Parenting Pointers: Three Ways Spices Can Help Newborns and Moms

 It’s the perfect time to start experimenting with spices.  Adding spices to your diet can boost your health and your baby’s —without going to your medicine cabinet.  Research also shows that spices’ antimicrobial, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties promote immunity, healing and provide pain relief. 

 

When nursing, the mother’s dietary choices get passes along to the baby via mothers’ milk.  This means ailments and cures are easy for mom to pass on.  Moms around the world have been using spices to ease common ailments, improve digestion and immunity for ages. 

 

Manasa Rajan, lead nutritionist at Cure.fit shares three ways you can use spices to help both mother and child during the all-important first year.

• Flatulence is uncomfortable for all.  Mixing asafoetida with coconut oil and rubbing on the baby’s belly will help manage the flatulence.  Asafetida is derived from the rhizome or tap root Ferula, a perennial herb that is part of the celery family.  This treatment has been used for years in India.

• Tummy pain and crying can be signs of colic.  Simply boil water with caraway seeds, cumin fennel and water then steep and strain it.  Sip on it during the day and the healing properties will be transferred to assuage the baby’s colicky symptoms and digestive discomfort. 

• Immune system health is essential for development.  Add pepper to green leafy vegetables for the first 6 months to get immune benefits for the baby and faster wound healing for mom.  Pepper contains antioxidants that can prevent infections and form helpful antibodies.

More and more moms are turning to natural remedies to boost health and immunity for themselves and their children.  Spices have long been used for their medicinal value as well as for adding zest to food and drink.  During the first few months of your baby’s life consider taking a trip to your pantry to improve your new family’s health instead of the medicine cabinet.   

 

Cure.fit is an integrative health app that includes all facets of a healthy lifestyle on one platform. It has holistic health offerings across physical fitness and workouts, healthy recipes, and mental well-being.