How to Eat While Breastfeeding

While you don't have to be as careful about what you eat when you were pregnant, you do have to watch what you eat when you are breastfeeding. Your body will protect your breastmilk over you, so eating poorly and forgetting about good nutrition will make you tired and will leach vitamins and minerals from your body. But with some careful planning, you can still enjoy your favorite foods while breastfeeding.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Drink plenty of fluids. Most experts recommend simply drinking when you're thirsty. If you do this, you will naturally consume about eight to ten glasses of fluid a day. Good fluids include water and fruit juices. In moderation, you can drink caffeine and alcohol, though these won't count toward your fluid count.
2. Do not diet while breastfeeding. You actually need to ingest more calories while breastfeeding than you did when you were pregnant. If you breastfeed and eat healthily you will loose your pregnancy weight. Remember, you gained your pregnancy weight over the course of a year; it will take you a good year to lose your pregnancy weight. If you truly want to diet while breastfeeding, speak to your doctor about the best way to do it.
3. Eat lots of foods high in Vitamin A for good nutrition while breastfeeding. Examples include sweet potatoes, carrots, dried apricots, mozzarella cheese and spinach.
4. Get about three servings of dairy a day to get enough calcium. However, if your baby is especially cranky, they may have an allergy to lactose and you may be asked to cut it out of your diet and find another source of calcium. Talk to your doctor before cutting dairy out of your diet so you can discuss other sources of calcium.
5. Ingest lots of iron-rich foods such as beans, dried fruits, leafy greens, nuts and meat and poultry.
6. Feel free to eat your favorite foods, though if your baby seems cranky after you eat them, your doctor may ask you to cut them out of your diet.
7. Watch your junk food intake. Junk food on occasion will be fine, but if you're eating junk food and fast food because you're too busy with your new baby to eat healthy, you should consider freezing healthy meals or getting some extra help around the house.