Breastfeeding Newborn Tips for First Time Mothers – Parenting
As a breast-feeding mother, giving your baby nutrients that will support their growth is the most essential thing to do, since most hospital has strongly suggested mothers not to give formula to the baby. The questions arise from many breast-feeding mothers are about ways to keep themselves healthy, such as selecting foods and drink to consume that might affect to the quality of the breast milk and the baby as well.
Cited from experts, here are some tips of maintaining healthy life for breast-feed mothers:
1. Eat regularly
Do not skip meal time. 3 times meal per day is essential since we cannot let ourselves starved. Having breakfast containing carbohydrates, protein, and calcium is highly recommended. You can choose some menus, like rice, wheat, milk, fruits, or eggs to start your day.
In any case, if you feel sleepy or weak during days, it means the food consumed contains less calories. Eating a mix of carbohydrates protein and fat at meals keeps you feeling full longer and supplies the nutrients your body needs. There are some food contained complex carbs; whole grains and cereals and fresh fruits and vegetables, which not only provide more nutrition than processed starches and sugars, but also longer-lasting energy.
And choosing from all food groups is important so you can get the vitamins you and your baby need over time. So mix it up – try to eat something today that you did not eat yesterday.
2. Hydrate yourself by drinking minimum 8 glasses of mineral water per day
The lack of water consuming may result to the reduction of breast-milk. Water will also help metabolism in absorbing and processing the nutrition contained in food.
3. Avoid caffeine
It can deplete the calcium inside your bone. At the same time while consuming caffeine, the calcium in the breast-feeding mothers’ body will be absorbed. Caffeine is a diuretic substance, which leads to rise of frequency in urinating that results in the reduction of body fluids.
4. Avoid drinks that contain high levels of sugar
If there is an exceeded amount of sugar enters the body beyond the required level, it will be converted into energy that later will transform to fat. Thus, breast-feeding moms will tend to get fat and have a fat body. In addition, the excess number of sugar inside the body is not good for mothers who have diabetes. If the blood sugars suddenly rises, it will be dangerous for their health and immune system.
5. Do not do diet (losing too much weight)
As a breast-feeding mother, basically you do not need to worry about your weight and body shape. Breast-feeding itself is beneficial for losing weight in a natural way. To be healthier, babies need fat in order to grow well. In that case, the fat contains inside the body can be “transferred” to the breast milk, which later be taken by the infants.
The best plan is to lose your pregnancy weight gradually. It is best to take up to a year to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight. Some experts are strongly advice not to try to lose weight by dieting until at least two months after your baby is born. The consequence of this action would be reducing your energy and the diminishing of the breast milk supply.
6. Get enough sleep
Breast-feeding mothers must spend their free time wisely by having a rest or going to sleep. At night, when the baby has slept, try to have a peaceful sleep and avoid staying up all night. Having lack of sleep will reduce the amount of breast-milk and decrease the quality of it. It will also lead breast-feeding mother to lethargies and weaknesses.
7. Consume fruits and vegetables daily
The nutrition contains in fruit is very good in order to increase the quality of the breast milk. In addition, it will also helpful to keep the body stay fit. In addition, it is also better to know which fruit has low amount of pesticide and not to forget to always peel the fruit before it is consumed. There are some kinds of fruit and vegetables which have the lowest amount of pesticide residue, they are onions, sweet corn, pineapples, avocados, asparagus, sweet peas, mangoes, eggplant, cantaloupe, kiwi, cabbage, watermelon, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, and mushrooms.
8. Eat immediately whenever you feel hungry
It is advised to keep yourself full and to eat outside of the regular eating schedule. It might happen if the meal you have during breakfast, lunch, or dinner does not contain enough nutrition you need to breast-feed your baby. It might also that the baby is very eager to suckle that the amount of breast milk provided needs to be more. In that way, you will feel hungry more often.
9. Take daily supplements
Nowadays, most pediatrics or obstetrician suggested to take supplements to support the quality of the breast-milk. It is also to suffice the amount of nutrition from the food we consume. It is best to choose supplements that contain calcium, iron, protein, vitamin, and antioxidants.
It is also good idea to continue taking your prenatal vitamin while you are breastfeeding – at least for the first month or so. After that, you can switch to a regular multivitamin and mineral supplement or stay on your prenatal vitamin, depending on your individual needs. (You can discuss this with your healthcare provider at your first postpartum visit.)
Those are some highly recommended tips to stay fit and healthy for breast-feeding mothers. It is expected that it will be beneficial to maintain the good condition of the body and increase the quality of breast-milk for the baby’s growth and intelligence.
