These Are the Best Foods for Postpartum Recovery and Healing
You’ve made it through nine months of pregnancy, the marathon of birth, and now you’re in the thick of sleepless nights, endless feeding sessions, and running on pure love as you care for your perfect tiny human — but have you thought about how you’re going to take care of you during this time?
The way you nourish yourself in the weeks after birth can make a world of difference between feeling constantly run down and actually feeling replenished and strong again. Eating the best food for postpartum recovery is one of the most impactful things you can do to support your healing and energy.
I was so blindsided by how depleted I felt physically after my first birth. It wasn’t just the sleepless nights (although those didn’t help one bit) — I felt weak, drained, and like my body was struggling to function normally. And that’s not even considering how off my digestion felt, which left me uncomfortable at best and downright defeated at worst.
But my experience with my second child was completely different because I made a plan and applied everything I’ve learned as a certified pregnancy and postpartum nutrition coach. Focusing on intentional postpartum nutrition with nourishing foods like slow-cooked meats, bone broth, cooked veggies, and stews (even in July!), along with anti-inflammatory spices like turmeric and ginger, made all the difference.
And that’s exactly what I want for you, too.
If you’re feeling exhausted, achy, or like your body just isn’t bouncing back the way you hoped, it’s not your fault — your body simply needs the right kind of nutrition to truly heal.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly what foods to eat for postpartum recovery—one-handed snack ideas you can eat while nap-trapped—so you can rebuild your strength, support your digestion, and start to feel normal again.
photo credit: Jonathan Borba
Why your body needs extra support postpartum
I remember feeling like I’d been hit by a truck after my first birth. No one really prepares you for how much recovery your body actually needs—and yet we’re often expected to “bounce back” and do it all with little to no help.
I’m writing this from the U.S., where, even in 2025, we still don’t have nationally guaranteed maternity leave. It’s no wonder so many moms feel depleted, overwhelmed, and unseen during this season.
But your body has just done something extraordinary.
Your ligaments have stretched, your tissues have grown, your blood volume has increased—all to support the growth and delivery of your baby. And now, after birth, your body is working overtime to heal, recalibrate hormones, and if you’re breastfeeding, produce milk to nourish your little one.
And all of this work is expensive. Nutritionally expensive, that is.
In fact, your nutrient and energy needs don’t drop after pregnancy; they can be the same, if not more, during postpartum recovery, especially if you’re breastfeeding.
This is why nourishing yourself deeply during this time is so important. Your body is doing hard, amazing work behind the scenes—rebuilding tissues, balancing hormones, and rebuilding itself, and needs nutrients to do it so you can feel strong, grounded, and capable in your new role as a mother, not depleted and lethargic.
Your body deserves real nourishment to match the incredible work it’s doing.
So, let’s talk about the foods that can help you feel stronger, more energized, and better supported through this important time of recovery.
Best types of food for postpartum recovery
The best food for postpartum recovery provide the building blocks for tissue repair, restore nutrient stores lost during pregnancy and birth, and keep your digestion, hormones, and energy in balance.
From protein-rich meals that strengthen muscles and ligaments to fiber, healthy fats, and antioxidant-packed produce that calm inflammation, these supportive and nutrient-dense foods help you recover, replenish, and feel more vibrant with each passing week.
Cooked, easily-digested foods
Your uterus has expanded tremendously to make room for your baby — which means your digestive organs need a little time to settle back into place once your baby is here. During the first couple of weeks postpartum, focus on foods that are gentle on your digestion.
Raw fruits are generally fine since they’re easy to digest, but try to cook most of your vegetables during this period. Prioritize warm, cooked meals like soups, stews, and broths instead of raw salads. Think leafy greens steamed into soups rather than tossed into a salad bowl.
Soups, smoothies, and slow-cooker meals are all great options to help ease your digestion back to normal — and trust me, your slow cooker will be your best friend right now. Two of my favorite slow cooker meals is this slow cooker pulled pork and this beef stew.
photo credit: snappr
Warming foods
Warming foods help to increase circulation and are thought by many ancestral traditions to bring energy back into your body following the intense marathon of pregnancy, labor and birth.
Spices like cinnamon, ginger, turmeric & cardamom and warm broths, soups and porridges are easy on the system, increase blood flow and can help bring vitality back in the weeks postpartum.
