Ultimate new mums' eating plan

How can you eat easily for optimum health while caring for a newborn? It's simple with our day-by-day plan

For mums of newborns, eating often comes low down on a list of new priorities, but the right foods can not only boost energy levels and optimise wellbeing, they can also equip you better for breastfeeding and help you to lose your excess baby weight slowly, surely and healthily.

Many mums find that eating four or five mini meals and snacks rather than three square meals a day fits in better with the erratic hours of new motherhood. Our clever week's eating plan can be started any day of the week and you can follow it on a rolling basis, mixing and matching from each day's menus as you go!

How does it work?

Each day's eating is based around starchy carbohydrates, which take longer to digest and so keep you feeling fuller for longer; wholegrain versions of starchy foods can help prevent constipation too. We've also included plenty of fruit and vegetables as well as other sources of vitamins, calcium, iron and other important nutrients.

You can ring the changes by choosing a breakfast from Day 1, for example, with a snack from Day 3 and dinner from Day 4: in other words, there are no hard-and-fast rules about what to eat when. We've worked it out so that you get a good nutritional balance - including five servings of fruit and veg - each day and over the week. All the meals are quick and easy to prepare.