Eating Properly When You Are Breastfeeding

When you are breastfeeding your baby, the foods you ingest and the nutrition you may be lacking will affect your baby through your milk. It is important to maintain a high level of good, nutritious foods while you are breastfeeding, and just as important to be a little more vigilant in foods you might not want to be eating, as the tastes can transfer to your child as you feed.

When you are breastfeeding, you will want to maintain as highly a nutritious diet as the one you were vigilant about when you were pregnant. The vitamins and minerals that were important as your child grew inside you are just as important now as you feed them. Maintaining a diet that has a good balance of fats, vitamins, minerals, whole grains, and bright colors is crucial, so your baby has access to all these things in your breast milk.

Eating foods high in calcium is very important, both for your bone maintenance and your baby’s bone growth. Foods such as milk, yoghurt, cheeses, and salmon (with bones) have a high level of calcium. These foods are also high in proteins, which are good for muscle development. You will want to keep a good level of protein in your diet, with lean meats like chicken and fish, but definitely avoid those fish that have any levels of mercury in them. It is also important to keep some healthy fat in your diet, as that transfers to good fats in your breast milk, leading to good calories consumed by your baby. Bright colored fruits and vegetables will also have more vitamins and nutritional value, so choose a wide variety of brightly colored fruits and vegetables to get the most variety and nutrition from your diet. Choosing whole grains and non-processed foods will ensure you get enough fiber in your diet and are cutting down on unwanted chemicals associated with processing that will transfer from your breast milk.

You also want to avoid a few things like caffeine, alcohol, and overly spicy foods that may upset your baby’s stomach. You may also find that some foods you enjoy will make your baby fussy, and you will see as you go along which foods you should avoid just while breastfeeding. It will become trial and error for some good, nutritious foods you may like, but may not agree with your baby! A happy baby makes a happy mom, so you can go back to them when your baby is no longer breastfeeding.

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