Little Love Letters

Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Serves: 1 very tired parent
Difficulty: Extremely easy

Ingredients

• 1 glass of water
• 1 piece of toast
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter or another nut/seed butter
• 1 banana
• A handful of berries or another easy fruit
• 1 hard-boiled egg
• Optional: coffee or tea, if that’s part of your normal routine

Directions

1. Put the baby somewhere safe.
   Before doing anything else, make sure your newborn is in a safe sleep space or otherwise safely settled.
2. Drink the water first.
   No elaborate wellness routine. Just drink the water. I love having a 40 oz tumbler so I know exactly how much water I’m drinking (half as many oz as you weigh in pounds is the goal – but babies have a way of making us forget that).
3. Toast the bread.
4. Spread on the peanut butter.
5. Add the banana and berries.
   Or skip the berries because you’re holding a baby and nothing needs to be complicated right now.
6. Eat the egg.
   Boiled and cold from the refrigerator is completely acceptable.
7. Drink your coffee or tea if you want it.
   The goal is food, not perfection.

The Newborn-Parent Version

If you only have 30 seconds, eat the banana. If your baby has started solids, you can share it with them provided they don’t have an allergy to it.

If you have 2 minutes, make the toast and peanut butter. One-handed snacks are big wins in the newborn trenches.

If you have 5 minutes, eat the whole thing.

If the baby starts crying halfway through?

Put the plate down.

Your breakfast can wait. Your baby can be comforted. And you can come back to it. We may never eat a hot meal again (or maybe for a few years), but we will eat.

Why This Works

Newborn days are not the time for recipes with 17 ingredients, three pans, and a garnish.

This breakfast gives you a combination of:

• Carbohydrates from toast and fruit
• Protein and fat from peanut butter and egg
• Fiber from fruit and whole grains
• Fluids from water

Most importantly, it’s fast, filling, and requires almost no cooking.

And that’s really the point.

The Newborn Parent Rule

Don’t make feeding yourself harder than feeding the baby.

Keep foods around that you can eat with one hand, assemble quickly, or grab while holding a newborn.

Think:

• Bananas
• Apples
• Cheese
• Yogurt
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Nut or seed butter
• Whole-grain toast
• Oatmeal
• Pre-cut fruit
• Trail mix
• Hummus and crackers
• Sandwiches
• Leftovers you can eat cold
• Smoothies

You don’t need a perfect postpartum meal.

You need something to nourish you.

And if you managed to eat it while the baby was asleep?

Congratulations.

You have successfully completed the most important recipe of the day: feeding the person who is feeding the baby.