Coping with a newborn and food aversions after HG

[LilacRain]

My DS was born 17days ago. I had HG the entire pregnancy. DH was very worried about my health and the baby getting enough nutrition while i was pregnant, and he is still very anxious about my diet. Since the birth I've lost weight but I'm naturally very slim. Also BF.

After giving birth the HG symptoms vanished, but my appetite is non existent and I hate eating. I have to force myself to eat. I manage breakfast (toast), a sandwich for lunch and a small meal in the evening but it's a struggle. I try to snack on fruit and biscuits in between meals but everything tastes strange, it tastes of chemicals or 'off'. Eating has become really stressful. I've vomited a few times over the last week, which I imagine is an after-effect of HG or maybe just tiredness (baby wakes every 2 hours for milk). However I'm making plenty of milk and have to express 2xday in addition to breast-feeding as my breasts get painful and engorged.

Has anyone else experienced this loss of appetite/food aversions postpartum? How do I get my DH to relax and stop obsessing over what I eat?

It's very highly likely to be hormones still, lilac.

Your husband's been ... uh ... he's struggled to cope all the way along, though he did get better.

Tell him that it's hormones and that it will get better, but that stressing about it is putting more stress on you and making it all a bigger problem, not smaller.

If you got the vomming even after tinyLilac has arrived, then it's really likely to be the hormones - do you get an extra surge of nausea when you are either extra tired, or when the letdown of milk happens?

very occasionally some aversions remain long term, but generally they do improve as the weeks go on.

er - silly questoin - have you tried chocolate cake or other highly calorific things? now's the time to eat whatever you fancy.

I had HG and I found eating incredibly difficult after birth. Some factors contributed to it though. The stress of a newborn meant my appetite was affected. I was also incredibly constipated post c-section - what was your birth like? My mood was also quite low (PND) and I think that contributed to the lack of appetite and general disinterest in food. Do you think any of the above could contribute?

It takes a long while to get over HG especially as food is everywhere and adds to the torture of the condition.

from the 5:2 diet thread, BigChoc knows a lot about food. Just some ideas if you fancy any of them.

Nutritious high cal food
. Oily fish like salmon & mackerel
. avocados
. unsalted nuts
. almond / cashew/ pnut butter
. hummus, taramasalata, tzatziki e.g. with warm pita
. full fat Greek yoghurt, e.g. Total
. olive oil (NOT standard veg oil) drizzled over salads or baked veg
. 85-90% cocoa chocolate (v high antioxidant and v little sugar) e.g. Lindt Mild Excellence
. Dates or figs with cream

Very Reasonable
. Grilled cheese on wholegrain toast
. Bacon & tomato wg toast (open sandwiches are less carby)
. Banana, peanut butter and cinammon on wg toast
. Steak / chops / fish, mediteranean veg and sweet potato wedges

I was exhausted after the birth of my second, as I'd had a teething toddler keeping me awake throughout the pregnancy, and had to look after two dcs by myself when my DH was away for work from 2 weeks after the birth. My appetite was affected as I didn't have the time or energy to prepare food, so I struggled to eat enough.

My milk wasn't affected, I always had enough, and often too much. I was though. I became so run down that I was hospitalised with pneumonia when ds was only 9 weeks old.

Exhaustion was a big factor in this, it wasn't just down to nutrition, but inadequate food was a major factor. You need to look after yourself or you will make yourself ill. Pneumonia was no joke. My two dcs nearly didn't have a mum.

It is nice that your DH cares and is worried about you.

Thanks for responses...

Meerka the nausea comes on suddenly but doesn't seem to be linked to letdown of milk. It usually strikes when I've just eaten, and disappears once I've been sick. Tiredness makes it worse. Luckily I'm not vomiting every day like with HG but the same foods seem to trigger it.
DH is encouraging me to take control of the kitchen again and cook (I used to love cooking before pregnancy) but now I can't stand the smell of cooking and have to shower and change my clothes afterwards. Also I'm so tired from night feeds everything feels surreal and hazy, so I can't focus on what I'm doing and feel exhausted standing up for long. DH has tried to be understanding but he thinks the food aversions are purely psychological and says it can't be hormones as it's been more than 2weeks since the birth ...not sure where he got that from, I feel like my hormones are still all over the place! How long does it take for hormones to settle?
Thanks for the food suggestions, I'll try them out. I craved chocolate in the days after birth, but now it has a strange 'chemical' taste. Things don't taste like they're supposed to and my throat feels tight when I try to swallow.

