Light vaginal bleeding, often called spotting, can occur while breastfeeding, but it has nothing to do with your diet. Spotting tends to deal primarily with ovulation and the return of your menstrual cycle. You can ovulate at any time while breastfeeding, even without a period. Your period may return when you stop exclusively breastfeeding your baby.
Spotting
While exclusively breastfeeding, most women do not have a period. Your period may not return until lactation slows or comes to a halt when you begin to introduce solid foods to your baby or decide to completely wean your baby from breast milk. If you're introducing solid foods to your baby and still continuing to breastfeed, you may experience spotting or a very light period during that time. If you completely wean your baby from breast milk to either begin formula-feeding her or because she's eating solid foods exclusively, your period is likely to return.
Dieting
After the birth of your baby you may be tempted to get back into your skinny jeans at a very fast pace. On average, breastfeeding moms tend to lose more weight than women who do not breastfeed, according to BreastfeedingBasics.com. Breastfeeding women tend to lose 1.5 to 4 lbs per month, depending on diet, activity level, metabolism and how much she's nursing. BabyCenter.com reports that you can safely nurse while following a healthy diet to lose weight. If you lose more than 1.5 lbs per week, you're probably losing too much weight. A sudden drastic drop in caloric intake can affect your milk supply. If you're losing more than 1.5 lbs per week, BabyCenter.com recommends increasing your calorie intake, even if you've not tried to diet and are just losing weight with no effort. BabyCenter.com advises women to lose pregnancy weight gradually and to count on taking 10 months to get your body back to your pre-pregnancy state.
Exercise
Moderate exercise is perfectly acceptable for nursing women, according to BabyCenter.org. You do need to first gain clearance from your health care provider that you can safely exercise and discuss an exercise regimen with your health care provider. As long as your health care provider approves, you can begin exercising. It's wise to empty your breast milk before vigorous exercising, such as running and jogging, to help avoid pain, discomfort and possible set off of milk flow. You may choose to swim to work all major muscle groups at one time, take the weight off your bones and joints and be more gentle on engorged breasts.
Milk Supply
If you begin to notice that your milk supply is dwindling or that you're lactating less, talk to your health care provider about your current diet and what you can do to improve lactation. You may need to increase your diet and consume more calories, especially if you're exercising. It's also possible that you may need to increase your fluid intake. Sweating causes you to lose fluids; drink plenty of fluids throughout the day. Drink a large glass of juice or water while you're nursing.
