How to Eat While Breastfeeding

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The first days, weeks or months you're breastfeeding your new baby are not the time to worry about getting into your pre-baby clothes. Breastfeeding moms do need to watch their diets to make sure they're eating primarily healthy foods and that they're eating enough calories. An occasional helping of cookies, chips or a candy bar won't hurt your baby's health, but remembering how to eat while breast-feeding will help you stay healthy and ensure optimum milk production.

Steps

1. Maintain a well-balanced diet while breastfeeding without worrying about counting calories. Eating plenty of healthy food will ensure your body has all the nutrients and energy it needs to keep you healthy while properly nourishing your baby, much as it did while you were pregnant.
   • Keep the food pyramid in mind when planning what to eat while breastfeeding. Consume a few servings each day of the vital nutrients including protein, calcium, iron, Vitamin C and grains. Vary the colors of the produce you consume to get the most nutrients and continue to take your prenatal vitamin as long as you're nursing.
   • If you consume a little junk food from time to time, it won't hurt your breastfed baby's health, but it could lessen the quality and amount of your milk and it will zap your energy levels. Too much irresponsible eating could ultimately affect your health since your body draws from your stored nutrients to produce milk.
2. Watch for contaminants in food and water you consume as chemicals can find their way into your breast milk.
   • Fish is a healthy food, but some types of fish contain higher mercury levels than others: swordfish, shark, tile fish and king mackerel. When it comes to canned tuna, albacore and solid white tuna meat contain more mercury than other types. Limit your intake of higher-mercury fish to six ounces per week.
   • Produce can be covered with pesticides, so make sure to wash or peel them thoroughly. Typically, produce that is contained within a somewhat thick skin you have to cut off to eat it are a little more free of chemicals (think citrus and melons), but not always. Organic produce will be freer of chemicals as will produce grown locally.
   • Filtered water is safer than tap water. Although tap water must meet certain EPA guidelines, it still contains more contaminants than filtered drinking water.
3. Eliminate foods that cause you to be gassy if they seem to have the same effect on your baby. If you notice signs of irritability or excessive gassiness after you eat broccoli, chocolate, cabbage, dairy products, citrus, chili pepper or garlic, or consume large amounts of caffeine, for instance, then cut the seemingly-guilty food out of your diet for a few days and see if your baby is happier.
4. Limit your consumption of alcohol and caffeine while breastfeeding. You don't have to cut either out of your diet like you did while you were pregnant, but you should time your consumption of either beverage (drink that glass of wine or cup of coffee right after nursing) to allow the alcohol or caffeine time to metabolize through your system before it's time to nurse again.
5. Consume high-fat foods sparingly but do consume some fats. Cutting them out entirely in the interest of losing the baby weight isn't healthy for you or for your baby. Your body needs some fats in the production of your milk; in fact, you'll actually transfer some of your fat cells to your baby through your breast milk.
6. If you're doing a vegetarian diet, you should continue to eat a variety of foods with special attention to include complete proteins through complementary plants and supplemental vitamin preparations. This is due to the fact that breastfeeding vegetarian mothers may be at risk for vitamin B12 deficiency.

Tips

• Light workouts will help you to gradually lose the body weight and are especially good mood lifters for new moms who feel a little blue. A stroll around your neighborhood with baby in the stroller will help give you energy. Anything too strenuous, though, could change the taste of your milk, causing it to be slightly bitter and keep your baby from nursing as heartily. Plus a strenuous work-out could zap your energy more than help it.

Warnings

• A big NO to cigarettes and drugs while breastfeeding. They have to be avoided completely.
• Don't rush the weight loss while breastfeeding. Plan to lose your body weight gradually, realistically taking about 10 months to a year to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight.

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