What not to eat while breastfeeding. Allowed foods while breastfeeding. When pumping is needed

I want to bring to your attention the common mistakes, or prejudices with GV. How not to do, and what not to listen to if you want to feed for a long time. Very good answers to your questions. And more importantly, this is how you can answer all those who do not understand anything about the essence of feeding, but continue to give you “valuable” advice. Wanting to breastfeed is natural and important. If something doesn’t work out for you, make every effort to establish GV, you have no idea how many happy minutes and hours you will give yourself and your baby. Do not be afraid to ask for help from already nursing mothers, do not hesitate to talk to a lactation consultant, I assure you - all your efforts will be rewarded a hundredfold! Good luck to you and happiness to your baby!

1. " Breast-feeding– this is something incredibly difficult, almost no one is able to feed for a long time, everyone always has a lot of problems and one sheer inconvenience.”

There is nothing easier, more convenient, more pleasant for mother and child, and, by the way, cheaper than properly organized breastfeeding. But for that to be the case, breastfeeding needs to be learned. The best teacher in this matter may not be a book or a magazine for parents, but a woman who has been breastfeeding her child for a long time, more than a year, and receiving positive emotions from this. There are women who breastfeed for a long time and perceived it as
punishment. For example, one mother fed a child for 1.5 years and for all these 1.5 years she pumped after each feeding, and when she decided that she was enough and decided to wean the child, she had mastitis due to wrong actions. Now she tells everyone that breastfeeding is hell. She didn't feed her baby properly for a single day.

2. “Breastfeeding spoils the shape of the breast”

Indeed, breastfeeding does not improve the shape of the breasts, but breasts change during pregnancy. It is then that it increases and becomes heavier, and, if its shape contributes to this, it “sags”.

What happens to the chest?

During lactation, the breast changes. Approximately 1-1.5 months after birth, with stable lactation, it becomes soft, produces milk almost only when the baby suckles. After the end of breastfeeding, 1.5-3 or more years after the birth of the baby, involution of the mammary gland occurs,
lactation stops. The gland “falls asleep” until the next time. Under natural conditions, the end of breastfeeding always coincides with a decrease in the baby's need for breastfeeding. The chest remains soft, inelastic. The shape of the breast largely depends on the presence of adipose tissue in it, the amount of which decreases during prolonged breastfeeding. After the end of breastfeeding, adipose tissue is gradually restored. If a woman does not feed a child, the involution of the mammary gland occurs within the first month after childbirth. The shape of the breast still does not return to its pre-pregnancy state. (And if you think about it and figure out why a woman has breasts at all? It is for breastfeeding.)

3. “Breastfeeding spoils the figure”

Many women are afraid to gain weight while breastfeeding. But usually a woman gains weight mainly during pregnancy, and not when she is nursing. Moreover, if before pregnancy she tried to comply
certain fashionable standards, for example 90-60-90, during pregnancy she returns to her weight, her genetically based physiological norm (and it may be far from fashionable standards) + the well-known 7-10kg per uterus, fetus, amniotic fluid, increased the volume of circulating blood and a little more for various little things. Weight gain during pregnancy can be significant. Many women begin to lose weight after 6-8 months of feeding, and gradually, in the second, third year of feeding, she “drops” everything that she has accumulated. It turns out that the figure from breastfeeding often just improves.

Very often it turns out that a woman, having stopped breastfeeding 1.5-2 months after childbirth, begins to gain weight. Perhaps this is due to the resulting hormonal imbalance, tk. no woman is designed for such a rapid cessation of lactation.

It is not necessary to prepare the breast for feeding, it is so arranged by nature that by the time of birth it is quite ready to feed the baby. Cloths, for example, can cause skin irritation. Any manipulation of the nipple at the end of pregnancy can lead to very undesirable consequences due to stimulation of the oxytocin reflex: stimulation of the nipple - release of oxytocin - contraction of the muscles of the uterus under the influence of oxytocin - the uterus is "in good shape" - and, as a worst case scenario, stimulation of premature labor. And in general, has anyone seen a cat with a rag in a bra, or a monkey doing a hardening shower massage?

5. “With a flat, and even more so inverted nipple, breastfeeding is impossible”

Strange as it may seem to people who have never breastfed, a baby's nipple is just a point from which milk flows. If the baby suckles in the correct position, then the nipple is at the level
soft palate and does not participate in the actual sucking. The child sucks not the nipple, but the areola, massaging, decanting it with the tongue.

