What is more important than keeping your baby healthy? Every doctor, nurse, and mom will tell you that breastfeeding your newborn baby is the best way to go. But the problem is that most new moms are asking what will that will mean for their diet. However, you don’t need to make drastic changes to what you currently eat in order to have a better breastfeeding diet. In fact, if you’ve been eating well during the nine months of pregnancy then your already on your way. The things and amount you eat while breastfeeding is not much different from when you were expecting your newborn. Most importantly, you’ll be looking to eat plenty of most healthy foods you can and of course staying away from the ones that are not healthy. What to eat while breastfeeding can be found on our website with tips and facts that can help you eat well while breastfeeding and dieting to help your baby grow strong.
One thing you should always remember while planning a breastfeeding diet is that you need to eat well for you and not just your baby’s health. This is because your body needs certain nutrients and calories to function and if your not eating right your body can use up its reserves and you’ll loose stamina. And that is important because you’ll need the strength to care for your baby. Another thing you should keep in mind is that if you feel more hungry while breastfeeding its because your body is working hard to make breast milk, so you may want to eat small snacks throughout the day and in between meals to help control your hunger. This can will also keep your stamina and energy level high. By doing this you’ll keep your breast milk full of the nutrients your baby needs daily but also your body will benefit too.
A healthy breastfeeding diet
At the top of the list of important vitamins and nutrients is calcium and you’ll need alt east 1000MG per day and this is a definite must have. Contrary to what most people believe you also don’t need to be drinking a lot of daily milk in order to produce breast milk yourself. In order to meet the minimum intake requirement of calcium you should be treating yourself with five servings a day of calcium rich food. This can include salmon, tofu, kale, yogurt, various cheeses and such.
While your aiming to get this calcium, its also important to eat balanced diet so you’ll get the right amount of protein and fats. Yes, some fats are good for your body, but this doesn’t mean eat only fatty foods! Eating right like this can help your body make good hind milk.
Eating a balanced breastfeeding diet will insure that your getting all the right nutrients and minerals, so you will want to make sure your also getting 9 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables. With this you’ll want to eat 5 vegetables like broccoli, corn, and carrots. For the four fruits you can eat apples, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, pears, melon, and others.
What should I eat while breastfeeding?
Knowing exactly what to eat while breastfeeding is important. Follow these simple rules to healthy and rewarding breastfeeding diet that will benefit both you and the baby.
Balance your daily diet each day with the following items from the list:
- 1 Prenatal Vitamin each day
- 1 serving of foods with Iron
- 2 servings of Vitamin C
- 3 servings of Protein
- 3 to 4 servings of Green vegetables and yellow fruits
- 1 serving of various fruits and vegetables
- 5 servings of Calcium
- 3 servings of Complex Carbohydrates ( whole grain bread )
- 8 glasses of juice and water ( No alcohol )
- Plus, a very small amount of fatty foods
Make sure you eat DHA rich foods such as Salmon and DHA eggs to help your baby’s growth.
What not to eat while breastfeeding
Having a healthy breastfeeding diet means that there are certain foods you should avoid, although there are few. Most importantly, you should really try to avoid alcholol while breastfeeding but if you do have an occasional glass you can use Milkscreen to check for the exact alcohol level in your breast milk. Also, try to avoid more than one cup of coffee because it can keep you and also the baby from getting good sleep. Try avoiding unsafe fish foods like high mercury shark or tile fish.
Also, keep in mind the history of allergies that runs deep in your family. You’ll want to avoid those foods if anyone has an allergic reaction, such as cabbage, squash, cows milk, eggs, fish, wheat, and nuts. Those are just some of the common ones, but if you baby experiences a problem after eating make sure you diagnose what they had to eat and avoid the problem again.
Smoking while breastfeeding is a NO!
You need to avoid any and all cigarettes while you breast feed. In fact, any other drug is strictly prohibited from use as well because this can cause severe harm to your newborn baby. This does not mean you have to avoid alcohol but you should have this only on rare occasions and usually after breastfeeding because it takes time for it leave your body. Avoid most sodas and coffee at the same time because the caffeine can be too much for your baby.
