The Breastfeeding Diet

You're not finished eating for two quite yet — here's how to get the right nutrition to provide your baby with a liquid lunch (and breakfast, and dinner, and snacks…)


It's the couch potato's dream — burning up the calories of a five-mile run without leaving your lounge chair. And guess what? That dream is your reality now that you're breastfeeding your little tater tot. It's true — milk production burns 500 calories a day, which means that when you're breastfeeding, you'll get to eat an extra 500 calories a day (up from your pre-pregnancy numbers) to meet that need — just one of the many benefits of breastfeeding. 
  
Hello, potato chips? Not exactly. Quality matters as much as quantity, especially if you expect to stay vertical during those long postpartum days (and even longer nights). The good news is that you're an old pro at eating well — what with all the practice you've had for the past nine months during your pregnancy. The even better news is that eating well while breastfeeding is very much like eating well while expecting (see The Pregnancy Diet), with (best news of all) slightly more relaxed rules. You'll still be aiming for plenty of healthy foods and steering clear of the less healthy ones (though there's more leeway for indulgences). Plus, while calories definitely count, you still won't need to count them — just follow the Breastfeeding Diet as best you can: 
  
What to eat. Like eating well during pregnancy, eating well while breastfeeding entails getting the right balance of good (and good for you) food. Try to get the following each day:

• Protein: three servings
• Calcium: five servings (that's an increase from your pregnancy requirement of four)
• Iron-rich foods: one or more servings
• Vitamin C: two servings
• Green leafy and yellow vegetables, yellow fruits: three to four servings
• Other fruits and veggies: one or more servings
• Whole-grain and other concentrated complex carbohydrates: three or more servings
• High-fat foods: small amounts — you don't need as much as you did during pregnancy
• Eight cups of water, juice, or other noncaffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages
• DHA-rich foods to promote baby's brain growth (look for it in wild salmon and sardines, as well as DHA-enriched eggs)
• Prenatal vitamin daily 

What not to eat. Here's the great news: When you're breastfeeding, there's a lot more that can be on the menu than off. But (and here's the less great news), with caveats. It's fine to pop open the cork on that pinot noir you've been pining for (or flip the top on that ale you've been aching for) — but within limits (a couple of glasses a week, preferably taken right after you nurse, rather than before, to allow a couple of hours for the alcohol to metabolize and for far less to reach your baby — use Milkscreen to check the alcohol levels in your milk). Time to pick up your coffee habit where you left off? Depends on how hefty your habit was — more than a cup or two of joe can make junior jittery (and keep you both from getting any sleep). As for safe foods after pregnancy, it's okay to reel in the sushi again, although you should continue to avoid high-mercury fish such as shark, tilefish, and mackerel, and to limit those that may contain moderate amounts of that heavy metal. (See Pregnancy and Fish.) 
  
To continue reading please click on the link: http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-diet.aspx