The breastfeeding diet is a big concern for mothers, and most of all for those who feed their babies on breast milk only, with no formula supplements. This concern is natural, because some substances in the foods moms eat pass into breast milk, then into the infant’s digestive system. First of all, you need to know that breastfeeding is not the same as pregnancy, so you won’t have to avoid so many foods. While you can eat and drink almost anything, you have to keep in mind that a well-balanced nutrition will have a direct impact on your body, in the sense that you’ll supply it with enough calcium, minerals and vitamins to be able to cope with the stress that a newborn brings in your family. You surely need a lot of energy to take care of the baby, therefore you need to offer your body enough calories and nutrients to successfully face the challenge.

Should you feel the need for guidance in selecting the foods that should compose your well-balanced nutrition, you can take USDA’s Food Guide Pyramid, or My Pyramid, as it’s called now, as a basis for planning your meals. The Food Pyramid includes five food groups and a separate group which represents oils. Oils are not considered a food group in itself, but they needed to be included because they are an important source of essential fatty acids and Vitamin E.

The five food groups are represented on the pyramid in different colors, together with their proportion in the daily nutritional intake, so you can easily remember them:

• The grain group: colored in orange
• The vegetable group: colored in green
• The fruit group: colored in red
• The meat and bean group: colored in purple
• The milk group: colored in blue

You can read more about My Pyramid on the USDA website, but the basic message is to eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages within and among the basic food groups. This will reduce the risk of health problems.

Losing Weight While Nursing

Many young mothers fear they won’t be able to get rid of the extra weight, so they are tempted to start a weight loss diet even from the breastfeeding stage. This is not advisable, or at least, if you’re keen on doing it, ask a nutritionist for advice and get a customized eating plan that fits your personal needs. We have some good news for those of you who think of weaning their babies earlier in order to be able to start their weight loss program: while you were pregnant, your body made provisions of fat for the lactation period, so when breastfeeding you actually transmit your body signals to get rid of all that fat, as it’s not longer necessary.

While it’s true that you shouldn’t be trying to lose weight while breastfeeding, it is also true that you don’t have to overeat. The idea that the more you eat the more milk you’ll produce is a only a misconception.

Drinking Alcohol While Breastfeeding

You should know that alcohol passes into the breast milk, so if you drink and then nurse your baby at an interval which is less than two hours, you’ll feed him milk with alcohol. Besides, alcohol can slow down your reflexes, so it’s really dangerous to manipulate a small baby while you’re in that state, because terrible accidents may happen. A period of complete abstinence will be best for everybody: you, baby and the other members of your family. And you may even discover that you like it better when you’re sober round the clock.

Caffeine, Smoking And Breastfeeding

Drinking coffee shouldn’t have effects on your breastfed baby, if you keep the quantity within the reasonable limit of 1-2 cups per day. Nonetheless, if you notice the baby becomes nervous and agitated, you’d better stop drinking coffee for a few weeks to see if she calms down. If you determine caffeine was the cause, then you’d have to take it out of your diet or at least to reduce it at a minimum.

Smoking is another issue. There are mothers who think that they shouldn’t breastfeed their babies because they can’t give up smoking. This is wrong. It’s better for the baby to be breastfed by a smoking mother rather than to be formula fed. Human milk helps strengthening the baby’s immune system, therefore it’s important to go for breastfeeding regardless if you’re smoking or not. Anyway, as a sign that you really care for your baby’s health, you could at least try to smoke less during the nursing period.

Your Baby Tells You What To Eat

The best way of learning what to exclude from your diet while nursing is to watch your baby closely. If you see signs of digestive troubles, irritations, nervousness, or any abnormal behavior in your baby, try to exclude certain elements from your meals. For instance, you may like to eat spicy foods, but if the baby gets and upset stomach after you eat such foods, you should then avoid them. Trial and error is the best way to determine the ideal nutrition. However, before you start trying every possible food, please be aware that there are several foods that are known to cause colic attacks in breastfed babies. Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower fall in this category, so you may want to avoid them from the start. Also pay a special attention to cow’s milk, because it happens often that it’s not well tolerated by babies. At the first signs that something is wrong with the baby, stop eating cow’s milk and any other foods that include it and go see a doctor. Cow’s milk is known to give severe food allergies in lots of cases.

Last but not least, remember that you need to drink lots of fluids while breastfeeding, in order to avoid dehydration. Plain water is the best. Try to avoid carbonated juices and sodas and don’t exaggerate with the fruit juices. Stick to water and you should be fine.