The Best Breastfeeding Diet: What Should You Eat?

During pregnancy you may have been mindful of drinking enough milk and eating the recommended servings of cheese and yogurt throughout the day. Now that you're a mom, there is no need to decrease your calcium intake. The March of Dimes website states, "the amount of calcium you need each day remains the same before, during, and after pregnancy." Again, most women are not getting the recommended daily servings of calcium, which according to Somer is 1,000 mg for a woman 20 years or older. A serving could be three glasses of milk, three cups of yogurt, or three glasses of vitamin-D fortified soy milk or orange juice. Vitamin is fat soluable and is found in certain foods, historically though, it has been obtained by adequate sun exposure. Today, vitamin D deficiency is much more common than it once was. Decreasing exposure to sunlight due to all the risks of too much sun exposure, in addition to more people living in urban areas, has led to the recommendation of fortifying certain foods with vitamin D to ensure adequate intake. (Vitamin D is an important partner to calcium; it helps calcium to be absorbed properly and efficiently.) Interesting to note: Vitamin D is actually considered a hormone. "It got its name as a vitamin in the early 1900's by researchers and it has stuck since then," points out Beth M. Iovinelli, RN, BSN, IBCLC.