Hello. This is 6 Minute
English from BBC
Learning English. I'm Georgie.
And I'm Beth. Leaving home, getting married
and a parent dying are three of the most important experiences
in many people's lives. But perhaps the most defining moment
in some women's lives is the miracle of birth. In other words,
having a baby. Throughout pregnancy,
a lot of care and attention is given to expecting mums,
but as soon as the baby is born, this attention moves to the newborn baby,
making sure they are healthy, warm and safe.
We talk a lot about baby nutrition,
but what the mother eats can be just as important,
especially the first meal after the intense effort of giving birth -
whether it's chicken soup,
a glass of champagne or a good old cup of tea. In this programme,
we're talking about what women eat and drink in the first few weeks
after having a baby.
And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
But first I have a question for you, Beth.
A typical pregnancy lasts about forty weeks.
But when does an unborn baby's stomach start to grow
in the mother's womb? Is it:
A) at three weeks,
B) at five weeks, or C) at eight weeks?
Hmm, I'll say the baby's tummy starts to grow at about five weeks.
OK, Beth.
We'll find out if that's the correct answer later in the programme.
Giving birth is not called labour for nothing.
It's hard work, leaving the new mum physically and emotionally exhausted
and in need of food that's nourishing for both herself and her baby.
Here's Alison Oman Lawi,
Deputy Director of Nutrition to the United Nations World Food Programme
explaining more to BBC
World Service programme, The Food Chain. A woman
who is breastfeeding and during that postpartum time
the first six months,
she could need up to 650 additional calories a day
which actually is quite a bit more than she needed
in addition during pregnancy.
Alison says that women need to eat even more calories
postpartum, meaning after childbirth, than they
do during pregnancy. That's especially true for mothers
who are breastfeeding, feeding their baby directly with milk from her breasts.
How new mums get those extra calories changes from place to place
and different cultures have developed their own traditions
about what foods are best. For Chinese-American mum,
Heng Ou, roast pig trotters were one of the best things to eat
after childbirth because they contain a lot of collagen
which helps produce breast milk. And when Ruma,
whose Panjabi family originally comes from India, gave birth to a baby boy,
her mother cooked panjeeri,
a kind of spicy nut mix with cashews, almonds and melon seeds
to promote breast milk and help the healing process.
Listen now as Ruma explains how important
her mother’s help was, to BBC
World Service programme, The Food Chain:
So, the first 10 days were amazing.
My mum came to stay and gosh!
it was so important because
I had a C-section so
I was on very strong painkillers, I was in a daze anyway,
and to be honest, because she was here,
I was fed, so she would look after me
while I would look after baby. And my husband was very
hands-on as well, so that first ten days, whilst it was really hard,
I didn't fall apart which I might have done if I'd been by myself.
When Ruma talks about her mother’s help, she
uses the word, gosh!,
an exclamation used to show a feeling of wonder or surprise.
Rum also says she was in a daze because of medicine
she was taking for pain.
If someone is in a daze,
they feel confused and cannot think clearly,
maybe because of a shock or surprise. Luckily
Ruma had help from her mum, and also her husband who was
very hands-on, meaning that he was closely involved in organising things
and making decisions and didn't leave it up to someone else.
Along with her mother's healthy home cooking,
the help Ruma got from her family meant she didn't fall apart,
a phrase which means becomes so emotionally disturbed that
you're unable to think or act calmly or to deal with the situation you're in.
New mums have to be expert jugglers, balancing a new baby
and recovering from childbirth with getting too little sleep.
No wonder they need hot,
healthy food to eat! Right,
isn't it time you revealed the answer to your question,
Georgie? Sure. I asked you
when an unborn baby's stomach starts to grow.
You guessed it was five weeks, which was... the correct answer
Beth! At about five weeks,
the cells forming a baby's stomach, lungs, bone and brain all
start to divide and grow.
Right, let's recap the vocabulary
we've learned in this programme, starting with
postpartum meaning following childbirth.
Breastfeeding is feeding a baby directly
with milk from their mother's breasts. The exclamation
gosh! is used to express a feeling of surprise or wonder.
If you’re in a daze,
you feel confused and unable to think clearly, often
because of a shock or surprise. If someone is hands-on,
they’re closely involved in organizing things and making decisions,
rather than just talking about it or getting someone else to do it.
And finally, the phrasal verb fall apart
means to become seriously emotionally disturbed
so that you're unable to think calmly or to deal with the difficult situation
you are in. Once again
our six minutes are up!
Join us again soon
for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute
English. Goodbye for now.
Bye!