The Best Breastfeeding Diet: What Should You Eat?

Now that you're no longer pregnant, are you wondering why you should keep up with a diet filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, plenty of fluids, and a prenatal vitamin? Will it really make a difference to your child's well-being?

"As long as you're the sole source of nutrition for your baby, what you eat now is as critical as it ever was," says Elizabeth Somer, RD, and author of several books including Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy and Nutrition for Women. A woman "needs to be restocking her body at the same time she's breastfeeding, since many of the vitamins and minerals in her body have been depleted during the pregnancy," Somer explains.

As during pregnancy, you're giving nutrients to your baby first, and you get what's left over. You need to be extra mindful of your nutrition so that you keep up your own energy levels; you're caring for a newborn now!

Some of the important nutrients you were taking in during pregnancy are still essential for you now, especially calcium, folic acid, and omega-3 fatty acids (particularly DHA).