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Nutrition during Lactation

September 20, 2008

Taking care of nutrition and dietary habits is not limited only for the period of pregnancy as a lactating woman needs to pay the same amount of attention to her diet, if not more, to ensure that the child as well as herself are healthy and fit. Giving birth to a child is one step in the entire process of bringing up a child and what the mother eats still affects the child through breastfeeding. Thus, it becomes imperative for a woman to take care of her diet during pregnancy as well as lactating period.

Eating healthy, well balanced and a nutritious diet is the way to keep yourself as well as your child healthy. On an average, the new mother produces up to 27 ounces of milk each day which in turn requires her to take in an additional 500 calories a day to make up for the deficit. Nutritional need is thus increased during lactation for providing sufficient breast milk and nutrients to the infant, and to make up for the mother’s daily requirement.

A lactating mother requires more energy than her counterparts. This can be achieved by including cereals, pulses, milk, and milk products in the diet. It is not necessary that you need to take high calorie foods like ghee as energy can be achieved through intake of a well balanced nutritious diet. Due to additional milk production, there is an increase in the demand of protein in a woman’s body and thus she should eat protein rich foods like milk, egg, meat, fish, nuts and poultry to keep the body in a healthy condition. Similarly, calcium is one of the most important minerals which is required both during pregnancy and during lactation. Iron rich foods should also be included in a lactating woman’s diet to keep her in healthy and fit.

Follow the given nutritional demands and keep yourself and your baby in a healthy condition.


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