What to Eat in Week 1 Postpartum (Meals and Snacks for Recovery)
All of the recipes I’m sharing here are from my new cookbook, The Nourished Mother: Healing Recipes and Family Food for Postpartum + Beyond, now available wherever you buy books!
One of my best friends just gave birth and to help her heal and recover as well as possible, I’m making her the most delicious nourishing meals and snacks each week that have been designed specifically for postpartum (for you and your family!).
I’ve been studying, teaching, and creating recipes for pregnancy and postpartum nutrition for over 10 years now, and I’ll be sharing exactly how you can use nutrition to support your postpartum body, mind, and baby for the first 6 weeks after birth with a new blog post each week.
Although I’ll be cooking and delivering these meals to her fresh, many of my recommendations below are freezer-friendly and perfect for stocking your freezer in advance.
What should you eat in week 1 postpartum?
First things first: After you give birth, if there’s a specific meal, snack, or food you want - absolutely enjoy it! You deserve it, and food is such an amazing way to comfort us in this time of change.
From the nutrition and healing lens, my focus for meals and snacks for the first week postpartum will be on soft, warm, easy to digest foods that are full of the nutrients needed most for healing and recovery: protein, minerals, healthy fats and lots of fuel.
The Nutritional Focus in Week 1 Postpartum
In these first days, your body is:
Starting the process of healing tissues after birth (whether vaginal or cesarean).
Resetting digestion, which can be sluggish and sensitive after birth.
Shifting hormones — which impacts mood, energy, and milk production.
Craving simplicity: meals and snacks that are ready for you, with no prep, shopping, or clean up required are ideal, so you can focus on rest. If you're preparing ahead, my complete guide to postpartum freezer prep has 70 meal and snack ideas to help you stock your freezer before baby arrives.
Foods that are warm, soft, easy to digest, and rich in protein, minerals, hydration and healthy fats are ideal, where colder foods like salads and smoothies might take a pause — cooked, simple, nourishing foods will feel best this week.
Here’s exactly what I made for my friend in Week 1 Postpartum.
What I made: Bone Broth Elixir
Bone broth is one of my top postpartum foods for a reason. It’s rich in collagen and amino acids that support tissue repair after birth, along with minerals like calcium and magnesium that help restore what pregnancy and breastfeeding deplete.
I always love recommending bone broth as a first food after birth - my clients often bring a thermos or mason jar filled with broth to the hospital with them!
The most common road block I hear, however, is this: I don’t like the way plain bone broth tastes! I wish I could but I can’t just sip it like tea.
That’s where this Bone Broth Elixir comes in. In a simple 5-minute recipe, you simmer bone broth with warming, delicious spices like ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric and a little bit of honey and ghee to finish with a warming drink that is so tasty!
Beyond the nutrition, sipping a warm mug of broth is grounding and soothing when digestion feels tender and energy is low. It’s a great way to pack in the nutrition via a simple mug or thermos and no need for forks or knives.
What I made: Cardamom Quinoa Pudding
Soft, liquid heavy dishes like congee and rice pudding are central to the early postpartum food traditions in many parts of the word. In the first week when digestion is particularly sensitive, warm and soft foods are easier to tolerate and are so nourishing, especially when made with healing spices, bone broth and full milk - you need all the nutrition you can get right now!
The recipe I love for a warm breakfast or snack subs out the rice for quinoa to add in a complete protein source while keeping all of the elements that makes this a nourishing comfort meal.
What I made: Stewed Pears with Goji Berries + Cinnamon
Raw fruit can be a bit harder on the digestive system immediately after birth, so cooked fruit is a gentler way to enjoy the benefits.
Stewing pears with warm, healing spices, ghee, honey, and bone broth makes them soft, warm, and easy to digest, while still delivering fiber, vitamin C, and hydration. They’re sweet and comforting, and feel like a small act of care in a week when so much energy is directed outward.
I’ve heard from women who made the stewed pears from The Nourished Mother and brought them to their birth for a nourishing, digestion supporting boost (and whose nurses told them it was the best idea!), which I love!
I love these on top of the quinoa pudding, a warm bowl of porridge, or these Blender Protein Pancakes, which are also fantastic to freeze for postpartum!
I am a huge proponent of prepping fuelling, protein, and nutrient-dense breakfasts ahead of time for postpartum! So many of my clients (and myself!) find it tricky to get in a good breakfast, and often don’t eat a full meal for many hours after waking, which can negatively impact their healing, energy, mental health, and well-being in the postpartum months to come.