A breast with a flat or inverted nipple is difficult for a baby to hold in his mouth while suckling and it is more difficult for him to suck on it. Mom should show patience and perseverance in the first days after the birth of a child. Any child is perfectly trained to suck even the most uncomfortable, from our point of view, breast.

The nipple in the process of sucking changes shape, stretches and takes on a more comfortable shape for the baby, usually in 3-4 weeks. There are also various fixtures called “nipple formers”. They are put on immediately after feeding, when the nipple is slightly extended by the efforts of the child and worn until the next application. The nipple formers hold the nipple in an extended position. But even without these things it is quite possible to do.

It is very important for a mother with flat or inverted nipples to make sure that her baby never sucks anything after birth, except for her mother's breast. The child of such a mother, having sucked on a bottle or a pacifier, quickly realizes that this is a more convenient object for sucking and begins to refuse the breast. In this situation, mom will need even more patience and perseverance.

6. “You can’t keep a newborn at the breast for more than 5 minutes, otherwise there will be cracks”

The child should be held at the breast for as long as he needs. Feeding ends when the baby himself releases the breast. If we talk about cracks, then there are only three groups of reasons leading to their formation:

Mom washes her breasts before every feeding. If she does this (and even with soap, and even anoints with brilliant green after feeding - a favorite pastime in Russian maternity hospitals, for example) - she constantly washes off the protective layer from the areola, which is produced by special glands located around the nipple, and dries the skin. This protective lubricant exists just to prevent moisture loss from the delicate skin of the nipple, it has bactericidal properties and inhibits the growth of pathogenic microorganisms and, most importantly for a child, smells about the same as amniotic fluid. The sensitive skin of some women cannot last long endure such an impact and begins to crack, even with the correct attachment of the baby.
Causes associated with the incorrect position and behavior of the child at the breast:

The baby is not properly attached and sucks in the wrong position. And if this is true, then 5 minutes after 3 hours is enough for the formation of abrasions, and then cracks.
The baby may latch on correctly, but in the process of suckling, he may perform various actions that can lead to cracking if the mother does not know that these actions need to be corrected and not allowed to behave like this.
It must be remembered that the child has not suckled before, and does not know how to do it (he only knows general principle sucking). Unfortunately, most mothers also do not know how a baby should behave at the breast; they have never, or almost never seen it.

What shouldn't a child be allowed to do?

“Move out” to the tip of the nipple. This happens especially often if, during sucking, the child does not stick his nose into his mother's breast. If the mother feels that the grip is changing, she should try to press the baby with her nose to her chest. Very often this is enough for the child to “put on” correctly. If this does not help, then you need to pick up the nipple and put it back in correctly. The baby should not suckle the breast incorrectly for a single minute. He doesn’t care how to suck, he doesn’t know that he hurts his mother, he doesn’t know that the wrong position does not allow him to suck out enough milk, he doesn’t know that with the wrong position there is not enough stimulation of his mother’s breast and there will not be enough milk production.
You can not let the child play with the nipple. A child who has learned to slide down on the tip of the nipple sometimes begins to pass the nipple back and forth through the parted jaws. Mom, of course, it hurts or is unpleasant, but in most cases, mothers allow this to be done “If only he sucked ...” they say ... But why?!!!
It often happens that children who do not feel the touch of the breast with their nose during sucking, or do not feel it very well, begin to make search movements with the nipple in their mouth. Here you need to gently press the baby to your chest so that he understands that he is already in place and there is nothing more to look for.

Sometimes, especially if the mother has long and large nipples, the baby grabs the breast in several steps, “climbing” up in several movements. This also happens in cases where the child has already sucked on the pacifier and does not open his mouth well. The nipple is injured so very quickly. To avoid this, it is necessary to correctly insert the nipple into the WIDE open mouth, bringing the nipple itself past the jaws, as deep as possible.

Moms don't know how to breastfeed properly. A typical picture for maternity hospitals with separate stay is as follows: the baby was brought to the mother for 30 minutes, the baby held everything correctly and sucked well for these 30 minutes, he would still suck, but they came to pick him up and the mother pulls (slowly or quickly) from his nipple from his mouth. Six such pulls per day is enough for the development of abrasions. You can take the nipple only after opening the jaw with the little finger (quickly insert the tip of the finger into the corner of the mouth and turn it - it does not hurt at all and no one suffers).

Diseases of the skin of the nipples. Most often, mothers are faced with a fungal infection of the skin of the nipples - "thrush". In this situation, the skin most often looks “irritated”, it can peel off, itch, cracks may appear, even despite proper attachment, there may be pain during and after sucking, piercing pains along the milk ducts. This problem is usually solved with the use of specific treatment and also has nothing to do with the topic of preparing the breast for feeding or the time the baby is at the breast.

