Your Nutrition During Breastfeeding: Why it is Important

While many women are particular about their diet when they are pregnant, often, once the baby is born, they are so wrapped up in taking care of the baby that they sometimes neglect their own diet and healthy eating habits.

But if you are breastfeeding, remember, what you eat is what your baby eats. Here’s why a breastfeeding mother’s diet and food choices are important.

Her food can affect her breast milk

What makes a mother’s nutrition during breastfeeding very important is the fact that her food affects the nutrient quality of her breast milk, to a certain extent. Water–soluble vitamins (e.g. vitamin C and vitamin B) and vitamin A concentrations in breast milk depend on the mother’s food. Babies are able to absorb iron and zinc from breast milk better than other food sources.

Of course, even women who are undernourished can still breastfeed their little ones, but the quality of the breast milk could be affected in some of those cases.

Her calorie requirements have increased

Breastfeeding is hard work. In fact, while a woman needs about 350 extra calories during her pregnancy (compared to when she was not pregnant), she needs 600 extra calories while she is exclusively breastfeeding. So it’s important for her to keep making healthy food choices. In fact, these extra calorie requirements often help women gradually lose some of their pregnancy weight. For more tips on how to make healthy food choices, read the following article

Other recommendations for a breastfeeding mother

Because so many substances can pass from the mother to a child, there are certain added precautions that mothers may have to keep in mind

• Check with your doctor before you have any medication since some of these can pass to your child via breast milk
• If you love your morning coffee, remember that caffeine (which is also present in tea and colas) can pass to your child and could cause hyperactivity and trouble sleeping. So, drink in moderation (talk to your doctor about this)
• Smoking is still a no-no since it can affect your ability to produce breast milk and reduce the amount of vitamin C in your breast milk. (But even if you smoke, don’t stop breastfeeding)

Your nutrition during breastfeeding: 5 tips for healthy eating while breastfeeding

As long as you are breastfeeding your child, remember, what you eat influences your child’s health. After all, even the nutrients that your breast milk contains, depend, to a certain extent, on the food that is in your plate.

So here are some 5 healthy tips to remember while breastfeeding

• Continue to eat at least 5 portions (check the box to find out more) of fruits and vegetables a day.
• Foods that are rich in starch, like rice and potatoes, are important sources of energy and you may need to include 6 – 11 portions in your daily intake.
• If you are a non-vegetarian and you enjoy fish, you can eat sea food about 2-3 times a week, but avoid shark, king mackeral (“bangda”) and those fish that may have high amounts of mercury.
• Don’t neglect your calcium. You need the calcium for your breast milk and if you don’t consume enough calcium, your body will use your bones as a source. So your baby won’t suffer, but you may. Dairy products are rich in calcium and you should try and eat 3 portions in the day.
• Don’t forget to drink water – keep a bottle of water near the place where you breastfeed and try and drink some water every time you feed your baby.