What to eat when breast feeding

What should I eat when I am breast feeding?
It is important to eat well when you are breast feeding to make sure you have enough milk for your baby and enough energy to get through the broken nights and lack of sleep during the first few weeks. Every day, try to include the following foods in your diet.

• Fruit and vegetables, fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or juice. Aim for at least five portions a day.
• Starchy foods like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes for energy.
• Fibre, which is found in wholegrain bread and breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, pulses, fruit and vegetables. Fibre helps to prevent constipation, a common problem after giving birth.
• Protein, such as lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs and pulses.
• Fish. Aim for two portions a week, one of which should be oily fish such as fresh tuna, sardines, mackerel or herring, to help your baby's brain and eye development.
• Dairy foods, including milk, cheese and yogurt, which are a good source of calcium and protein.
• At least eight glasses of water or other fluids.
• A vitamin and mineral supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D.

What should I avoid?

• Alcohol can pass into your breast milk, so have no more than one to two units, once or twice a week.
• Caffeine could affect your baby's feeding, sleeping and digestion. Try to drink tea, coffee and cola only occasionally or you may want to try decaffeinated versions.
• New advice from the Department of Health states that if mothers would like to eat peanuts or foods containing peanuts during pregnancy or breastfeeding, then they can choose to do so as part of a healthy balanced diet. This is irrespective of whether they have a family history of allergies (although mothers with a peanut allergy should, of course, avoid peanuts and foods containing peanuts).
• Limit the amount of oily fish you eat to no more than two portions a week, or one portion of shark, swordfish or marlin. These fish may contain pollutants that could affect your baby if eaten in large amounts.

Golden rules for breast feeding mums
You need to eat regularly when you are breast feeding, so avoid going for long periods without food. Rather than eating three main meals, it can sometimes be easier to eat quick and easy snacks at frequent intervals, such as:

• Sandwiches or filled pitta bread
• Yogurt or fromage frais
• A bowl of cereal with milk
• Fresh or dried fruit
• Houmous with bread or vegetable sticks
• Soup
• Beans on toast
• Baked potato

Breast feeding can also make you very thirsty, so have a drink beside you when you settle down to feed your baby.

Your baby's reaction to the food you eat
Some babies can react badly to certain foods and drinks that pass from their mother's diet into the breast milk, becoming unsettled, colicky and windy. Common culprits are alcohol, caffeine and wind-inducing fruit and vegetables such as onions, beans, broccoli, cabbage and grapes.

If you suspect your baby is reacting to something you eat, avoid that food for a few days to see if their symptoms improve. But you should not cut out large groups of foods, for example all dairy or all wheat, without speaking to your GP or healthcare professional first.