7. “While there is no milk, it is necessary to drink more water”

The first day after childbirth, liquid colostrum forms in the breast of a woman, on the second day it becomes thick, on days 3-4 transitional milk may appear, on days 7-10-18 - milk becomes mature. Colostrum is scarce and thicker than milk. This is the main argument in most Russian maternity hospitals in favor of supplementing and feeding the child (otherwise he allegedly suffers from hunger and thirst).

If a child would need large volumes of liquid immediately after birth, then nature would arrange the woman so that she would be flooded with colostrum immediately after childbirth. But the child does not need extra water at all. All he needs he gets from colostrum and milk! The water that is given to the child while the mother has colostrum literally “washes away” the colostrum from the gastrointestinal tract, depriving the baby of the action of colostrum necessary for him. Water is given from a bottle, which leads to "tangled nipples" in the baby and may cause rejection of the breast. Water causes a false feeling of fullness and reduces the need for suckling in a child. If we give a child 100g of water per day, he sucks 100g less milk (this applies not only to a newborn). The kidneys of a newborn are not ready for a large load of water and begin to work with overload. The list of arguments against can be continued, but these are enough.

8. “While there is no milk, it is necessary to supplement the child with a mixture, otherwise he loses weight, starves.”

The child is not designed to receive anything other than colostrum and milk. In the first days after birth, one colostrum is enough for him. Weight loss in the first day of life is a physiological norm. Newborns lose up to 6-8% of their birth weight in the first two days of their lives. Most children regain their weight or begin to put on weight by 5-7 days of life. Supplementary feeding with a mixture in the first days of a child's life is nothing more than a gross interference in the functioning of the baby's body. You can call this intervention a metabolic catastrophe. But in most Russian maternity hospitals this
completely irrelevant!

In addition, the introduction of supplementary feeding is carried out through a bottle with a nipple, which very quickly leads to “tangled nipples” and the baby refuses to breastfeed. Sometimes one or two bottle feedings are enough to stop a baby from breastfeeding!

The mixture causes a feeling of fullness, lingers in the stomach for a long time, the child has a reduced need to suckle the breast, which leads to a decrease in breast stimulation and a decrease in milk production.

9. “I feed my baby on demand! He demands from me in 3.5 hours! “

Feeding on demand means putting the baby to the breast for every disturbance or search. The baby needs breastfeeding around every sleep, he falls asleep at the breast and when he wakes up, he is given the breast. A newborn child in the first week of his life can indeed be applied relatively rarely - 7-8 times a day, but in the second week of life, the intervals between applications
are always reduced. During wakefulness, a child can sometimes ask for a breast up to 4 times per hour, i.e. every 15 minutes! Usually a child fed on demand is applied in the first month of life 12 or more times a day, usually 16-20 times. If a child in the first months of life is applied less than 12 times, then the mother either does not notice his modest requests, or ignores them (meaning a healthy, physiologically mature child).

In the vast majority of cases, at the moment when the child begins to ask for breasts more often, the mother decides that the child is starving and introduces supplementary feeding. And the child asks for breasts not at all because he is hungry. He constantly needs a sense of confirmation of physical contact with his mother. During his life in his mother's stomach, he is very used to the following: warm, crowded, I hear my heart beating, my lungs breathe, my intestines growl, I smell and taste amniotic fluid(fill baby's nose and mouth), almost all the time sucking fist (learning to suck). Only under these conditions does the baby feel
yourself comfortably and safely. After childbirth, he can get into such conditions only if his mother takes him in her arms, puts him on her breast, and then he will again feel cramped, warm, he will hear familiar rhythms, start sucking and feel the familiar smell and taste (the smell and taste of milk are similar to the taste and smell of amniotic fluid). And a newborn child wants to get into such conditions as often as possible. And the modern mother is waiting, she can’t wait, when the intervals between feedings will increase, when will the child start eating in 3.5-4 hours, when will he stop waking up at night ??? Hurry!!! And, usually, to the timid attempts of the child to ask for a breast, he answers with a pacifier, a rattle, gives some water, talks, entertains. The child is most often applied to the breast only when he wakes up. And he quickly agrees with this situation ... The child always takes his mother's position ... But then a “pitfall” awaits mother and baby - insufficient breast stimulation and, as a result, a decrease in the amount of milk.

