Diet During Lactation - Important For Both, A Mother As Well As A Child

By Author: Priya Bhatt
Total Articles: 11
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We all embrace motherhood with a lot of love as well as tenderness. The following diet plan for breastfeeding moms will undoubtedly help you in your journey of reaching a new phase in your life. “Now you have to eat for two!” we have time and again heard this statement in Indian Households after a woman delivers a baby. Well, a breastfeeding mother does have to eat both for herself as well as her baby. This Indian diet plan will help you make things clear and enlighten you more on this particular subject, as well.

Needless to say that a mother’s body is extremely weak after giving birth; she also needs to get additional nutrition to be able to provide nutrients to her baby. A newborn is entirely dependent on the mother for all his/her requirements. The child gets all the nourishment from the mother’s milk, except if the mother isn’t able to secrete milk because of a problem. The baby eats whatever goes in his mother’s stomach!

It is a fact that a breastfeeding mom is supposed to eat for two people as long as she’s going to be feeding the baby. Therefore, the mother should get ample nutrition else ...
... the baby will get nutrients from the mother’s body and she might suffer from nutritional deficiencies and several other problems.

Let us look into the list of foods that you must include in your diet during lactation

A nursing mother should always include intake of galactogogues, these are those foods that help in milk production and increase it. You should have foods that provide strength and speed up the healing. Let’s look into some foods that must be counted in in the diet plan for providing apt nutrition during lactation:

Proteins-
The baby is in the growing phase and requires lots of proteins. Moms should eat them for two reasons, one to meet the growing newborn’s requirement as well as for their own healing.

Liquids –
A breastfeeding mother must drink plenty liquids as it helps in milk production. Less intake of it can cause dehydration and lessened supply of milk.

Whole grains –
Have lots of whole grains as well as whole grain foods as these are extremely healthy and digestible without any problems.

Vitamins –
Eat Green leafy vegetables as well as fruits from time to time to get lots of vitamins as well as minerals. They help in enhanced milk production. Vitamins are vital for good development of the baby and to get the systems to function properly in a mother after she gives birth to a child.

Iron and Calcium –
Several women stop taking their Iron and calcium tablets after delivery. If you happen to do so, too, have foods that are rich in iron and calcium. A mom loses blood immensely during delivery and has to renew her iron stores. Calcium is required for the healthy bones and teeth of the child. It is also required to store up the lost calcium from the mother’s body.

Galactogogues –
These are a vital part of a lactating mother’s diet. They help to increase the milk supply and meet the growing requirements of the baby. These can be simply included in our everyday recipes.

Also, if you are not able to meet all the nutritional requirements through the food you eat, then you can also add nutritional supplement powders for lactating mothers in your everyday diet plan.