Eating well for you and your baby
Eating a well balanced diet after pregnancy continues to be important so both you and your baby will have the energy and nutrition you need to keep growing. When you’re breastfeeding, the nutrients and energy that you eat get passed on to your baby, so ensuring your baby is eating well means doing so yourself! If you’re not breastfeeding, your body needs to heal itself after labour so continuing that well balanced diet you had in pregnancy is important.
How many extra kilojoules do you need when breastfeeding?
If you are fully breastfeeding for the first six months, the average extra daily energy requirement you’ll need is 2000 - 2100kJ (476 - 500Kcal) per day.
For many mums, this can be as much as a 25 - 30% increase. This value assumes there is no change in your physical activity level, which shows just how connected you and your baby’s diets are.
Once you start your baby on solids you can begin to return to your pre-pregnancy calorie levels.
Keeping to a healthy diet
Of course, even though you may need to increase your energy requirement when breastfeeding, it’s not just the amount you eat, but what you eat. Keeping to a healthy diet means eating foods that have essential vitamins and minerals such as iron, calcium and vitamin C to name just a few. Eating foods that are colours such as red, orange, yellow, purple and green is an easy way to get some of these vital nutrients.
One thing that many new mums can experience is a lack of energy that can sometimes be brought on by low iron levels in their diet. Iron-rich foods, such as red meat and dark leafy green vegetables are of greatest benefit. However, keep in mind that the iron in vegetables is not as easily absorbed as meat. Eating foods that are high in vitamin C, such as vegetables, fruit and fruit juices with meals will help your body’s absorption of iron. At the same time, avoid drinking tea with meals because this will reduce the absorption of the iron.
For a balanced diet, ensure you eat plenty of whole grains, cereals, fresh fruits and other vegetables. Lean meat and low fat dairy foods will also give you plenty of protein and calcium too. And don’t forget you can still give yourself the odd treat!
You will pass on your good eating habits to your baby when they start solids. Eating a nutritionally balanced diet will give you and your baby the energy and nutrients you both need to help keep happy and energetic!
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