10. “Feeding on demand is a nightmare! It is impossible to sit and feed a child for days!”
That's what moms who can't breastfeed say. With properly organized feeding, mom is resting! She lies, relaxed, hugs the baby, the baby sucks. What could be better? Most women cannot find a comfortable position, they sit, they hold the child awkwardly, their back or arm numbs, if they feed lying down, it usually “hangs” over the child on the elbow, the elbow and back become numb. Moreover, if the child does not take the breast well, it hurts the mother ... What kind of pleasure can we talk about here? In the first month - one and a half after childbirth, when the child is applied chaotically, without a pronounced regimen, sucks often and for a long time, the mother can feel good only if breastfeeding is organized correctly, it is convenient for the mother to feed, she knows how to do it standing, lying down and sitting, and even moving.

11. “After each feeding, you must express the remaining milk, otherwise the milk will be wasted”

No, you don't have to pump after every feed if you're breastfeeding properly.

If you feed your baby 6 times a day and do not express, indeed, milk can disappear very quickly. If you express after each feeding, then you can support lactation for some time. The terms are different, but rarely it is more than six months, cases of feeding on such behavior for more than a year are rare.

When feeding a child on demand, the mother always has as much milk as the child needs and there is no need to express after each application. In order for the newborn to completely suck out the breast, it is applied to one breast for 2-3 hours, and to the other for the next 2-3 hours. Somewhere after 3 months, when the child is already applied relatively rarely, he may need a second breast in one attachment, then the next time he is applied to the one that was last.

There is one unpleasant “pitfall” in regular pumping after feeding, which even most doctors are not aware of. It's called lactase deficiency. When a mother expresses after a feed, she expresses just the “hind” fatty milk, which is relatively poor in milk sugar, lactose. She feeds the child mainly with the anterior portion, which accumulates in the breast between rare feedings. There is a lot of lactose in the anterior portion. The child is fed “only lactose”, the gastrointestinal tract of the child, after some time, ceases to cope with such volumes of lactose. Lactase deficiency develops (Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose - milk sugar, it begins to be missed). This is one of the reasons for the development of lactase deficiency; the second, for example, is this: the mother gives the child two breasts in one feeding. But about this separately.

12. “In one feeding, you need to give the child two breasts”

No, it is not necessary to give two breasts. A newborn baby can be applied for 1.5-3 hours to one breast. Then 1.5-3 hours to another (for example, baby
woke up, sucked a little and did not want to anymore, but after 30 minutes he wanted to suck a little more. After 20 minutes, he sucked longer, and fell asleep. All these attachments were from the same breast. When the baby wakes up, you can offer him another breast. If the feeding is delayed and the baby sucks one breast for a relatively long time, for example, 20-30 minutes, and the mother understands that he has already sucked her, but wants to suck more, then, of course, it is necessary to offer the baby a second breast)). We need this so that the baby sucks the breast to the end, and receives “forward” and “hind” milk in a balanced amount. If a baby who has sucked a little on one breast is quickly transferred to the other breast, he may not receive enough “hind” milk rich in fats. He will suck mainly the front portion from one breast and add the same from the other. Foremilk is rich in lactose, and after a while the baby can no longer cope with the load of lactose. It is possible to develop lactose intolerance.

Transferring a baby from one breast to another can cause hyperlactation in some women, and if a mother also expresses both breasts after each feeding ... There are such mothers. Curtailing excess milk is sometimes more difficult than adding the missing ...

In some cases, feeding in one feeding from two breasts is necessary to stimulate lactation with a shortage of milk. A growing baby, most often after 3-4 months, may need two breasts in one feeding. Then the next application begins with the breast that was last.

13. “The more fluids you drink, the more milk.”

There are mothers who try to drink as much as possible, sometimes up to 5 liters of fluid per day. And a nursing mother should drink only as much as she wants. By thirst. Mom shouldn't be thirsty. And if you drink water on purpose, and even more than 3-3.5 liters per day, lactation may begin to be suppressed.

14. “Sucking a fist is very harmful”

The whole end of pregnancy, the baby sucked the fist, so he learned to suck. Fist sucking is one of the inborn habits of a newborn. After childbirth, the baby begins to suck on the fist as soon as it enters his mouth. At 3-4 months, the fist is the first thing that the baby can put into his mouth on his own. He can do things on his own!!! This is amazing! And at this age, many babies begin to actively suck their fingers and fists. There is nothing wrong with that. Mom only needs to watch the baby a little. If a baby plays with a fist, then he sucks, then he stops, he can not be distracted from this activity. If the baby begins to actively suck the fist, then the baby wants to suck for real, offer him a breast. If the need to suckle the baby is fully satisfied by the breast, then the baby stops sucking the fist by 5-6 months. (then, at 6-7 months old, he begins to “look for teeth”, but this is a completely different behavior). The cam baby sucks almost the same as the breast, opening its mouth wide. Some babies exhibit very funny behavior when,
clinging to the chest, the baby tries to put his fist in his mouth ...

