What Is The Best Diet For A Breastfeeding Mom?

During pregnancy many women eat much morefrom what we eat. Oily fish, margarine and dairy
than usual sometimes eating a bizarre mixture ofproducts are good sources of vitamin. Many
foodstuffs at the one time. This is just yourhealth professionals recommend that
body's way of storing up the nutrition you needbreastfeeding women take a supplement of 10
so your baby can grow strong inside you as wellmicrogram of vitamin D, especially if the mother
to begin to produce the breast milk your baby willrarely exposes her skin to the sun or if she
later need. But after the birth what you eat isdoesn't like foods rich in vitamin D.
even more important for your baby's health.As well as minerals it is important that a
After you give birth, good nutrition is even morebreastfeeding mother get her RDA of minerals
vital than during your pregnancy. The quality ofsuch as Calcium, Zinc and Selenium. Calcium is well
your breast milk depends on your diet and yourknown as being important for the development of
diet also affects how quickly your body reboundshealthy bones - a lack of calcium can lead to
from childbirth. Medical experts recommend that aosteoporosis in later life. Milk and other dairy
breastfeeding mother requires an additional 500products are a great source of calcium so try to
calories per day. Recently that recommendationdrink milk every day. Milk is also a good source of
has been amended; what you eat is far morevitamins B2 and B12. If you don't like milk or are a
important than your caloric intake.vegan you can get calcium in other foods like
So what foods should you be eating?sardines, calcium enriched soya milk, dried figs,
Only one vitamin is manufactured inside our body;tofu, white bread, almonds, spinach and tahini.
vitamin 5. All other vitamins must be obtainedThe following foods are rich in zinc: red meat,
from food. Vitamins are found in many foods -sardines, baked potatoes, cashew nuts, whole
interestingly only one food contains all the vitaminsmeal bread, lentils, hard cheese, peanuts and other
necessary for healthy development: breast milk.fish like mackerel and prawns.
No other food contains all the vitamins a personFree radicals are bad for our body. Reports
requires. Therefore the secret for a breastfeedingsuggest that free radicals are on the increase
mother is to have a well balanced diet. Fruit andbecause of things like cigarette smock and car
vegetables are the best source for vitamins.exhaust fumes. Selenium is an antioxidant that
Eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per dayhelps protect our cells from the action of free
will give you just about all the vitamins you need -radicals. Fish, cheese and lentils are good sources
you will get all the vitamin C you need, and oneof Selenium.
more portion will help provide the extra vitamin ANo special diet is really needed for a breastfeeding
and B you need when breastfeeding. Broccoli is amother. All that is required is a well-balanced diet
particularly good source of both vitamin C and A.contain plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, some
Eating 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each daydairy products and a little red meat. If you're a
will also give your body most of the minerals andvegan or vegetarian you can easily replace dairy
fiber it needs.products or meat with many fruit and vegetables.
As stated above, vitamin D can be made in theIf you are in any doubt as to whether you are
body but our bodies need the sun to do this. Ineating a healthy diet your first point of contact
winter it is nearly impossible to manufactureshould be your doctor.
vitamin D, therefore we need to get our vitamin