Metal And Stone

Healthy Breastfeeding Diet – Some Useful Hints

The quality of breastfeeding that a nursing mother provides to her infant depends upon her breastfeeding diet. If she takes nutritious diet, she will be able to maintain her own health and the health of her baby through the breast milk that she would be feeding it. In order to produce the right amount of milk with at least 330 milligrams of calcium for every quart of milk, she would need a minimum of 500 extra calories intake every day. As such it is important that she strengthens her breastfeeding diet suitably so that the nutritional requirements of the baby are properly met.

Why Breastfeeding Diet Needs To Be Doubly Nutritious
The nutritional needs of a nursing mother are very high when she starts feeding her baby as apart from the amount of breast milk required by the baby, the mother’s own needs too need to be taken care of. If the mother does not take sufficient nutrition during this period, the body will strive to keep up the milk production but at the cost of the health of the mother. The breastfeeding diet must, therefore, necessarily incorporate sufficient amounts of balanced food. Even during pregnancy, the fetus needs most of the nutrition before the mother can get the balance and after birth, the baby needs nearly 1000 calories from breast milk every day. This is the main reason why breastfeeding diet must have sufficient nutrition both for the mother and the baby.

Useful Tips For Nursing Mothers
A nursing mother must have a healthy diet that should include an optimum amount of water which should be about 2.5 to 3 quarts per day. Although mothers need more water to cater to the production of milk, they should not drink excessive amounts of it as this can actually bring down the milk production.
Breastfeeding diet should be able to provide at least 2,500 calories to the mother and if the period of breastfeeding is expected to be more than three months, the intake of calories should be at least 2,800. It’s essential that the mother take 1 gram protein daily for each pound that she weighs.
The caloric intake of the nursing mother should be spread over equally throughout the day in the form of five meals. She should keep on drinking water and take pieces of fruits and a low-fat diary diet. This will ensure a constant production of milk.
If the breastfeeding mother is on birth control pills, she should take diet supplements that are rich in Vitamins B 9 and B 6 as the pills induce deficiencies of these vitamins. Moreover, nursing mothers need to take folic acid, which is essential for the baby’s proper growth and development. Cabbage, spinach, corn, asparagus and chick-peas are rich sources of folic acid.

What Nursing Mothers Should Not Do
Smoking and consumption of alcohol are not advisable for mothers who are breastfeeding their babies. Nicotine and alcohol are both harmful to the baby, more so if the mother consumes them just before the feeding session. Moreover, medication, especially antibiotics, laxatives and medicines with iodine components, should only be taken if recommended by the doctor. Mothers should also avoid insecticides and pesticide residues that are present in aerosols or coils. Unsaturated fats are ideal for her and for the baby.
Each mother can devise her own breastfeeding diet that will give her the necessary nutrition and calories and keep both mother and baby healthy.
These are some general diet tips for breastfeeding mothers. For specific diet plan and detailed instructions, contact your doctor or lactation consultant.

Author: apurva

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