15. “My baby wants a pacifier”

A child is not designed by nature to suckle anything other than the breast (and the fist, in extreme cases). A child is ALWAYS taught to use a pacifier. There are children who immediately push out the pacifier with their tongue. And there are those who begin to suck it. There are mothers who hold the pacifier with their finger so that her child does not push it out. Usually, the first time a baby gets a dummy is when he showed concern and the mother does not know how to calm him down. To calm down, the child needs to suck on the breast, well, they didn’t give the breast, they gave something else, you have to suck on what they give ...

16. “The child often asks for breasts, which means he is hungry, he has little milk.”

As mentioned above, a newborn child asks to be applied often not at all because he is hungry. He wants to suck, he wants to mom. He constantly needs confirmation of psycho-emotional and physical contact with
mother.

17. “Sufficient or not milk, we will find out on control feeding.”

We do not learn anything on control feeding (the child is weighed before and after feeding, the difference is calculated and they find out how much he sucked for feeding). Because:

A baby who feeds on demand constantly sucks out different portions of milk. In one application 5 ml, in another 50, in the third 150. You can get 5 ml. (I once weighed my daughter after 30 minutes of suckling. She gained 14 g. In the first month of her life, she gained 1200 g - and what would I be told if this was control feeding in the clinic?)
A newborn is designed to receive small portions of milk, but often. The vast majority of newborns in the conditions of feeding 6-7 times a day still suck out small portions of milk, and not 6 times 120 ml. And of course they don't eat. They begin to add poorly or stop in weight gain, or even lose.

weight.

Sufficient or not the amount of milk, you can find out in two ways:

2. Weight gain per week (for a child older than 7 days) should be from 125 to
500 g.

18. “If applied often, the baby will suck everything out quickly, the breast is soft all the time - there is no milk. It is necessary to “save” milk for feeding.”

When feeding a baby on demand, the breast becomes soft about a month after the start of feeding, when lactation becomes stable. Milk begins to be actively produced when the baby suckles. The breast is never “empty”, in response to the sucking of the child, milk is constantly produced in it. If the mother is trying to fill the breast for feeding, waiting for the breast to “fill up”, she gradually reduces the amount of milk by such actions. The more mother attaches the child, the more milk, and not vice versa.

19. “The stomach needs to rest”

And the child's stomach does not work very well. Milk there only curdles and is quickly evacuated to the intestines, where the actual digestion and absorption takes place. This is the prejudice from the old song about feeding according to the schedule after 3 hours. At
the newborn does not have a clock. No mammal makes even intervals in feeding its newborns. The body of the child is adapted to the continuous flow of mother's milk, and he does not need to rest at all.

20. “After each feeding, the baby should be held upright for 20 minutes.”

It is not necessary to hold the child upright after each application, especially if the child has fallen asleep. Most of the time the baby lies on its side. If he burps a little, then the diaper just changes under his cheek. It is necessary to hold the artificial man vertically so that he does not spill the 120g poured into him. And we are talking about babies who are fed on demand and receive small portions of mother's milk. In addition, the cardiac sphincter of the stomach needs training, which it can only receive if the child is lying down.

21. “You need to sleep at night”

At night it is necessary not only to sleep, but also to suck on the breast.

Most newborn children are so arranged that they sleep from 10-11 pm to 3-4 am, then they begin to wake up and ask for breasts. A child of the first month of life has attachments in the morning hours (from 3 to 4-6 usually. Night feedings with properly organized breastfeeding look something like this: the baby got worried, the mother put it to the breast, the baby sleeps sucking and the mother also sleeps, after which "At that time, he lets go of the breast and sleeps more soundly. And such episodes happen 4-6 times a night. All this is easy to organize if the mother sleeps with her child, and for this she needs to be able to feed lying down in a comfortable position.

If the child sleeps separately from the mother, in his own bed, then he stops waking up for morning feedings, sometimes as early as a week after birth, sometimes by 1.5-2 months. Most modern mothers take this with relief, because. finally ended for them the night running back and forth, nodding while sitting in an armchair or on a bed over a sucking child, and some also pumped at night ... And here they are waiting for a pitfall called insufficient stimulation of prolactin and, as a result, a decrease in the amount of milk.

