Breastfeeding diet

[chickenmama]

I read recently (2 yrs too late!) that breastfeeding mums should eat a diet low in sugar and refined carbs. When my midwife came to visit the week after dd was born she told me I needed the calories and could eat as much chocolate as I wanted. Well, I have a terrible sweet tooth and didn't need telling twice! Trouble is, what she told me seems to have messed up my system - I've had terrible trouble the whole time I've been bfing with shakes, dizziness, fuzzy head etc a couple of hrs after eating... I put it down to bfing but I've recently realised it's more likely to be blood sugar related. Cutting out all sugar and refined carbs has stopped the shakes and I feel quite a lot better.

So, I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this, or has any info about the kind of thing bfing mothers should / should not be eating

just eat normal food. although people always say have plenty to eat and drink apparently it does not affect your supply. must say for first few weeks that i did get a very oddly dry mouth on first let down, but that went away if i didn't have a drink to hand.

go to doc for blood sugar test, bf is a red herring here and you may have something else which should be checked out. but probably a return to healthy diet will sort you out.

I've never heard that before. I know if you want to lose weight after having a baby eating healthily will help, but I also know I gorged on biccies for nine months because I was starving!

Breastfeeding doesn't burn that many calories either - I'm pregnant and still breastfeeding my daughter so technically I get 300 calories for each of them extra. But 600 calories is very little in food terms. You can't even get a decent pudding for that (with cream etc)

Well shouldn't everyone theoretically eat a diet low in sugar and refined carbs? Breastfeeding diet not really any different to a normal healthy diet IMO, except maybe a few extra calories in the early days.

errm actually my mum was a BF counsellor for 20+ years as well as being a clinical researcher - she found that the highest levels of success in maintaining breastfeeding was amongst mothers who did eat more than usual.

I'm sure if you work out the fat and calorie content of all the formula milke feeds a 6 month old has it's quite a bit of extra food to eat!

moominsmummy - that sounds interesting research, but not cause and effect by any means. The better-eating mothers could be from a sector of society more likely to breastfeed for longer - that is, the diet was a marker for being older and middle class.

There is a ton of literature showing diet does not make any difference to breastfeeding - there have even been RCTs, where one group of women have had special supplementary diets and the control group haven't.

I don't understand why you would look at the formula milk a baby has and extrapolate that the intake of a bf baby would be the same - in fact, we know it is not. Of course the mother uses up calories making milk - these can come from the fat stores laid down in pregnancy and from her diet, without her needing to eat more. Lactating mothers - like pregnant women - metabolise differently.

There's a good essay here ttp://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/408813_2 though you may need to sign in. There's a really long paper here www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80338e/80338E00.htm.

chickenmama, I don't know why your midwife said that to you. A normal diet is fine when bf, and it is common to feel a bit hungrier when bf, so eat to hunger. If you don't, you will not affect your bf, but you may not feel as energetic as you should.

my midwife said to eat when hungry, and boy am i hungry! i'm eating more bf'ing than i did while pg - but i was sick sick sick while pg so that wouldn't be hard. i'm planning on going back on weightwatchers after my 6 week check, and you get an extra 10 points if you are bf - that's quite a lot of food, i have around 20 points a day so its an extra 50%! i can't imagine i'll lose wieght while eating that much... i'm thinking i will try it and if i feel unwell, or baby doesn't seem as settled, or i am not loosing weight, i won't do ww until she is weaned.

I have definitely been more hungry since I had my wee boy. Or maybe I am just less disciplined than I used to be. I do know I am snacking all the time and just doing my best to make them healthy snacks.