Healthy Eating when breastfeeding
Mums often find it difficult to find the time to eat properly when they’re looking after a young baby, so suggest they try to:
- keep meals simple so they don’t take too long to prepare
- make eating regularly a high priority
- eat smaller meals more frequently
Making healthy food choices after their baby is born will help them:
- keep up their energy levels at this busy time
- provide the best chance of essential nutrients being available in their breast milk
- reach and maintain a healthy weight
Feeding a growing baby
Breastfeeding uses up the fat that the body stores during pregnancy and may help them return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster.
Remind them that being a new mum is exhausting and breastfeeding uses up a lot of calories (most women lose ½ kg (1 lb) per month whilst breastfeeding), so dieting severely during this time is not recommended. On average, women will need about 500 extra calories per day while breastfeeding.
Suggest they include some physical activity in their daily routine. They should try to walk every day with their baby – the fresh air is good for both mum and baby and mum will get some gentle exercise.
What is a healthy diet when breastfeeding?
A healthy diet is as important during breastfeeding as it is during pregnancy, as many nutrients in mum’s diet will be passed directly on to their baby via their breast milk.
What should breastfeeding mums eat?
It’s important that breastfeeding mums eat a variety of foods including:
- Plenty of fruit and vegetables (fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juiced). Aim for at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day
- Starchy foods such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes to give them the extra energy they`ll need
- Plenty of fibre found in wholegrain bread and breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, pulses (such as beans and lentils) and fruit and vegetables. After childbirth, some women experience bowel problems and find constipation particularly painful, but fibre helps with this
- Protein such as lean meat and chicken, fish, eggs and pulses
- Fish at least twice a week including some oily fish. Limit oily fish to two portions a week
- Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt, which contain calcium and are a useful source of protein
Vitamins
While mums are breastfeeding they should take supplements containing 10μg (micrograms) of Vitamin D each day. They should be able to get all the other vitamins and minerals they need by eating a varied and balanced diet.
If mums receive Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Child’s Tax Credit they may be able to get free vitamin supplements through Healthy Start. They should check with their health visitor.
What to drink
Mums should have a drink by their side before they settle down to breastfeed to help them replace the fluids their baby is taking. Water, milk and unsweetened fruit juices are all good choices.
Small amounts of whatever mum is eating and drinking may pass to their baby through their breast milk, so you should help them to think carefully about how much alcohol and caffeine they’re having.
Effects of alcohol
Alcohol can pass to the baby in small amounts through breast milk. Because of this, women who are breastfeeding are advised to keep their drinking within the limits recommended for pregnant women. This is to avoid alcohol if possible, but otherwise to drink no more that 1-2 units of alcohol once or twice a week.
Women who regularly drink more than this may affect their babies in the following way:
- The breast milk may taste different and put the baby off feeding
- The alcohol may make the baby too sleepy to feed
- The baby may have difficulties with digestion and problems with sleep patterns
Breastfeeding and alcohol tips
- If it’s a special occasion and mum wants to have a few drinks, you can suggest she expresses milk in advance
- It’s best to avoid breast feeding for 2-3 hours after drinking
- If you do want to have a drink, have it after the last feed of the day
Effects of caffeine
Some breastfeeding mothers report that their baby is unsettled, irritable, or even constipated if they drink large volumes of coffee, strong tea, or cola. However, there appears to be individual variation in how much caffeine is found in breast milk after having a high caffeine drink.
What to avoid
Although eating fish is good for the health, breastfeeding women shouldn’t have more than two portions of oily fish a week. Oily fish includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna), mackerel, sardines, salmon and trout.
Breastfeeding women should avoid eating more than one portion of shark, swordfish or marlin a week because of the levels of mercury in these fish.
For more information about mercury levels in fish, click here
Some breastfed babies seem to react to foods in their mother’s diet. If a mum thinks that some of the food she’s eating is affecting her baby, she should seek advice from a healthcare professional. Remind her that it’s normal for breastfed babies to have loose stools.
If they’re finding it difficult to find the time to eat properly, suggest they try to:
- keep meals simple so they don't take too long to prepare
- make eating regularly a high priority
- eat smaller meals more frequently