Corabell the birth was dramatic but relatively straightforward (was 6cm by time arrived at hospital, 9hours of back-to-back labour, I was vomiting constantly despite anti-sickness injections and he got a bit stuck at the end due to awkward position), but didn't need any intervention and afterwards I felt great and didn't vomit at all to start with. I went from feeling ecstatic to feeling very low when my milk came in, but feel more positive now. Have a few hours a day when I feel tearful and overwhelmed by it all and keep getting angry with DH over silly things, but I think that's more due to sleep-deprivation.

DH is obsessed with my milk containing all the right nutrients for the baby and thinks I should just ignore the nausea and eat everything. I try to hide the vomiting from him or he gets anxious and pressures me to eat more.

The milk and the baby will be fine but you need to look after yourself. Can your DH continue cooking? I think you need to go back to the same routine as when you were pregnant. Eat whatever you can manage. Even if it's just flat coke for the calories. Can you keep multivitamins down?
Your DH also needs to stop stressing you with his stress as that's definitely not helping you either.

Yes, agreed, your husband seriously needs to back off. Ask him to speak to a health care professional or visitor; pressuring you is going to make all this worse.

It's misguided love and care for the baby and you, but effective and well-aimed care'd be more useful; pressuring you is really counterproductive

Your DH is being an idiot here! He obviously means well but he needs to back off and let you relax. Don't cook, for feck's sake! With a tiny baby who feeds that often you should be in bed or snoozing on the couch, I wouldn't even be getting dressed if I were you. Everything needs to be relaxed and snuggly at the moment, not stressy and pressured.

Definitely get a medical person on his case.

Talk to your HV, because this sounds really stressful. My good aversions stayed after DS was born, but they were minor and liveable with (although the tapwater aversion is a pain), whereas yours sound pretty hellish to live with long term. I would suggest:

1. ask your DP to treat you as though still had HG in terms of food and sickness and the care you need.

2. promise him you will talk to the HV about it the next time you see them.

3. actually talk to the HV about it.

Your baby will be fine, but will be getting good nutrition at your expense, so will end up feeling worse if you don't get this sorted out.

I didn't have HG but I felt very sick and had food aversions for several months after first child.

Looking at Meerka's list brought it all back, it's not a good list for someone feeling sick!

What worked for me was very bland, gentle foods - rice, vegetables, grilled chicken etc. I made nutritious vegetable soups. Drank only mineral water as tap water made me heave.

Tell your husband to back off. He's just making things worse.

1) ask your DP to treat you as though still had HG in terms of food and sickness and the care you need.

that's ... not a bad idea at all

After 9 months of relentless nausea and vomitting and growing a new little person, your body does very definitely need time to recover. They say "nine months up, nine months down" here; that's kind of true, and much more so when you've had the considerable extra physical strain of HG for many months.

Hi, I had HG and my tastes changed a lot after birth so you might find you have to explore some new things. Bizarrely after my 2nd pregnancy ( also HG) I reverted to my previous foods!
Is it texture or taste that's the main issue? I found drinking ice cold milk worked well, and it's nutritious. Also maybe add some ground almonds into anything you eat as they are calorific and nutritious but don't taste of anything once mixed in.

Firstly, congratulations!

Secondly, your husband needs to understand that there's not some little set of oopma loompas in your breasts, meticulously picking out nutrients you just ate and packing it into your milk immediately...(right Brian, she just had an apple, you pick up that vitamin c sharpish!) as always, your body assimilates what you eat and produces milk. Your body will take what it needs from various stores and make milk with it, it's not a linear route from gut to boob!

There's a vast hormonal change as soon as the placenta leaves the body, but I think the time each specific hormone takes to settle varies. I was told that relaxin, for example, can take up to five months to normalise.

