The Nursing Mother's Diet

Nourish Your Body and Your Baby

By Sylvia Brown and Mary Dowd Struck

A nursing mother produces 23 to 27 ounces of milk per day, containing 330 milligrams of calcium per quart. This requires an extra energy expenditure of at least 500 calories per day. Good nutrition is therefore just as important for you as it is for your baby.

The quality of breast milk is only affected in extreme cases of deprivation or by excessive intake of a particular food. But the quantity of milk depends very much on the mother's diet. Food absorbed by a nursing mother not only fulfills her own nutritional needs, which are greater during the postnatal period, but also enables her to produce milk. A woman who does not feed herself properly may still have a healthy baby, but it will be to the detriment of her own health.

If you lack sufficient nourishment, your body will make milk production its first priority, and your needs will go unmet. It is just the same as it was during pregnancy, when the nutritional needs of the fetus were satisfied before those of the mother. In fact, the baby, who weighs only a few pounds, will receive nearly 1,000 calories per day in breast milk!

What does it mean to feed yourself properly while nursing? We can compare a breastfeeding mother to a marathon runner, whose race will last 24 hours, not four.

Increase your water consumption by one quart per day, so that you are drinking a total of 2.5 to 3 quarts. Nursing women tend to be thirstier anyway, especially during feeding sessions, because part of their water consumption goes directly to milk production. But don't overdo it: Too much liquid also can reduce milk production.

Increase your daily caloric intake to 2,500 calories – you can even eat more if you are planning to continue breastfeeding for more than three months (2,800 calories per day). But again, be careful: Many nursing mothers are tempted by sweets. Stick to healthy foods instead! Eat more proteins. The basic rule is to eat 1 gram of protein each day for every pound you weigh.

Spread your caloric intake over five "meals": breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and an extra snack during the evening. Each snack time is also an opportunity to drink water, eat a low-fat dairy product and a piece of fruit. As your body is continually producing milk, it needs your caloric intake to be regular.

Want to see more?

• Smart Nutrition for Breastfeeding Moms
• Striking a Balance: Healthy Eating Habits for the Nursing Mother
• Healthy Weight Loss for Nursing Mothers
• Talk about it!