A mother and her child are a wonderful self-regulating system. While the baby has a need to suck in the morning, his mother produces the maximum amount of prolactin, just from about 3 to 8 in the morning.

Prolactin is always present in the female body in not large quantities, its concentration in the blood increases significantly after the child begins to breastfeed, most of all it is obtained precisely in the morning hours from 3 to 8 in the morning. Prolactin, which appeared in the morning, is engaged in the production of milk during the day. It turns out who sucks at night, stimulates his mother's prolactin and provides himself with a decent amount of milk during the day. And whoever fails to suckle at night, he can quite quickly be left without milk during the day.

No mammal takes a nightly break from feeding its young.

22. “My “nerves” lost milk”

The production of milk depends on the hormone prolactin, the amount of which depends on the number of attachments of the child and nothing else. The experiences of the mother on any occasion do not affect him.

But the release of milk from the breast depends on the hormone oxytocin, which is engaged in the fact that it contributes to the contraction of muscle cells around the lobules of the gland and thereby contributes to the flow of milk. The amount of this hormone is very dependent on the psychological state of the woman. If she is frightened, tired, in pain or in any other discomfort during feeding, oxytocin stops working and milk stops flowing from the breast. A child cannot suck it out, a breast pump does not express it, and it does not come out with its hands ...

The manifestation of the “oxytocin reflex” was observed by every nursing woman: when a mother hears the cry of a child (and not necessarily her own), her milk begins to leak. The body tells the mother that it is time to apply the baby. In a situation
There is no such thing as stress or fear. (Relationship to the ancient instinct of self-preservation: if a woman runs from a tiger and she smells of leaking milk, the tiger will find and eat her faster, so while she runs in fear through the jungle with a child under her arm, the milk will not leak when she gets to the safety of the cave - and calmly settle down to feed the child, the milk will go again)

Modern stressful situations work the same way as those tigers. In order for milk to flow out again, you must try to relax during feeding, think only about the child. You can drink soothing herbs, shoulder massage, calm conversation helps well. Anything to help you relax.

And most modern mothers are not able to relax during feeding, it is uncomfortable for them to sit or lie down, it can be painful to feed - all this prevents the manifestation of the oxytocin reflex - milk remains in the breast, which leads to a decrease in lactation.

23. “The baby is too fat, it is necessary to limit the number of feedings and give water.”

A breastfed baby gains 125 to 500 grams per week, or 500 to 2000 grams per month. Usually, by 6 months, a child born with a weight of 3-3.5 kg weighs about 8 kg. The rate of gain is very individual, there is never any talk of “overfeeding”, children who are actively gaining weight quickly grow in length and look proportionate. Children who gain 1.5-2 kg per month in the first half of life, usually sharply reduce weight gain in the second half of the year and can weigh 12-14 kg by the year.

There is never a need to limit the number of feedings, much less to give water.

24. “Baby lacks nutrients, needs complementary foods from 4 months”

The need for other food manifests itself in a child of about 6 months of age, when he begins to actively take an interest in what everyone eats there. And if a mother takes a baby to the table with her, he begins to actively take an interest in the contents of his plate. This behavior is called active.
food interest, and it indicates that the child is ready to get acquainted with new food and you can start it. Nevertheless, breast milk remains the main food of the child in the first year of life, and in many cases even at the beginning of the second, contains absolutely all the nutrients the child needs and much more.

25. “A breastfeeding mother should have a strict diet”

Food should be familiar. It is preferable not to use exotic foods in the diet that are not characteristic of the “native” climatic zone. A breastfeeding mother may have interesting nutritional needs, and they must be met in the same way as the desires of a pregnant woman. A woman should eat according to her appetite, and not stick food for two into herself. And, of course, you need to try to eat healthy food. Do not use products containing preservatives, dyes and other unhealthy substances.

26. “A child should be fed for no more than a year, then there is still nothing useful in milk.”

After a year of lactation, the quality of milk does not deteriorate at all. Milk continues to be a source of all the necessary nutrients for the child, and in addition, it supplies enzymes that help the child absorb food, contains the baby's immune defenses, and a lot of other substances that are not found in artificial mixtures, or in baby food, or in food. adults (hormones, tissue growth factors, biologically active substances and much, much more.)

And do not forget that breastfeeding is not only nutrition, it is a special way of communication between mother and baby. Breastfeeding is necessary not only to eat, but also, for example, to sleep peacefully, or to receive comfort, support in difficult times. All this is necessary not only in the first year of life.

Liliya Kazakova, breastfeeding consultant

How to eat in the first months after childbirth? What should be nutrition while breastfeeding ?

