You have just gone through close to 10 months of pregnancy, taken your prenatal for 18 months, and endured labour. Amongst all the challenges, it was all worth it to hold your beautiful baby in your arms. A perfect creation of you and your partner. Now you can relax….
Or so we thought!
Read about the impact of nutrition on pregnancy here
Amongst all the unsolicited advice you received during your pregnancy, it continues through you and your babies lives! One of the biggest topics of discussion is feeding. How to feed your baby, what to feed your baby, when to feed your baby and MORE.
For the first 6 months of your baby’s life, the recommendation is that they are ‘exclusively breastfed’. 6 months of age is when solid foods are introduced. This comes from many years of research and revision of guidelines that looks at the benefits of breastfeeding for mum and baby. Australia’s breastfeeding initiation rate is at 96%. This means that 96% of those who give birth, will start breastfeeding or give it a go! Unfortunately this drops off significantly at 6 months, and 12 months of age. This is where it becomes increasingly important for those in health care, and health care providers to support breastfeeding mothers. Ideally mothers will breastfeed up until 12 months and beyond.
Benefits of Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding has an endless list of benefits for babies and children. These include:
- Protecting overall immunity
- Protects against infections such as gastrointestinal infections, ear, UTI and respiratory tract)
- Reduces the risk of type 1 and 2 diabetes
- Reduces risk of cardiovascular disease in later life (reducing high blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol)
- Reduces risk of eczema and asthma
- Protects against some childhood cancers
- Protects against coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
- Improved cognitive development
- Better ability to regulate hunger and feel satisfied
Not only this, but breastmilk is easily digested, and changes from feed to feed to suit baby’s unique needs. It is the ideal food to promote growth, development and health. The benefits don’t just apply to breastfed infants. Breastfeeding also has amazing short and long term health benefits for mothers also! These include:
- Cost effective
- Reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, and pre-menopausal breast cancer
- Reduced risk of type 2 diabetes development (after having gestational diabetes)
- Assists the uterus in contracting and returning to pre-pregnancy size
- Interaction and skin-to-skin contact can enhance bonding and emotional attachment between mother and baby
With all of these health benefits, and the amazing work your body does in creating life, and then going through the birth (whether C-section or vaginal birth), it is so important to ensure that you are nailing your nutrition for breastfeeding.
There is a lot of emphasis on preconception nutrition, pregnancy nutrition and making sure that key nutrient needs are being met for mum and baby. Whilst the importance of these periods in time cannot be underestimated, the postpartum and postnatal period is truly just as important.
Why is a mother’s nutrition during breastfeeding so important?
It is likely that once you begin breastfeeding, you might already be low and depleted of certain nutrients. This depends on your nutrition and supplementation during pregnancy, and also the labour and birthing process (i.e blood loss, healing from a c-section or tear). Breastfeeding raises nutrient needs overall. The nutrients present in your breast milk, are a direct result of your own nutrient stores. Human milk is amazing, in that the body does exactly what it needs to do to nourish your baby appropriately. Human breast milk can be varied in fat content depending on maternal nutrition. Often the carbohydrate, protein, calcium and iron content will not vary much even with allowance for diet.
So how is it that breast milk stays so consistent? Well, the body takes what it needs to create breastmilk, often depleting mothers of nutrients if their diet is suboptimal. Nutrition for breastfeeding and postpartum is MUCH more about ensuring the health of the mother than it is about the infant. This can be a little shocking to mums as it is very rare that you prioritize yourselves over your baby.
Multiple studies have noted that mother and baby should be examined and questioned at postnatal check-ups, with dietary advice tailored to mum and baby. This is a key area for dietitians to be involved in! One study noted that breastfeeding mothers should not have less than 1800 calories daily. With others noting that overall energy intake should be around 2800 calories daily.
A proportion of my clients come to me for support in weight loss postpartum whilst still breastfeeding. The most shocking piece of advice I give them is simple: eat more.
The key element to a lactating mother’s diet, is adequate energy and macronutrient intake. The amount of additional energy required depends entirely on the individual. Focusing on quality of diet is a nicer way to incorporate more foods, rather than focusing on a specific ‘calorie’ amount. Ideally a varied diet of wholegrain carbohydrates, lean proteins, and unsaturated fats (such as omega 3 rich, oily fish) balanced across your meals and snacks.
So, what are the key nutrients for breastfeeding?
- Iodine
These nutrient needs increase in breastfeeding to support increased thyroid activity in mums. Found in seaweed, seafood and iodized salt. - Calcium
Calcium is key to ensuring peak bone and dental health. Found in milk, yoghurt, cheese, almonds, tofu, chia and sesame seeds and soy products - Vitamin D
Pairs with calcium in protecting bone health and is essential to have adequate amounts in maternal stores and replenished as if mum is deficient in vitamin D, then baby is more likely to be deficient also. Found in fortified eggs, small fish with bones, and from the sun. - Iron
Like vitamin D, the iron sources that baby gets in utero, sets them up until they begin solids at around 6 months of age. For mums, breastfeeding is a tiring job that requires lots of energy. Having adequate iron stores will help you to feel less irritable, fatigued, improve energy levels and can help you to cope with any postpartum bleeding. Iron is found in chickpeas, tofu, tuna, lean meat and poultry. - Hydration
Water is essential for bodily functions, regulating metabolism and maintaining body temperature. Interestingly it has been reported that the hydration status of women during breastfeeding is linked with improved health outcomes. During the postnatal period, women with have an increased water loss via milk production. Often hydration status won’t affect breast milk production, but women will become dehydrated as a result of inadequate water intake.
Are there things women should avoid when breastfeeding?
Just like in pregnancy there are certain food precautions that women should take when breastfeeding.
Things to be mindful of include:
- High mercury fish
Consuming two to three serves of fish high in omega 3 fatty acids a week is still recommended. However it is still important to be mindful of high mercury fish such as shark, ray, swordfish, barramundi, gemfish, orange roughy, ling and southern bluefin tuna. - Caffeine
Caffeine can make its way into your breastmilk, wreaking havoc on baby’s sleep, and causing them to be fussier. Caffeine can pass from mother to baby in small amounts. Keeping caffeine intake to 200mg (or 2 standard cups of coffee) and consuming this straight after a feed can reduce the amount of caffeine baby has access to. Caffeine is found in tea, coffee, chocolate, energy drinks and some soft drinks. - Alcohol
Unfortunately alcoholic beverages are still off the menu during the postpartum period. We don’t want to damage baby’s growing body with alcohol. Of course, there is always the option to express breastmilk, and/or use formula during the nights you choose to have a drink.
If you follow a special diet such as a vegan diet or vegetarian diet, it will be important to seek advice from a pregnancy dietitian to ensure you are filling in all the gaps during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Do you feel like you need some support postpartum with breastfeeding? Visit the Australian Breastfeeding Association website for more information. Alternatively, you can call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436.
If you feel like you need more support with nutrition, book an initial appointment with me today!
