Best diet during breastfeeding

Introduction

The period of pregnancy and breastfeeding requires proper intake of all the nutrients for a mother and a baby. Adequate and well balanced diet is essential in maintenance of health and protection from certain diseases and medical conditions. It is common knowledge that women tend to eat more during pregnancy and that their appetite rises. The eating habits that are adopted during pregnancy should prolong during breastfeeding as well. So all the fresh mothers should take care of what they consume as not only will this affect their health but it will also make huge influence on their babies.Best Diet during Breastfeeding

Mothers have to pay huge attention on what they eat as this will have enormous impact on the quality of the milk. Many doctors believe that women who are breastfeeding require 500 additional calories per day. However, many moms tend to eat even more.

It is not the quantity of food that counts. What mother eats actually defines the healthy or unhealthy consequences to the baby. Junk food will, for example, provide with the additional calories, but this food will not provide with desirable nutrients.

The best thing a mother can do is to take a lot of complex carbohydrates. Additionally, every day meals must include fresh vegetables especially broccoli, cauliflower, squash, beans and bell pepper. Fresh fruit is equally important. Apples and oranges are available during the whole year. Seasonal fruit such as plums, peaches, melons, and berries are good as well.A woman who is breastfeeding should consume whole wheat bread or rye bread. Brown rice is much better than the white one. Protein intake counts as well and women should not forget to consume sufficient amount of meat, eggs, milk and dairy products. Milk and dairy products are essential as they provide with the sufficient daily requires for calcium. The best way is to keep away from sweets and sugary snacks. But if a mother cannot resist the sweet temptation, she is allowed to consume them, but moderately.

Women are generally afraid that if they continue eating after the delivery they will be unable to reduce the extra weight. They are wrong as breastfeeding is an excellent way of getting rid of extra weight. But only the good quality of milk will encourage the babies to eat more. This is why women should not cut the intake of food while breastfeeding.

And finally, mothers should restrain from alcohol and smoking while breastfeeding. It is known that alcohol can get into mother's milk. Nicotine can do the same as well and there are certain consequences that can occur due to intake of these harmful substances.