Today we will discuss this topic and try to put things in order in such a variety of conflicting information.

Perhaps, if you are still expecting a baby, this issue is not so urgent, but I assure you that on the very first day after the birth of your long-awaited baby, the issue of feeding a nursing mother will appear before you in all its glory.

In maternity hospitals, they often give what they cook for everyone, so you should not hope that you will be fed in compliance with all the recommendations for a nursing mother.

It is better to plan food options for yourself after childbirth in advance and immediately write a list of products that you can bring after childbirth, and you will eat with peace of mind.

Here is an email I received recently from a subscriber:

“Lyudmila, good afternoon!
Regarding questions about the topic of nutrition, I want to know a lot, because the available information is contradictory and I still have not developed a clear understanding, although my son is already 1.7.

And I plan next pregnancy, I understand that clarity has not increased, but I really want to feel confident and calm mom!

He is more interested in the nutrition of a nursing mother during the first months of breastfeeding and during the period when the child has grown up. Catherine"

Let's take a closer look at her question.

Nutrition while breastfeeding

There are 2 approaches to nutrition after childbirth:

The first approach suggests that after childbirth you can, with a clear conscience, eatthe same as during pregnancy.

Of course, I am writing this hoping that you have eaten properly and fully. Lemonade, fast food, semi-finished products, canned food were excluded. If you have not thought about this topic, then I recommend that you immediately go to the second approach.

On the one hand, everything is logical - during pregnancy, when you ate, nutrients entered the child's bloodstream and, we can say that he is already familiar with your diet.

After giving birth, he will receive nutrients through breast milk. No products directly reach the child, which means that there is no need to maintain a strict diet.

You can also draw an analogy with the animal world, and we will see that after giving birth, all animals continue to eat as before, no one is looking for new food, does not stop eating what they ate before the birth of the cub.

The very fact of birth is compared with the fact that you, an adult, completely changed your environment and had to readjust to new conditions.

The nervous, immune, digestive and other systems are immature and still capable of malfunctioning.

Also of great importance will be the very fact of how the pregnancy went, childbirth and how the first feeding went - did the child receive colostrum, did it manage to protect the immature intestine and populate the mother's microflora there?

If at some stage there was a failure, then most likely this will be reflected on the skin of the baby. Pimples, redness, peeling - all this you can now see and track.

Of course, there is a greater sense of responsibility to the child - “I ate, but now he feels bad, all his cheeks are red ...”

Therefore, the second approach to the nutrition of a nursing mother is closer to me:

He is different more careful introduction of products into your diet.

It is understood that after giving birth for 2-3 weeks we follow a diet.

Not hard: water and bread, but quite nutritious and sufficient to satisfy your increased need, as a nursing mother, for nutrients, but at the same time sparing and not burdening the child's immune system.

Also very significant moment- this is that in the first days after childbirth, and in principle in the first month after childbirth, you often have problems with the intestines as a nursing mother.

During pregnancy, he was squeezed, during childbirth, especially if you were given an enema, he was subjected to strong stress and disruption of the microflora, so such phenomena as hemorrhoids and constipation often accompany a nursing mother. A sparing diet helps you normalize bowel function.

What foods can you eat while breastfeeding?

Alternatively, you can use this table.

Excluded

Highly allergenic foods:

seafood,
chocolate, cocoa.

Vegetables, fruits and berries are bright red and orange color, as well as kiwi, pineapples, avocados, cucumbers.
Broths, marinades, salty and spicy dishes, canned food, smoked meat and fish, spices.
Products containing dyes and preservatives.
Carbonated drinks, kvass.
Sauerkraut, radish, radish, fermented cheeses (cheese, suluguni, Adyghe), ham, sausages.
Legumes (peas, beans, lentils).

limited

Whole milk (only in cereals), sour cream - in dishes.
Bakery and pasta from premium flour, semolina.
Confectionery, sweets.
Sugar.
Salt.

Allowed

Fermented milk products (kefir, bifidokefir, bifidok, yoghurts without fruit additives, etc.).
Groats (buckwheat, corn, rice, oatmeal, etc.).
Vegetables and fruits (green, white).
Soups are vegetarian.
Meat - low-fat varieties of beef, pork, turkey fillet, boiled and stewed chickens, as well as in the form of steam cutlets.
Bread - wheat 2nd grade, rye, Darnitsa.
Drinks - tea, compotes, fruit drinks.

And towards the end of the second or third month after childbirth, you can introduce new products. You can get a nutrition table for a nursing mother on this page.

