We asked mothers on our LLLGB because Breastfeeding Matters Facebook Page to share their favourite snacks to be grabbed easily while nursing.
Joanne: Carrot sticks and hummus, flapjacks and fruit.
Dashana: Banana, granola bars and trail mix.
Sarah: Anything I could reach, to be honest! When my baby was small I managed to eat a baked potato and a bacon sarnie whilst feeding and whenever I expressed I would drink milk and eat flapjacks or oaty biscuits. I would also recommend having a drink of water nearby.
Teana: I make my own healthy muffins with bananas and pumpkin seeds or grated carrot, dried cranberries or fresh blueberries and raspberries. I use whatever is in season and make them gluten free and dairy free. Carrot batons, cherry tomatoes, sliced pepper and hummus are also great. A fruit salad with natural yoghurt – or soya/coconut yoghurt if you’re dairy free – is also great.
Carly: I would call my little girl ‘food baby’ as I’d get crumbs of whatever I was eating all over her!
Jayne: Dried apricots, which are also really good for assisting with the bowels after birth!
Louise: With my first baby it was chocolate… It wasn’t healthy, but it got me through the nonstop feeding without any help stage. The second time around I had whatever my toddler left! Having a sandwich and fruit already prepared in the fridge would help and so would someone willing to stop by with some food whenever they were passing!
Dizzy: Peanut cereal bars.
Heather: I once tried to eat paella and dropped some on my baby’s clothes. It left a yellow stain, which in a way was comforting…
Roopa: Mine was custard creams… Not very healthy, but easy to eat one-handed!
Cath: Bananas, nuts, healthy fruit and nut bars or toast with marmite/butter when my husband was around to make it for me. I probably had lots of organic potato crisps too…
And gallons of water and herbal tea in a flask to keep it warm for longer and make it easier to drink.
Luisa: I totally dropped lasagna on my first born a few days after coming home! I remember crying, and then I just learnt to eat with one hand, and really quickly! Pre-sliced cheese can be rolled up in a handy tube! Parmigiano is really full of protein, so a very small chunk goes a long way. And then crackers, toast with butter and cake or muffins.
Charly: Avocado on toast.
Samantha: Cake.
Connie: A juicy apple! It can be eaten one handed and quenches that nursing thirst.
Nicola: Porridge pots. They can be made one handed and don’t require any washing up!
Sarah: Cake, flapjacks, ice cream, sushi, crumpets… Basically anything!
Ellen: Peanut butter on toast.
Inés: Raisins.
Louise: Soup in a mug when my husband was around to prepare it. It was a good way to get through the cluster feeds at dinner time. I managed to eat steak and mash one handed in the early days too!
Sarah: In the newborn days it was dried fruit and nuts, now it’s chocolate coated rice cakes.
Sakura: Grapes or oaty biscuits!
Shira: A raisins and raw nuts mix or crackers with tahini paste and strawberry jam.
Ali: Honey and peanut butter booster bars.
Rebecca: Roast chicken drumsticks. You can hold them with one hand!
Meg: Cheese!
Leanne: I love a prawn salad or scrambled eggs.
Catherine: I would make sandwiches cut into quarters in the morning, spread them all out on a plate and open any packets to be able to eat everything one-handed. I used to put the plate on the couch next to me on the opposite side from the one I was feeding from and swap it over when I swapped breasts.
Amy: Pizza, mac and cheese, cake, milkshakes and grilled cheese.
Thara: Dates.
Debra: Coconut nibbles.
Poppy: Plums and cherries.
Ana Maria: Cheese, cold meats, nuts and strawberry jam sandwiches.
Helen: Bananas, cocoa and orange bars, and homemade oat raisin and honey cookies.
Katie: I was feeding in a sling today and eating a delicious piece of banana sponge slice. I can’t say my baby boy finished his feed as crumb free as he started it, but it was very tasty.
Laura: I prefer savoury on the whole, so nuts or seeds (as I’m always craving protein) or oat cakes which are really filling.
First published in Breastfeeding Matters issue 222