Dietary advice is an important part of promoting postnatal recovery.

In general it is important for all new mothers to consider carefully the foods they are consuming, emphasizing foods that are building qi and blood.

Foods to tonify qi

Foods to tonify qi include oats, rice, potato, sweet potato, mushroom (button and shitake), yam, basil, cinnamon, clove, dill, fennel, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, rosemary, thyme and jasmine tea.

Foods to build blood

Foods to build blood include corn, sweet rice, beetroot, all dark leafy greens, apricot, avocado, date, kidney bean, sesame seeds, egg and soya milk as well as the obvious iron rich foods such as red meat and spinach.