[Food] Design within Reach

No one’s hungry like a new mother is hungry. Hungry for food, sleep, comfort, understanding, and help getting through the long weeks.  Right now I have two friends who are Coconut Girls (moms with new babies), both of them second time-moms. Their infants are two and three months old. The initial wave of support that greeted their babies’ arrival has tapered off, as it always does, eventually. My friends’ partners have long-since returned to work. One of my friends resumed her teaching job a month ago, and the second finished her maternity leave last week. The latter’s baby has struggled with colic. My friend wonders how she’ll be able to meet the high expectations of her employer and still manage to soothe her daughter through “the fourth trimester.”

The Second Wave

While babies who are a few months old are well on their way to ‘getting easier,’ they’re not easier yet. Most parents of newborns at this point are still not getting more than a couple of hours of sleep at a time. But they’re expected to get back to ‘real life’ and function at pre-baby levels. That’s why parents deserve a second wave of support from families and friends.

I’ve had the privilege of cooking for both of my new-mom friends recently. Tonight I’m bringing dinner to one of them. And last week, I brought snacks to the other. As I’ve prepared for these food deliveries, I’ve realized that cooking for moms is truly a design project. The food has to be delicious and nourishing, of course. But the meals also have to slalom carefully around ingredients that may cause painful gas in a baby–and thus, misery and sleeplessness for the parents. Among them; broccoli, legumes, onions, garlic, and in some cases, dairy.

The One-Armed Woman

Then there’s the oft-overlooked eating part. Moms have to be able to get the food into their mouths.  That’s no mean feat in the one-armed world of newborn parenthood. When I started making snacks for my friend last week, I discovered that the best place to keep ready-to-eat food is on the top shelf of the refrigerator door. Bending or squatting to find a snack buried in an unkempt fridge can be a deal-breaker. Especially if the baby you’re holding is finally asleep (thus giving you a chance to nourish yourself), or if you’ve got an aching incision from a c-section.  Moms can easily see and reach food if it’s placed on the top shelf of the refrigerator door.

The one-armed test applies to food coverings, too. Draping plastic wrap loosely atop food is a good choice for maximum accessiblity. Opened plastic bags work well as tents atop tall snacks like carrot or celery sticks. These coverings can be crudely reapplied by moms, too, which is essential. The other upside to plastic bags and wrap is that they’re quiet. Crinkly aluminum foil, wax paper, or–God forbid–parchment paper, could be a hungry mom’s undoing in her stealthy attempt to eat something. Remember: don’t wake the baby!!!!

Five Easy Pieces

Lastly, it’s occurred to me that hors d’oeuvres are the perfect inspiration for Coconut Girl food. I’ve started thinking like Martha Stewart–which is ironic because the unshowered days of newborn parenthood are about as far from a tony cocktail party as you can get. Still, the same design criteria used for an appetizer apply equally well for preparing food for new moms: beauty, taste, size. Think: shrimp and a snowpea. Or tiny tea sandwiches that can be pinched between the thumb and pointer. Toothpicks can hold all kinds of tasty morsels: Chunks of cheese, bits of grilled meat or cubes of melon. Calories make the world go around. Five good snacks on hand in the frige can make the day a lot better for a Coconut Girl near you.