During pregnancy, you likely monitored your diet very carefully to ensure proper nutrition for you and the developing fetus. When you're breast-feeding, it's still important to get good nutrition, since the quality of your diet directly impacts the quality and quantity of the milk you make. This, in turn, affects your baby's health.
Breast-feeding
When you become pregnant, your breasts start gearing up to make milk, just as the breasts of all mammals do. The cells in your breasts make milk from the nutrients in your blood, and the fluid they produce is the best food you can possibly feed your baby. In fact, the World Health Organization notes that breast milk is such excellent nutrition that it's all your baby needs for the first 6 months of life. WHO recommends that breast milk continue to be a source of calories and nutrients for your child until at least age 2.
Calories
While the caloric content of your food isn't the only important aspect of your diet, it's a major consideration during breast-feeding. You need to get enough energy from your food to fuel your own cells as well as provide for the caloric needs of your baby. Kelly Bonyata, an international board certified lactation consultant, notes that the typical nursing mother will need an extra 300 to 500 calories above and beyond what she needed to maintain her pre-pregnancy weight.
Macronutrients
While calories are important, you also need to make sure your calories come from a balanced, healthy selection of foods. You need protein, carbohydrates, and fats to make high-quality milk. The best diet for a nursing mother is similar to the diet for a pregnant mother -- most of the foods you eat should be nutritionally dense and low in added sugar and fat, explains Dr. Miriam Stoppard in her book "Conception, Pregnancy and Birth." Pick mostly fresh produce, whole grains, and lean sources of protein in addition to healthy plant-based oils.
Micronutrients
Your baby needs vitamins and minerals, and these critical micronutrients won't be in your milk if you don't get them in your diet. Many obstetricians recommend you keep using prenatal supplements while nursing; talk to your doctor for guidelines. Because most women are vitamin D-deficient due to small amounts of the vitamin in food and reduced time spent in the sun, you'll need to supplement your breast-fed baby with vitamin D, notes the American Academy of Pediatrics.
