Healing drinks for post pregnancy - Fusion - WeRIndia

Traditionally, in India, a woman stays at home for an average of forty days after pregnancy. This allows both the mother and child to stay at rest and get appropriate care for a good amount of time after the delivery. The mother heals her body after the delivery, and learns how to breastfeed her child, while the child spends his or her first month in rapid growth.

Healing is essential after pregnancy. During this time, the mother is also restricted from having certain foods, while encouraged to have others for the benefit of both her and her child. This is a list of three effective herbal drinks that are both effective in help with healing and lactation and easy to prepare at home.

Garlic milk is an excellent drink for promoting lactation in new mothers, since garlic itself is considered an effectively galactagogic food. The ingredients are as follows:

• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of water
• 1 glass (average size) of milk
• ½ teaspoon of either sugar, honey, or jaggery

After gathering these ingredients, grate the cloves of garlic finely, and then boil it in water until the quantity of garlic is about ¼ of the original. Add the glass of milk and let it boil until well-mixed in. Once ready, turn off the stove and let the milk mixture cool down. Pour it into the glass and add your choice of sugar, honey, or jaggery. Serve and drink it in the morning.

Fennel water is another effective stimulant of lactation in mothers, but it additionally soothes colic in babies and enhances digestion in both mother and child. The ingredients are as follows:

• 2 tablespoons of fennel seeds
• 1 liter of water
• ½ teaspoon of either sugar or honey

Pour the water into a pan, add the fennel seeds, and wait for the water to boil. When boiling, let the water simmer for five minutes. Afterward, cover it and let it steep for about three minutes. Strain the water and store it in a thermos, and drink it whenever thirsty (however, the water must be made fresh every day).  Add your choice of sugar or honey to make it more palatable. If you would prefer, you can also simply chew on roasted fennel seeds as an alternative.

The powder of carom or ajwain seeds have benefits in digestion and the cleansing of the stomach, and also accelerates healing after a delivery. The ingredients are as follows:

• ½ teaspoon of carom seed powder
• 1 cup of water
• ½ teaspoon of ghee
• 2 teaspoons of jaggery

Heat the ghee in a pan, and when warm, add the carom seed powder and water. Stir until well-mixed.

When boiling, add the jaggery, and then lower the heat to let the mixture simmer.

Once the jaggery has completely dissolved, remove the pan and let the mixture cool. Strain it and drink when lukewarm.

You may skip the ghee to lower calorie intake, or take out the jaggery if the liquid is palatable enough without it.

Image Credit: Christine Rondeau / CC BY 2.0

Image Credit: Miansari66 / Public domain

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/crondeau/4614004140 , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dill_seed.JPG