There’s no better ready-to-go breakfast than these Postpartum Sheet-Pan Breakfast Burritos: you can customize them with your favourite protein and veggies, they’re full of healing nutrition and protein for tissue repair, and all you have to do on the other end is reheat one: no cooking or clean up required.
As mentioned above, I always prioritize protein, minerals, and fats in my postpartum recipes because your body needs these the most and they can truly make a huge difference in your postpartum experience.
Protein is the master builder behind the tissue repair that needs to happen to heal post birth, which includes any vaginal or c-section wounds and the healing of your uterus, connective tissues, pelvic floor and muscles.
On the other hand, fats and minerals are the fuel you need for your mental health and hormones, which impact everything from your mood and thinking to your sleep, energy, digestion, and breastmilk.
You can find the Postpartum Sheet-Pan Sausage and Veggie Breakfast Burrito recipe right here, and of course, many other amazing fueling breakfasts can be found in The Nourished Mother.
What I made: Healing Simple Lentil Soup
For the first week postpartum, simple is the key word. When your body is in a sensitive state of healing, taking the pressure off of your digestive system with simple meals like this is exactly what you need.
This simple healing soup uses red lentils, which are one of my top early postpartum foods for soups and stews: they’re high in protein and iron for healing nutrition, and when cooked, they become super soft and easy to digest.
In this soup, I pair them with bone broth for added minerals, warming spices like turmeric and cumin for their anti-inflammatory properties, and cooked spinach for folate and iron. The result is a deeply nourishing, one-pot meal that can be eaten by the bowl or sipped from a mug when sitting down for a full meal isn’t realistic.
What I made: “Birth Day” Snacking Cake
You just gave birth, there’s so much to celebrate! It’s a Birth Day, so cake is called for you, don’t you think?
I developed this “Birth Day” Snacking Cake so that you can enjoy celebratory food and still know you’re giving your body the healing nutrition it needs! It’s the perfect snacking cake for your whole family and even your birth team, whoever is around in those first few days.
This snacking cake is baked with oats, nut butter, and full-fat cream or coconut milk for steady energy, along with cooked strawberries for sweetness and antioxidants. It’s nutrient-dense enough to stand as a snack, yet festive enough to mark the arrival of your new baby.
This snacking cake is wonderful to freeze in squares so that you’ve got a snack, breakfast, or middle-of-the-night fuel ready to go!
I have middle-aged kids now, and this is one of our go-to nourishing breakfasts (with greek yogurt on top, or maple syrup!) that I also pack for school lunches.
Why These Meals Are Perfect For Week 1 Postpartum
The first week after birth is all about supporting your body’s natural healing process. These recipes bring together:
Protein, healthy fats and minerals to rebuild recovering tissues post-birth, support your mood, and replenish nutrient stores.
Gentle, easy-to-digest meals to support a sensitive postpartum healing digestive system.
Warmth and grounding to support healing and your energy during the postpartum hormone shifts.
Joy and comfort — because food is also emotional care in the sensitive early postpartum time and you deserve delicious food!
Prepping Postpartum Healing Recipes
If you’re prepping for your first week postpartum, I hope this gives you some inspiration for meals that are simple, warm, and nourishing - exactly what your body will crave.
Don’t worry about doing it all — small, intentional choices (like a bowl of lentil soup or warmed up piece of Birth Day Cake) can make a real difference in how you feel.
If you’d like to make the exact recipes I mention here plus get so much guidance about nourishing your body, prepping your freezer for postpartum, and feeding yourself and your family in the early motherhood season, you can find it all in my second cookbook,
The Nourished Mother: Healing Recipes and Family Food for Postpartum + Beyond right here!
Prefer an instant digital resource?
If you'd like an immediate resource—or you're outside Canada or the US—the Ultimate Postpartum Nutrition Guide is available as an instant download.
Inside you'll find 100+ postpartum recipes, including freezer meals, prepared proteins, one-handed snacks, healing drinks and teas, meal plans, grocery lists, and practical, evidence-based nutrition guidance to help you nourish recovery with confidence.
What to Eat in the first 6 weeks Postpartum
If you’re planning for the most nourishing, nutrient-loaded and delicious meals and snacks to take you through your first 6 weeks postpartum (and beyond!), here’s exactly what to make:
Postpartum is a season where nourishing yourself well will benefit every aspect of your recovery and life: whether you’re stocking your freezer with weeks of family meals or making a couple of warming dishes and snacks to support you in the early days, you will be so thankful for it.
There is no wrong way to go about your postpartum meal prep: Just remember to eat, eat often, and never feel badly for asking others to support your nourishment! You need and deserve abundant nutrition in these early weeks and months of motherhood.