Foods rich in healing building blocks
Your body went through an incredible transformation during pregnancy — growing new tissues, stretching ligaments, and expanding connective tissue to support your baby. Regardless of your birth mode, your body now has wounds that need to heal.
Prioritizing healing, protein-rich foods will help support recovery. In particular, the amino acids glycine and proline are essential for tissue repair and can be found in tougher cuts of slow-cooked meats and skin-on, bone-in chicken.
In the weeks postpartum, choose tougher or bone-in cuts like pork shoulder, chicken thighs, drumsticks, or oxtail. These are naturally higher in the amino acids your body needs to rebuild ligaments and tissues that worked overtime during pregnancy and birth.
Other great protein-rich options include Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and lentils. Try stirring Greek yogurt into warm oatmeal for extra creaminess, or add cottage cheese to baked goods like protein muffins or egg bites for an easy nutrient boost.
Fiber-rich foods
Everything slows down a bit postpartum — whether from hormonal changes, pain medication after a C-section, or simply your body adjusting after birth. Especially if you had a vaginal delivery, those first few bowel movements can feel a little nerve-wracking.
While fiber is important for keeping things moving, focus on soluble fiber and gentle, well-cooked sources that are easier on digestion.
Think sprouted or soaked grains, well-cooked lentils and beans, and steamed or roasted vegetables instead of raw salads. Soluble fiber not only supports healthy digestion but also helps your body clear excess pregnancy hormones, promoting better hormone balance.
Great options include chia seeds, oatmeal, soaked beans, and plenty of fruits and cooked vegetables.
Healthy fats
Healthy fats are essential postpartum for hormone balance, nutrient absorption, and keeping mom-brain at bay — and they also make your meals satisfying and help keep blood sugar steady.
Omega-3s are especially beneficial for reducing inflammation and supporting mood, while saturated fats (which happen to make up a large part of breast milk) are considered warming and restorative in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Include foods like grass-fed butter, coconut oil, cold water fatty fish, pasture-raised eggs, avocado, nuts, and olive oil in your daily meals.
One of my favorite go-to postpartum snacks is a spoonful of nut butter — perfect for when hunger hits and there’s no time to prep anything.
Antioxidants and Anti-inflammatory foods
Pregnancy and birth—especially a C-section—can leave your body in a naturally inflammatory state for several weeks postpartum. That’s why this time is so important to load your body with antioxidant- and anti-inflammatory-rich foods to help it heal and come back into balance.
Some of the best foods include berries, spices, herbs, coconut oil, fatty fish, and steamed leafy greens. These foods help reduce inflammation, support tissue repair, and boost overall recovery.
Vitamin C-rich foods
Vitamin C plays a key role in collagen production, iron absorption, and immune function — all critical for postpartum healing.
Try adding cooked bell peppers, citrus fruits, strawberries, or kiwi to your meals. And if you have an older child in daycare bringing home every germ imaginable, you’ll want all the immune support you can get (especially when your sleep is running on fumes).
Vitamin A-rich foods
Vitamin A is critical for wound healing and tissue repair. One of the most nutrient-dense ways to get it is through including liver in your diet.
A great option is to supplement your multivitamin with a desiccated liver supplement. I actually love and personally use this multiorgan blend* as a great food-based source of vitamin A, iron, CoQ10, choline and digestive enzymes—all key nutrients for postpartum recovery and energy.
(*Note: you can use my code FloraFauna10 for 10% discount at Perfect Supplements. This is not an affiliate link, so I have no stake in selling you supplements, just want to help you out if you are already planning to and it is best for your body!)
Electrolyte-rich foods
After birth, your body needs some serious rebalancing of electrolytes due to fluid loss, physical exertion, and major hormonal shifts. Electrolytes play a key role in hormone production, balance, and energy creation at the cellular level.
Sodium helps you stay hydrated, potassium supports optimal thyroid function (which can take a hit postpartum), and magnesium is essential for sex hormone production and helping your body cope with stress. Calcium, meanwhile, is pulled into breast milk and needs to be replenished regularly.
Prioritizing electrolyte-rich foods is especially important if you’re breastfeeding since hydration and electrolytes are continuously transferred to your milk supply.
To support recovery, salt your food to taste using natural salts like Himalayan, Celtic sea salt, or Real Salt; include nuts, seeds, and dark chocolate for magnesium; avocados and coconut water for potassium; and full-fat dairy, bone-in sardines, and chia seeds for calcium.
