How to maintain a healthy diet while breastfeeding while baby is 4 months old?

[AmberPoet]

I'm struggling to keep my diet healthy while breastfeeding and with broken sleep. I'm always hungry, but all I want is sugar, like chocolate, and lots of it.

Also because I'm so busy being mum to my 4 month old, I sway to more convenient food, which is not healthy.

Can anyone suggest easy and quick recipes that will help fill me up and satisfy my sweet cravings?

Does anyone have any advice on what I can snack on throughout the day too?

My baby is the same age but it’s DC3

beans on toast
porridge with banana
tuna jacket potato
stir fry chicken with quick noodles
roasted veg with pasta and pesto

these are my go tos for me and the kids at the moment

I resorted to cutting up veg and fruit to snack on while I made dinner and storing it for the following day. It really helped when I was looking in the fridge for something to eat.

I ate a lot of flapjack for instant energy. Also bananas. You are using a lot of energy so you need to be able to get easy calories onboard.

Try adding to your chocolate so for example have a bowl of yoghurt with a sliced banana and some broken up chocolate. Turn it into a more substantial snack.

Some other good food suggestions upthread already.

During the day: dried fruit and nuts, any sort of fruit, crackers and hummus, crackers and cheese, boiled eggs (boil several and just keep in the fridge). Dh used to make me a snack plate and bring it to me before he left for work.

Healthy food is actually really easy, you just have to buy it and have it prepped and available. Assuming you have a partner, hand baby off to him as soon as he walks through the door. Then you sort food.

I used to cook dinner (Dh had dc from when he got home until after bathtime and I took over again for bedtime). I’d cook enough of whatever it was to last at least a lunch or two. Then I had food for the next day sorted that I just needed to microwave and that could be done with one hand.

Big bowl of fresh fruit you just need to grab. Dried fruit and nuts in jars (we store ours on the counter so you just need to pour into a bowl). Chop carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers for snacking while dinner is cooking and put in fridge for the next day, boil the eggs at the same time. You could make a salad too and put it in a bowl with a lid you just need to pull out and eat.

Alternatively, if evenings are tricky because you don’t have a partner around, you should be able to do all the above with baby in a sling or bouncer with a bit of planning.

Oat cakes and rice cakes are good to snack on - simple carbohydrates but no sugar or additives.

Get a slow cooker and do yourself a nice big meal in this for your dinner.
Get a protein shake or meal replacement shake and add it to a smoothie.
Buy many snack bars and bananas for your bedside drawer.
Steak, eggs, and avocado is my go-to breakfast.
Cereal is a great in between meals snack.

Struggling with the same thing as I breastfeed my 3mo. I make a healthy meal for us and the toddler and have a huge portion, then by 9pm I'm ravenous again and looking for snacks.

I'm trying to make sure I have healthy snack foods in the house eg Greek yoghurt, fruit, hard-boiled eggs, toast and nut butter.

Unfortunately for me it's partly comfort eating as I feel stressed and tired and want to treat myself with a chocolate bar or a bun. I don't keep them in the house but my resolve crumbled when I'm out with the pram and pass a bakery!

I ate a load of those low calorie yogurts that are full of crap but not high in calories. Nothing truly healthy would satisfy my sugar cravings.

Do make yourself an extra dinner though. You do need to eat quite a lot. Have an extra meal rather than ending up picking on stuff.