Food For a Breast Feeding Mother ?

FOOD effect on breastfeeding, you and your baby. Most of the calories needed for milk production is supplied by body fat reserves stored during pregnancy. But the extra calories is still needed, over and above the intake during pre-pregnancy to provide enough energy that will meet the needs of a growing baby. When you start weaning your baby, your calorie needs will gradually return to levels prior to pregnancy.

Guidelines from the Department of Health (USA) outlined the following number is the additional calories needed during the first three months of breastfeeding:

Until a month – 450 calories

Until two months – 530 calories

Up to three months – 570 calories

However, recent research states that this figure is too high, and an additional 300-400 calories per day is sufficient for fully breastfeeding mothers during the first three months.

There are two sets of numbers for the additional caloric intake is required after three months.

Mother to-1 group were those who did not make her breast milk as a whole or most of the needs of baby food after the first 3 months. Meanwhile,

Mothers in the group to-2 are those that use milk as an inventory of all the energy and nutritional needs for six months or more.

3-6 months:

Group 1-480 calories

Group 2-570 caloriesMore than 6 months:

Group 1 – 240 calories

Group 2-550 calories

What should I eat?

Make breastfeeding as continued motivation to run a healthy eating pattern that you do during pregnancy. Focus to eat brown rice / mashed, whole grains and cereals, fresh fruit and vegetables, and foods that contain lots of protein, calcium and iron (and, in general, occasionally indulge yourself to eat well, it will not interfere).

Choose a snack or a nutritious snack, such as yoghurt, sandwiches made of whole wheat bread filled with lettuce, canned salmon or tuna, cheese or humus, the following potato skins with baked beans, or fruit.

Drinking enough water to keep the milk supply.

Make sure you drink plenty of water – at least 8 to 12 glasses of water a day is adequate. This will help the body produce milk that is needed by infants.

Note that you eat and drink

Substances such as caffeine, alcohol. and other toxic substances can be channeled through the blood to breast milk, so that an excessive amount of these substances should be avoided. Nicotine cigarettes and drugs will also be channeled into breast milk and this should be avoided (Your doctor can recommend a safe drug.) You will know if the baby is sensitive to something you eat or drink, because he will show keresahannya by being fussy after feeding, crying a lot and can not be soothed, or sleep restless.

“If I drink caffeinated coffee I was not able to calm my daughter”, said one new mother, Kim. “If I go back to drink coffee without caffeine, my baby was fine.” It can be seen, if the baby is allergic to something you eat, you might see a reaction on the skin (rash or berbintil red rash), or on stools (green or slimy). Ask other advice to health workers or doctors.

Although some mothers believed that spicy or seasoned food will make your baby uncomfortable, self-test is the best guide for you, because reactions to foods that cause irritation, varies in each baby. If you know you can eat garlic chicken or a spicy vegetable curry without hardship on your baby, eat. But stay alert – there are some foods that cause heartburn sense of broccoli, cabbage, onions and brussel sprouts (small cabbage).

Eating plenty of iron

If you are taking vitamin supplements when pregnant, you may not need it after giving birth. That you may need is an iron supplement. Many women who have lost their iron stores when lactation. Ask your doctor, midwife or health worker to ask for their advice. If you continue taking vitamin supplements general, remember that it can not replace a poor diet. So keep trying to live a balanced diet and varied.

What about dieting during breastfeeding?

Lose weight gradually by combining a healthy diet, low in fat with exercise is sufficient. Losing weight quickly can harm the baby, because it may be able to liberate a number of toxins – which are typically stored in body fat – into the bloodstream, increasing the contaminants that will be anchored in your breast milk.

In addition, breastfeeding helps burn fat that settles during pregnancy and use it to produce milk. Mothers who are breastfeeding will burn more calories than are not breastfeeding, which means that most nursing mothers would lose 0.5 kg per month just because of the need for energy to produce milk.

However, keep the time schedule of 10 months to a year to regain your weight before pregnancy. If you want to reduce food intake slightly, wait until at least 6 weeks after birth. Limiting what you eat in the early weeks of breastfeeding will reduce your milk supply.

Food Standards Agency has current information on food safety, including nutrient content during pregnancy, breastfeeding and baby food policy, which includes infant formula under 1 year and advanced, and weaning.