Best Breastfeeding Diet – Nutrition for Your Growing Baby

The importance of a healthy and well balanced diet can in no way be denied. However, the need for balanced nutrition is more the case for breastfeeding women because they need more than a healthy diet to see them through the crucial phase of lactation.

Health of the baby is dependent on the health of the mother during nursing. Since your baby receives all her nutritional needs through breast milk, it is important that you take the best breastfeeding nutrition.

Breastfeeding takes away a lot of your energy and nutrients from your body that need to be replaced at the earliest through your diet. You should maintain a regular diet schedule that contains a wide variety of nutrients as calcium, protein, vitamins, and iron. These nutrients are required to produce adequate quantity of breast milk, and to maintain your health as well.

Breastfeeding burns up about 500 calories everyday. Some of the energy is sourced from your fat that was deposited during pregnancy. The rest of the requisite energy has to come from your diet that you take while you are nursing. You would like to get back to your normal weight as soon as possible, but it is in your interest to lose weight steadily. This will come from a mix of balanced diet and exercise.

However, you should never make the mistake of crash dieting while you are nursing. This may have adverse effects on your health as well as the health of your baby.

Nutrients You Require While You Are Nursing

Proteins: As your baby needs a lot of protein to grow, breast milk provides all the proteins she requires. To ensure that you provide enough protein to your baby, your diet should include extra protein, which comes from milk, cheese and yogurt. The other source of proteins is legumes, nuts and seeds.

Calcium: Your baby needs a generous dose of calcium to develop strong bones, which breast milk yields in abundance. To keep the supply going, you should eat calcium-rich foods like cheese, milk, yogurt, and calcium-fortified soy milk. If your calcium intake is insufficient, your body will use the calcium from your bones. Thus, you run the risk of developing osteoporosis later on.

Iron: A lot of iron is drawn from your body during pregnancy. It is important that you replace the used up iron. The rich sources of iron are green leafy vegetables, nuts, legumes, and whole grain products.

Vitamins: Your baby needs vitamins and so do you. Your breastfeeding diet should include vitamin C, which you can procure from berries, citrus fruits, tomatoes, tropical fruits, potatoes and capsicum; vitamin A, which broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, and dark green vegetables supply; and folate that can come from broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage.

Caffeine and Breast Feeding

It is normally said that caffeine and breast-feeding do not go together. However, studies have shown that caffeine intake of less than 750 ml does not affect adversely most mothers and babies. While measuring your caffeine intake, look at all the sources of caffeine such as, chocolate (theobromine that acts like caffeine), colas, some cold medicines, pain relievers, and other medicines.

Babies affected by caffeine are fussy, alert, and wide-eyed. If you feel that your low caffeine intake is affecting your baby adversely, refrain from its excessive intake beyond the prescribed limits.

Make sure that you remain particular about your breastfeeding diet, so that you enjoy watching your baby grow healthy and strong.

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