Welcome to the business of milking and breastfeeding! It certainly isn't going to be easy, but here's some tips on the type of diet to take to help you get on the right track in this moo-moo journey.
Milk production burns 500 calories a day, which means that when you're breastfeeding, you'll get to eat an extra 500 calories a day (up from your pre-pregnancy numbers) to meet that need.
Quality matters as much as quantity, especially if you expect to stay vertical during those long postpartum days (and even longer nights). It's not difficult now that you're an old pro at eating well — what with all the practice you've had for the past nine months during your pregnancy.
Moreover, eating well while breastfeeding is very much like eating well during pregnancy, with slightly more relaxed rules. Go for plenty of healthy foods and steer clear of the less healthy ones.
Lastly, while calories definitely count, you still won't need to count them:
What to eat. Like eating well during pregnancy, eating well while breastfeeding entails getting the right balance of good food. The following is highly recommended for daily intake:
Protein: three servings
Calcium: five servings (that's an increase from your pregnancy requirement of four)
Iron-rich foods: one or more servings
Vitamin C: two servings
Green leafy and yellow vegetables, yellow fruits: three to four servings
Other fruits and veggies: one or more servings
Whole-grain and other concentrated complex carbohydrates: three or more servings
High-fat foods: eat sparingly — you don't need as much as you did during pregnancy
Eight cups of water, juice, or other noncaffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages
DHA-rich foods to promote baby's brain growth (look for it in wild salmon and sardines, as well as DHA-enriched eggs)
Prenatal vitamin daily
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