Overall, you've had a very draining pregnancy and now you have a newborn - you're physically and mentally recovering and this isn't a quick process. Dh needs to understand that it's not going to be back to business as usual in a week.

I'm worrying about this too (I think lilac I mentioned it on a previous thread) because I'm sure that I'm developing a bit of a 'thing' about eating after months of nausea and sickness. Having been a very hale and hearty eater, I find this worrying so I'm going to lurk on here and see what others experiences have been!

I hope it gets better for you, lilac - really my only advice at this stage is take it easy, be gentle with yourself and be blunt with your dh - a hg pregnancy then birth really does a number on you and it's totally unreasonable yo expect you to bounce back so fast.

Hi, I'm just posting quickly but I wanted to mention this as it might be relevant to how how feel about food now & the horrible taste etc. I suffered HG too & was equally disappointed that I didn't stop feeling queasy as soon as my DD was born. 10 yrs on, I still wake up with a horrible taste in my mouth - however, I've recently been diagnosed with gallbladder disease. Having googled, it turns out this is something that can happen after HG. I think the after effects of HG can be misdiagnosed or dismissed because people around you are desperate for you to stop feeling like crap, so they can stop worrying as well. You might not have the same issues I've had but HG just doesn't go away the minute you give birth & it will take time for you to recover not only from the birth but the HG as well. Might be worth asking your HV what info/advice they might have on what can be the after effects of HG & what, if anything, they can recommend for you.

Skipton her DH does actually have a point because OPs body will have used much of her reserves of vitamins and minerals already during her pregnancy as she was unable to eat a balanced diet throughout due to sickness. Her milk production will be further depleting her reserves. It is very important to make a huge effort to replenish them or she risks becoming seriously unwell, and eventually her milk production will be affected. It happened to me. It's a serious issue.

OP, we all have a very strong association between sickness and food aversion. It's evolutionary. The body tells us not to eat things that make us sick. So, having been so sick you need to try and overcome this. Some of it will be down to hormones, but a large part is also an association thing. I still can't eat cod without feeling nauseous as for some reason it made me wretch when I was pregnant. Given I can eat pretty much anything else I just avoid it, but when all food are making you feel bad then you are going to have to try and eat a good range for your health, and to keep your milk supply up.

Also, having not eaten 'normally' for such a long time your stomach will have shrunk. It's almost like someone recovering from anorexia. It's a case of starting with small meals you can manage and trying to increase them gradually.

Once I recovered from pneumonia I made a massive effort to get my food intake up, and include a balanced range. This in itself meant I didn't feel as sick and tired so had more appetite.

Please try and see things from your DH's point of view, he isn't a bad person, he isn't controlling, he is probably frantic with worry about you. He'll be able to see just how run down you are.

My advice is tiny meals regularly. Don't stretch your stomach with a big meal, it'll make you feel sick.
Continue taking a multi-vitamin tablet and omega oil tablet. Pregnacare do a dual pack specifically for bf-ing mothers.
Try and increase the range of food you are eating. Eggs are brilliant, and high is choline which is essential for your baby's brain and nervous system. If you can't manage them as is, would pancakes be better?
V rich food are nauseating at the best of time, let alone when you are recovering from HG. Avoid them. An energy dense flapjack style nutrition bar (boots sell ones specifically for expectant and nursing mothers) might be better.

Hope you feel better soon. It's miserable

I think acting as if you still have hg for the next few weeks is fantastic advice. I found it took several weeks after each hg pregnancy for everything to settle down and for me to start eating normally, although I still find certain foods bring back instant memories of pregnancy and make me vomit (although I'm pretty sure that's psychological now as my eldest dc is 9!).
Tiredness is bound to make things worse and you need to rest as much as possible. It might be worth speaking to your gp, I was prescribed anti emetics to help with the sickness after pregnancy, so yours might be able to help too.

hope you start to feel better soon.

Hi have you tried milkshakes, I was getting stressed not eating enough, have given birth and a size smaller than pre pregnancy, think lost about 2stone. So I know how you feel, but baby is 100% ok has definitely taken all it needs from.body and continues to in the breast milk. Stick with it and find something you can eat.