A Vegetarian’s Diet and Breastfeeding – Should you change it for the Baby?

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Nursing your little bundle of joy can be the most rewarding experiences of a mother. While the body manufactured everything for your little one while still in the stomach, things are different now. For one, not everything that you eat today will find its way to the little one through breast milk, as it used to happen through the umbilical cord. Still, however, you will need to eat a healthy and well balanced diet so as to take care of your baby and provide it with all the calories and nutrients it needs to grow strong and healthy.

While there are well-balanced vegetarian diets out there, it leaves many breastfeeding mothers to wonder whether it is balanced enough to help the baby. The secret to providing your little one with all the nutrients and calories that it needs is to ensure you supplement all the nutrients you would have got from a non-vegetarian diet with the right ‘acceptable vegetarian’ foods. How, you may ask?

An important component of a vegetarian breastfeeding diet is plenty of fruits and vegetables. These are food items known to be great sources for Vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants. A breastfeeding mom should plan to take at least 8-10 servings of the same per day. Whole grains are also important if you are to eat healthy enough to support and sustain your baby, and just like fruits and vegetables, your diet should have at least 5-6 servings on a daily basis.

Whole grain food choices include bagels, buns, bread, cornbread, whole grain cereals and oatmeal. Wild rice, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc can all be a great source of fiber in a vegetarian breastfeeding diet. Beans and peas can also fall under the same category. Tuna, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, risotto, pasta, cheese, tofu, and beets are all importance foods in a vegetarian breastfeeding diet.

With that being said, and being fully aware of the nutrient needs of your own body for its optimal performance, you should continue preparing your vegetarian meals with varied carbohydrates, protein, minerals, and vitamins. The secret here is to keep your diet varied enough and nutrient packed. This way, you will be able to take care of your nutritional needs as well as pass nourishing milk to your growing baby.

The other thing on a vegetarian breastfeeding diet to help ensure your baby is getting enough nourishment is to ensure you take enough for two. On average, you will need at least 500 more calories when breastfeeding than you would normally. Note however that these additional calories should be nourishing calories and not simply an extra serving of dessert daily. This should not be construed to mean that dessert is bad, remember it is an important source of sugar and fat that your baby needs, although not in great amounts.

The role that water plays in a vegetarian breastfeeding diet can never be overemphasized enough. Water helps flush out harmful toxins from your body, so you don’t pass them down to your little one, and more importantly, it ensures there is a sufficient supply of nutrient rich milk.

As is therefore evidence, there is no reason why you should change your diet as a vegetarian just because you are breastfeeding. The best approach would be to change the amount and nutrition so as to cater to the little ones growing needs.

Avina is a contributor for the site Ultimate Cosmetics where you can learn some useful beauty tips.