nutrition (although you might have to hide them from your 2yo. My kids LOVE the juice). At Whole Foods they have them with a notch cut out and a straw in already. You can also take a metal spoon and scrape the meat out and eat it. Young Thai's are very tender. They are also available at Asian Markets for cheaper, but WF does have the prep done for you.

Keep good bread on hand and enjoy toast or sandwhiches.

One of my favorite snacks is bean and avocado salad. Drain and rinse canned beans of your choice (I used black or kidney), chunk half an avocado, sprinkle with a little red wine vinegar and sea salt,stir and enjoy. My kids like it too.

Good luck!

All good suggestions. I would add hard boil some eggs, I ate a lot of those little almond butter packets I think Justin's is the brand, wash and pre cut bell peppers celery carrots, etc. At night before we went to bed, I would wear the baby while my husband and I prepared snacks for me and his lunch for work. This way he could do all the things I was nervous doing while holding her like using a knife. I would also make pb/almond butter/walnut butter and jelly/banana/agave/honey on whole wheat or spelt tortillas. If you make some for yourself, you can cut it into shapes for your toddler as well. Everything tastes better in a star shape!

I wear baby in the sling and nurse while I prepare food, this helps. I also make large pots of soup ( can put the chopped up ingredients in the pot and then just put it on the stove and turn it on, so safe for baby. Then when I want to eat I can just heat what I need.

I am starting a cooking blog, so if you want to read it, email or message me and I will get you the address.

I have a 6 month old, a 4 year old an almost 10 year old and also a 12 year old, I school the older ones from home and also work full time, but manage to cook like you almost all organic meals and snacks and from scratch most of it, I have a method and it after you learn it works well.

I'm not good with traditional 'snack' type foods. when I want something to 'eat' I like having some protein or make it my meal for that time of the day.
Some of my favorite quick meals /snacks are:

rolled ham slices with swiss cheese (i cut them into a stick) if you wanted added uumph. roll in fav. tortilla. ditto with turkey and chedder.
these are the already sliced kind meats. (your brand choice). and i did pre-cut several swiss cheese sticks/chedder sticks in advance or just rolled them around pre-made individually wrapped ones when i first started with them. ... i know some people say stay away from processed.. however,. when your really hungry at this time..just find some nitrate free ones and do what you can at one time.

bar-b-que or some other way cooked - chicken breasts. I would always make extra every time and either keep in the refrig..or put in freezer individually and then just pop them in the microwave. if you double, almost triple your cooking of them once -you have some for another meal too + some breakfast or snacks. (I know you said lack of prep-time but enlist your husband on the weekend to make a whole rack of them !!!)

a scrambled egg. put one/two in a coffee mug - cover and microwave (you need to stir at least once) about 1 -1/2 mins... eat it right out of the mug :)

Grill cheese.. I toasted the bread ..but then microwaved to melt the cheese.. no extra pans. (actually i know use my super tiny george foreman grill it does both sides at one time) if you have a toaster oven even better than microwave.

almonds & or mixed nuts,.
or Homemade gorp.
(if you have a sweet tooth.. add a few choc chips or a bag of m&m's) this is your own mix. I like cheerios or kix in mine.. few pretzels. seasme sticks.. chedder crackers, the nuts etc..and keep in a 'jar' for quick handful.

mini-bagels (kept in freezer) and cream cheese. again with said ham or turkey if extra hungry.

and lastly.. a longtime kid favorite.. peanut butter on celery or apples.

:) happy new year.

nuts nuts nuts! Filberts (hazelnuts), cashews, whichever you choose...so good and filling! They have protein and are super quick. Also, for your 2.5 year old..."ants on a log" celery, PB and raisins...can all be OG. Cut up a ton of carrot sticks, celery and peppers etc...put in a tupperware in frig to grab. Also, my favorite is smoked wild salmon. spendy but yummy!

I have become somewhat obsessed with Chobini Greek style yogurt. It has a ton of protein in it and the plain doesn't have any added sugar--throw some frozen berries in it--so good!

cheese and crackers, cheese quesadilla, peanut butter crackers... Fresh fruits and veggies.

I eat a lot of trail mix and open-faced all-natural peanut butter sandwiches. The organic trail mix is pretty pricey, so I buy the Mountain Trail Mix from Wal-Mart. Also, whole grain cereal along with rice milk has saved me on many occassions. Oh, and Fig Newtons for when I am on the go - not so healthy, but contain fiber and enough sugar to keep my blood sugar from plummeting.