Diet and exercise

Healthy diet for breastfeeding mums

Naturally, a mum's first instinct is to make their baby the priority, but this doesn’t mean you have to neglect your own wellbeing. Exercise, eating healthy food and resting whenever possible make a world of difference to your energy levels and ability to look after your newborn.

After the birth, your mantra should be: eat to hunger and drink to thirst. Eat sensibly by including the right nutrients in your diet: plenty of protein (lean meat, fish including salmon, mackerel and sardines, eggs, beans, lentils, nuts), calcium (milk, yoghurt, cheese, canned sardines, crab and salmon) and iron (from lean meat, beans, lentils, fortified breakfast cereals and green leafy vegetables).

A healthy diet while breastfeeding also includes wholegrain foods (wholemeal bread and pasta, brown rice) and a variety of fruit and vegetables. Ensure you drink plenty of fluids – at least eight glasses of water a day.

In the early weeks, it’s hard to cook yourself healthy, nutritious meals, so it’s best to stock your fridge, freezer and cupboard before the birth with healthy ready-made meals and easy-to-prepare, nutritious snacks. But whatever you do, don’t skip meals – you need calories to fight tiredness and keep your spirits up.

Avoid junk foods as much as possible as they have low nutritional content. The odd chocolate bar isn’t going to hurt you or the baby. Dark chocolate with high cocoa content is best as it doesn’t have the sugars and fats of processed chocolate – but remember that chocolate contains caffeine.

If you are worried about the quality of your diet, consider taking a well-balanced multivitamin and mineral supplement.

Exercise for breastfeeding mums

Walking is good exercise, just place your baby in the pram or sling and have daily strolls to the shops or to other amenities like parks and museums.

Once breastfeeding is established, be as active as possible without exhausting yourself. Get exercising gradually:

• if you are driving to the shops, park your car a bit further away
• walk around the room while talking on the phone
• stand whenever you can as it burns more calories than sitting
• go for short walks and increase the distance you walk every day
• involve a friend or other mums and go swimming or cycling when your partners are looking after the babies
• attend an exercise class for new mums.

Remember that exercise does more than burn fat - it also increases your energy levels and boosts your sense of wellbeing while reducing stress.

Weight loss

Breastfeeding burns around 500-600 calories a day and helps your tummy go back to its normal size.

If you are not happy about your size, be wary of diets as you might deprive your body and your baby of important nutrients. A poor diet will make you feel run down and affect your mood. So never start a diet before talking to a doctor.

If you want to lose your baby weight, it’s better to wait until your baby is at least two months old so your body can recover from childbirth and establish a good milk supply. Gradual weight loss has not been found to affect breast milk supply – but don’t start anything before talking to your doctor.

Other body concerns, including cosmetic treatments

While certain aromatherapy oils are not recommended for pregnant mums, they can be used if you are breastfeeding. However, they could interfere with your baby’s sense of smell and might irritate the skin of your breasts.

If you are having an aromatherapy or beauty treatment involving oils or creams, inform the practitioner or beautician that you are breastfeeding just to make sure appropriate products are used.

Another thing to bear in mind is that after the birth most mums’ skin gets dry and sensitive all over the body, so you might need to change your body moisturiser and face creams. There are special products on sale for new mums in many stores.

You can safely dye your hair, use fake tan and whiten your teeth as there is no evidence that they have negative effects on breastfeeding.