Nine post-pregnancy meals that protect your milk supply

The fear that stops most new mothers eating properly is a reasonable one: that eating less will reduce their milk. A feeding mother needs roughly 450 to 500 extra calories a day, and a plan that respects that number can still produce steady weight loss.

What every one of these meals has

Protein, iron and a real fat — in a form that can be assembled in under twenty minutes and, ideally, eaten with one hand.

• Methi thepla with curd and a spoon of ghee
• Ragi porridge with dates, almonds and milk
• Moong dal chilla with paneer
• Rajma with rice and a large kachumber
• Garden cress (halim) laddoo — two a day
• Palak and paneer with jowar roti
• Egg bhurji with two millet rotis
• Curd rice with roasted chana and pomegranate
• Gond and dry-fruit laddoo, for the first three months

What to watch

Long gaps between meals will drop supply before they drop weight. Half to three-quarters of a kilo a week is the ceiling while feeding.