Dairy can give nightmares!
I had my daughter about six months ago. With the bundle of joy in my arms came all the unexpected downs as a first time mother. The first two months postpartum were not pleasant to put it mildly. Although I was committed to caring for my daughter no matter what there were many adjustments that I had to make with my body - severe back pain that won't let me stand up if I bend, sore nipples from breastfeeding, lack of sleep and when I manage to get some sleep, terrible nightmares that plague me!
As most new-age moms I consulted Dr. Google and found quite a few articles and forums that blamed the nightmares on changing hormones. We know Estrogen and progesterone peak around 32 weeks of pregnancy and estrogen can be high postpartum too. This helped me understand why I was constantly stressed and unable to sleep even when my newborn was sleeping (somewhat) peacefully.
Note: Like most new moms I tried to listen to experienced mothers to help increase my breastmilk supply and drink more cow's milk.
I have never been a fan of other animals' baby food but I convinced myself that I should not care about taste or animal welfare since I need to provide the best I can for my baby girl. So I started drinking at least a liter of cow's milk a day - organic, pasture-raised, certified humane, what have you. I am not sure if it helped me with my breast milk supply but it definitely gave me tummy troubles and I promptly passed it on to my baby girl - she used to spit up more often. I checked with a Chinese friend as most Chinese food does not have dairy traditionally and shifted to almost non-dairy diet after experimenting with dairy for 3+ months postpartum. Guess what! My nightmares vanished! I still wasn't getting 8 hours of sound sleep but at least I wasn't afraid to close my eyes! I still did not connect this to dairy and I believed it was do with my hormones normalizing.
Fast forward 6 months post my baby's birth and I am on a happy diet of milked walnuts but I wanted to try goat's milk. So I bought the "certified humane" goat milk and drank a glass of it before bed-time. And went to bed. The next thing I remember is that I am sweating from a nightmare similar to the ones I used to have during two months postpartum.
I know I have not conducted a scientific study with treatment and control group to make a claim that dairy gives nightmares but I do know that dairy has hormones as any other mammalian milk that can alter moods or increase estrogen. All I know is that I have experimented with enough food on myself that I know for sure I do not want any animal milk in my diet.
However if you know how factory farming affects the environment and how adolescent cows and goats are treated to make milk for humans that we don't need, that itself can give nightmares.
#postpartumnightmares, #postpartum, #postpartumdiet, #non-dairy,
Disclaimer - This is my opinion based on my experience, not a scientific study
As most new-age moms I consulted Dr. Google and found quite a few articles and forums that blamed the nightmares on changing hormones. We know Estrogen and progesterone peak around 32 weeks of pregnancy and estrogen can be high postpartum too. This helped me understand why I was constantly stressed and unable to sleep even when my newborn was sleeping (somewhat) peacefully.
Note: Like most new moms I tried to listen to experienced mothers to help increase my breastmilk supply and drink more cow's milk.
I have never been a fan of other animals' baby food but I convinced myself that I should not care about taste or animal welfare since I need to provide the best I can for my baby girl. So I started drinking at least a liter of cow's milk a day - organic, pasture-raised, certified humane, what have you. I am not sure if it helped me with my breast milk supply but it definitely gave me tummy troubles and I promptly passed it on to my baby girl - she used to spit up more often. I checked with a Chinese friend as most Chinese food does not have dairy traditionally and shifted to almost non-dairy diet after experimenting with dairy for 3+ months postpartum. Guess what! My nightmares vanished! I still wasn't getting 8 hours of sound sleep but at least I wasn't afraid to close my eyes! I still did not connect this to dairy and I believed it was do with my hormones normalizing.
Fast forward 6 months post my baby's birth and I am on a happy diet of milked walnuts but I wanted to try goat's milk. So I bought the "certified humane" goat milk and drank a glass of it before bed-time. And went to bed. The next thing I remember is that I am sweating from a nightmare similar to the ones I used to have during two months postpartum.
I know I have not conducted a scientific study with treatment and control group to make a claim that dairy gives nightmares but I do know that dairy has hormones as any other mammalian milk that can alter moods or increase estrogen. All I know is that I have experimented with enough food on myself that I know for sure I do not want any animal milk in my diet.
However if you know how factory farming affects the environment and how adolescent cows and goats are treated to make milk for humans that we don't need, that itself can give nightmares.
#postpartumnightmares, #postpartum, #postpartumdiet, #non-dairy,
Disclaimer - This is my opinion based on my experience, not a scientific study
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