Appropriate age group:
Infant

Description of technique:
Maintaining a nutritious and healthy diet is crucial to successful breastfeeding. A poor diet will ultimately affect your milk supply and could affect the quality of your milk, not only shortchanging your own body nutritionally, but your baby's as well. Continuing to take a prenatal vitamin while you are nursing will help ensure that you are getting all the vitamins and minerals that your baby needs, but this should not be considered a substitute for good eating habits.

Now is not the time to go on a diet. Nursing moms need approximately 400-500 extra calories a day more than what you needed while you were pregnant. Of course, not all calories are the same, so don't fill up on junk food. Protein helps promote postpartum healing and is an important source of nutrition for you baby. It is also recommended that you eat plenty of carbohydrates, green leafy vegetables, fruits, and iron-rich foods. Keep in mind that whatever you eat will be passed on to your baby through your breast milk. For this reason, you'll want to avoid foods that are known to cause gas like broccoli and cabbage. Many babies also have trouble digesting foods that are spicy, acidic (like tomatoes) or strongly seasoned with garlic or onions.

Drinking plenty of fluids during the day is also important to keep up your milk supply. Having a glass of water or juice just before nursing is a good way to ensure that you replace the fluids your body is loosing during nursing. You'll want to be sure to increase your calcium intake while breastfeeding as well. While you do not need calcium to produce milk, nursing moms will want to be sure they are eating enough calcium-rich foods to replace the calcium that's being drawn from their bones to produce milk for their baby.