The Best Breastfeeding Diet: What Should You Eat?

By Nicole Palacios BSc, ACE

The Best Breastfeeding Diet: What Should You Eat?

In this article:
DHA
Calcium with Vitamin D
Folic Acid
Hydration
Keep the Kitchen Stocked
Take Food with You
Understand the Food-Colic Connection
Know What's Safe and What's Not

While eating healthy for nine months may seem like a chore, it's important to give your baby the best possible start. Once your baby is here however, don't revert back to your old ways! Here's a look at essential nutrients for you and your breastfed baby.

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).

DHA

This fatty acid is a necessary component for optimal eye, brain, and heart development in babies. It is also the most abundantly found omega-3 fatty acid in breast milk. So, how can nursing mothers get more DHA in their diets? Somer notes that fatty fish such as salmon and herring are chock full of this fatty acid. Moms can also look for foods fortified with DHA, such as certain brands of eggs, cereals, and breads, and supplements that provide the necessary amounts of DHA for nursing mothers.

While it is recommended to take in 300 mg of DHA daily, a 2006 study done by the Society for Women's Health Research showed that on average, breastfeeding women in America are only taking in 60 to 80 mg a day—less than one-third of what they need.