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By prioritizing these foods in the weeks after birth, you’ll be setting yourself up to feel like a million bucks—okay, maybe more like a crisp $100 bill, because, let’s be real…newborns are still newborns.
For even more in depth info on key micronutrients for recovery and breastfeeding, be sure to check out my post on the most important postpartum micronutrients for mom and baby including iodine, vitamin D and choline.
This is even more critical if you had a c-section
Your body just went through major abdominal surgery, which means it needs extra support to heal. That means the food you eat after a C-section becomes even more important for your recovery.
The good news? All of the same postpartum nutrition advice applies whether you had a C-section or a vaginal delivery—you’ll just want to be even more intentional about your diet for c-section recovery, since there’s more tissue repair happening beneath the surface.
Focus on increasing your protein intake even higher and prioritizing foods like bone broth and vitamin C–rich produce in the weeks following birth to support healing, collagen production and iron absorption. Remember, you also lose about twice as much blood during an uncomplicated C-section as in an uncomplicated vaginal birth, so replenishing iron is key.
Because antibiotics are often given during a C-section, it’s also important to help your gut (and your baby’s) recover by increasing fermented foods and, if needed, adding a high-quality probiotic—ideally one that includes B. infantis, which helps optimally seed your baby’s microbiome.
photo credit: Jonathan Borba
Healthy Postpartum Snacks
In the early days, sometimes even sitting down to a meal is off the table. This is when nutrient-dense, non-perishable snacks in a nursing caddy or on your nightstand will be a godsend.
Some of my personal favorites are:
fruit and nut trail mix
RX bars
nut and seed crackers
peanut butter pouches
pumpkin seeds
roasted chickpeas.
I also recommend seaweed snacks. It’s true—they aren’t very filling, but they pack a big nutrient punch, especially Iodine, which is one of the most important postpartum nutrients for thyroid health for mom and baby.
Oh, and don’t forget to check out my actually healthy lactation cookie recipe to have on hand when hunger comes on fast and furious during those cluster feeding marathons.
Don’t forget your food for the soul
While I hope by now you know how big of a role nutrition plays in your healing, your emotional nourishment matters just as much. Simple rituals can make a world of difference in how you feel day to day.
Think gentle, easy movements—like slow walks outside or a few minutes of stretching in the morning—to help your body reconnect and release. Try to soak up a bit of sunshine daily, even if it’s just standing by an open window with your napping baby in your arms.
And please, speak kindly to yourself. Your body has done something extraordinary, and it deserves gratitude, not criticism. When things start to feel overwhelming (and they will), have a grounding phrase ready to remind yourself you’re doing enough. Something like, “I am doing my best and that is always enough” or “I am the best mother for my baby”
These small acts of self love are just as healing as any meal you’ll eat.
Support is the name of the game
All of this advice can feel like a lot—especially when most of your energy (and sleep!) is going toward caring for your newborn. That’s exactly why support is so important during this time. You were never meant to do it all on your own.
The best thing you can do for yourself and your recovery is to plan ahead and make support part of your postpartum strategy. Think through what meals you’d love to have ready, and stock your freezer with nourishing soups, slow-cooker meals, and breakfast options before baby arrives.
When friends and family ask how they can help, let them! Have them drop off a meal or two (you can even send them this post for ideas!) or set up a Meal Train so you’re not trying to figure out dinner with one hand while holding a sleeping baby in the other.
Keep easy snacks within reach—things like protein muffins, nut butter packets, or energy bites can make all the difference when hunger hits but cooking feels impossible.
Remember—taking care of yourself is taking care of your baby. You deserve support, rest, and nourishment just as much as your little one.
photo credit: Jonathan Borba
Bringing it all together
Caring for your body after birth by prioritizing the best food for postpartum recovery is one of the most powerful ways to support your healing, energy, and long-term wellness.
By focusing on nutrient-dense, easily digested foods rich in protein, healthy fats, fiber, and antioxidants, you’ll give your body exactly what it needs to recover and thrive. This isn’t about perfection, it’s about nourishment. Every meal is a chance to rebuild strength, balance hormones, and feel more like you again.
If you’re ready for a more personalized approach to your postpartum healing, I’d love to help you create a customized nutrition plan that fits your body, your baby, and your goals. Check out my 1:1 coaching packages here to learn more.
