When it comes to the menu of a nursing mother, most domestic pediatricians hold a common opinion - it should be dietary. Especially in the first months of a baby's life, when even the slightest non-observance of a diet can harm a child's health. At the same time in the West, doctors not only do not insist on special nutrition for a nursing woman, but in principle they deny its necessity. They are sure: a young mother can eat as well as before pregnancy. Who is right and is it necessary to follow a diet during breastfeeding? Let's understand together.
Life After Childbirth: What You Can Eat Nursing Mother
In fact, the truth, as always, is in the middle. Limit a meager list of hypoallergenic products as bad as cracking hamburgers, washing them with soda. The female body after labor needs the strength to recover, especially if the mother feeds the baby with the breast. Therefore, completely exclude from your diet fruits, vegetables, meat and fish categorically impossible. The best option is to stick to the prenatal diet, removing dangerous foods from the menu. These include: alcohol, carbonated drinks, too sharp and fatty dishes. Also, avoid products containing dyes, flavors, preservatives. Use carefully and fried foods, preferring cooked and stewed. Well, it goes without saying that rejecting foods that can cause allergies in the mother.
Green list: what you can eat and drink to a nursing woman
To avoid general recommendations and clarify, we offer you an approximate list of products that can be used in breastfeeding. This list is exemplary and can be adjusted depending on the individual characteristics of each woman.
List of approved products for nursing mothers:
- meat (lean pork, beef, chicken, rabbit meat)
- fish (any low-fat varieties)
- vegetables (any seasonal local, as well as hypoallergenic: potatoes, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers)
- fruits (all seasonal and local)
- cereals (traditional for a woman's diet)
- dairy products
- Bakery products (except yeast and too sweet baking)
- pasta
- eggs
Also, nursing mothers can have some sweets (biscuits, pastilles, marshmallows, marmalades), dried fruits and nuts. Admitted to the diet, but in small quantities and seeds, milk, honey, citrus. They should be used carefully and excluded at the first sign of an allergic reaction in the baby.
As for drinks, you can mums: compote, mors, tea, kefir, uzvar. Cocoa and coffee are allowed in small doses (maximum 1 cup per day), provided that the child does not experience discomfort after eating.
Remember that new products should be tried very carefully and not earlier than one month after delivery. And the older the baby becomes, the more diverse the mother's menu should become. The exception is the beginning of complementary feeding and disease - at this time should be carefully treated in planning their diet.