Breastfeeding Diet Plan
Nursing mothers get that extra boost of spirit when they know that breastfeeding diet plan can help them overflow with the “milk of motherhood”.
Breastfeeding diet sample for better health
We will discuss a sample breastfeeding diet, which will help new mothers during that crucial and special phase of motherhood and make it a fulfilling experience for both mother and baby.
• Start off with a healthy balanced diet: A balanced diet will ensure that all the food groups are included in the right proportion. To have optimum milk supply, a healthy diet along with the recommended daily calorie intake is necessary. The extra calories will also give physical stamina for the mother to cater to the exacting task of baby-care.
Breast milk will always be nutritive even if the mother’s diet is not optimum. But a nutrition-deficient diet will make the body draw on the mother’s energy reserves to produce breast milk thereby making the mother weak and also affecting both the quantity and quality of breast milk in the long run.
• Hunger-Calls: Hunger strikes more than often at the time of nursing, reason being that the whole system is geared up to produce breast milk and therefore energy reserves are likely to get exhausted soon. So, it is advisable to go by hunger calls and opt for small meals, “sandwiched between” healthy snacks. Calorie-count is not always the right guide to decide the calorie intake.
• Sustainable energy: In a breastfeeding diet plan, food sources, which can provide sustainable energy, should be opted for. These include whole-grain cereals enriched with complex carbs; proteins and healthy fats; fruits and vegetables, which are rich sources of vitamins and minerals, all of which keep the metabolic system of the mother in-tune with baby’s requirement.
• Healthy fats: While charting out a healthy diet plan for breastfeeding, staving off fats because they have a high calorie-count is not a sound option. Healthy fats, which have a high degree of monounsaturated fats (olive), polyunsaturated fats and omega 3 fatty acids are a must-include in the mother’s diet for breastfeeding as they play a key role in infant growth and development.
These nutritive needs are covered by foods such as salmon, walnuts, olive oil, canola oil, avocado, almonds etc.
• Include variety but ensure purity: Much as there is the imperative need to include variety in a healthy diet option, there is an equally high demand that such healthy options are devoid of contaminants such as pesticides, chemicals or microbes. As a diet plan for breast feeding, fruits and veggies found to have the highest pesticide content should be avoided. And those with lowest pesticide residues are avocados, cantaloupe, watermelon, grapefruit, sweet potato, honeydew melon etc. and, are safe to eat. It is also important to keep in mind that the best buy of fruit or veggie will be the one which is locally produced. Other precautionary measures in a breastfeeding diet plan are to keep drinking water safe and pure and choose lean meat that is trimmed off the excess fat (which is rich in chemical deposits).
• Fishing for the right fish: Seafood can help fight postpartum depression so fish should be made a part of the breastfeeding diet plan. Those including salmon, shrimp, lake trout, tilapia, catfish, crab, pollack, and scallops are high in omega 3 fats but EPA also advises pregnant and nursing mothers against consuming certain types of fish : hark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish.
• Limit alcohol and caffeine intake: Include plenty of healthy fluids: Studies have shown that nursing mothers with a high alcohol intake tend to make their babies drowsy thereby reducing their intake. Caffeine on the other hand tends to get accumulated in the baby’s system, which doesn’t get flushed. Healthy fluids in the way of milk, soups, and juices help to keep the mother’s body hydrated.
• Avoid Food allergies: It is important to incorporate everything in a breastfeeding diet plan so that the baby also gets a sense of taste for every kind of food (to help him adapt to the taste of solid foods as well), but certain veggies such as cabbage, broccoli, citrus, garlic etc. can increase flatulence in the baby. Any discomfort or allergic reaction to a particular food should be avoided totally.
Dietary supplements in the way of calcium, iron and other multivitamin tablets should be taken promptly. Above all, it is important for the mother to keep herself relaxed because a calm mind can add a boost of energy to a breastfeeding diet plan, milking to the optimum.