With just a few small and easy adjustments in your diet, you and your baby can get the most out of breastfeeding.
Although the body will still create breast milk that is perfect for your baby even if you eat unhealthy food, if you don’t eat right, you will be sacrificing your own health, and that won’t be good for baby either.
When you don’t get the nutrients you need from your diet, your body will draw on its reserves, which can eventually become depleted. Also, you need strength and stamina to meet the physical demands of caring for a new baby.
Many mums feel extra hungry while breastfeeding, which makes sense – your body is working around the clock to make breast milk for your baby. Eating small meals with healthy snacks in between (the way you may have done during pregnancy) is a good way to keep your hunger in check and your energy level high.
Don’t be in a rush to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight and restrict calories while you’re nursing, especially in your first two months. While the quality of your milk should be good, the quantity of your milk could be affected with too few calories in your diet. It happens that ‘lack of milk supply’ is one of the most common reasons women give as to why they stop breastfeeding earlier than planned.
Count on taking ten months to a year to return to your pre-pregnancy weight.
Avoid alcohol – while the occasional social drink is alright, know that alcohol will enter your bloodstream and affect your milk letdown reflex even if you’ve just had one glass.
Limit caffeine – if you drink more than 300-500mg of caffeine – 5 or more cups of coffee a day – then your baby might ingest more caffeine than he or she can metabolize. It may not keep him awake, as that is not how caffeine affects children, but it will shorten his sleep, which may will impair your baby’s proper growth and development. The effects of caffeine vary from baby to baby so you’ll do best to monitor any affect it has on your child.
Of course, caffeine is also found in energy drinks, teas, chocolate and softdrinks.
Hydration – naturally, avoid dehydration! Drink more fluids: water, soup, or juice. You need to replace all that water that comes out of your body as breast milk.
As both alcohol and caffeine have a mild diuretic effect you won’t want to be peeing out all the water you need to breast feed with. It also won’t be settling if you need to go to the bathroom three times while you’re breastfeeding.
If you think a particular food has affected your baby, you could try cutting it out for a few days to see if it makes a difference. It’s thought that vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and onions, as well as cow’s milk and chocolate can cause colic symptoms.
Be alert for allergies. If your baby gets rashes after you’ve eaten something, or if breathing becomes labored, or stools turn green, your baby might be allergic to the food you’ve consumed. Stop eating it immediately and get your child to your pediatrician to be examined.
If you need additional help in terms of breast milk collection and storage, you can trust Philips Avent with its high-speed no-pain breast pumps and easy-to-clean breast milk storage cups.