See also a short video tutorial about vegetables for a nursing mother:

How is a new product introduced into the nutrition of a nursing mother?

Better 1 time in 3 days. Take your time. For example, you want to try chicken. Stick to the following plan:

On the first day, they ate a small piece.
On the morning of the second day, they looked at the child - if the skin is clean, then you are eating chicken again that day.
On the morning of the third day, look, and if everything is in order, then also eat chicken on the 3rd day.

Such an introduction of new products is of course long and not convenient, but you will know for sure that the product is safe for your baby, there is no reaction. Sometimes the allergy does not appear immediately, but is cumulative, so we introduce the product for several days in a row.

In fact, reading these lines, you may be afraid that everything is very difficult, but everything will be depend on the child.

If you eat moderately and without obvious allergens and see that the skin is clean, the child has no pimples, no redness - perhaps you don’t need to follow the diet, expand the diet without waiting for 2 months.

However, if the skin is red, there are pimples, their number increases, it is better to play it safe and limit the set of foods eaten.

It is possible to assess with accuracy an allergy or not after 1.5 -3 months, when such a phenomenon as the “blooming” of newborns ends and in most babies the skin becomes smooth and clean.

Breastfeeding mother's diet

I believe that you should eat as you wish. A nursing mother eats a lot, because energy costs increase, and keep in mind that the baby suckles both day and night, so 3 meals a day are canceled.

Try to eat 4-5 times a day and be sure to drink clean water!

Pure water, drunk 10-15 minutes before meals, works wonders for your skin, provides water balance, is well absorbed by cells, and reduces thirst. Tea, fruit drinks, compotes are an additional liquid that you can drink as you wish.

So, let's sum up our big conversation about how to eat for a nursing mother in the first month after childbirth. And in the first months of a child's life.

7 top tips for postpartum nutrition from a lactation consultant

You don't have to deny yourself everything.

The nutrition of a woman in the first month of breastfeeding is no different from the nutrition of people leading a healthy lifestyle. Trust your intuition, listen to the body and your child - so you yourself will learn to determine the consumption of which product you need to reduce or add.

Try to eat only freshly prepared food, completely exclude all canned or processed foods.
Introduce more dairy products containing calcium into your diet.
Avoid fatty and fried foods.
When buying meat, give preference to low-fat varieties, such as veal, chicken breast, turkey, rabbit meat.
From fish, pollock, navaga, haddock, blue whiting are well suited. When choosing products on the market, pay attention to their freshness.
It is perfectly acceptable to include vegetables and fruits in your diet. Just try a little at first, and if everything is fine, then you can safely eat whatever you want.

Please write in the comments:

What's the worst that can happen if you eat the way you ate BEFORE you had a baby?
What manifestations in a child make you choose products? (maybe he screams at you at night, or your cheeks are all red, or he can’t pump for 10 days)

In general, what worries - then write.

Let's have a little chat in the comments.

Women who are preparing for the birth of a child and plan to breastfeed him, as well as those who are already successfully feeding their baby, often ask a gynecologist: is it possible to get pregnant while breastfeeding?

Most young mothers are sure that breastfeeding reliably protects them from unwanted pregnancy, so there is no need to use any additional means of protection. Is it really?

The method of natural contraception, which is called "lactational amenorrhea", lies in the fact that breastfeeding is an obstacle to a new pregnancy. However, in some cases, conception of a child is still possible.

After childbirth reproductive function women are not recovered immediately. For nursing mothers, this period is usually much longer than for those who practice mixed or completely artificial feeding. Sometimes the recovery process continues until the end of lactation. All this time, a woman may not have a period, but, nevertheless, conception is still possible.

This fact is confirmed by both medical practice and numerous stories that are told on forums on the Internet. Therefore, to the question of whether it is possible to get pregnant while breastfeeding, the answer will be unequivocal: yes, you can. The fact is that the onset of the first ovulation after childbirth, before recovery menstrual cycle, a woman simply will not notice, and conception can occur at this particular time. The chance of pregnancy is approximately 10%.

In what case does the method of "lactational amenorrhea" work?

Of course, the chance of pregnancy is not too high. During lactation, fertility, that is, a woman's ability to conceive, is seriously reduced. During the lactation period, the body of a nursing mother intensively produces hormones that suppress fertility. These hormones include prolactin, a high concentration of which prevents a woman from becoming a mother again when she is breastfeeding. Subject to several important conditions, the reliability of the "lactational amenorrhea" method increases to 98-99%.

Firstly, a woman should feed the child not by the hour, but at his request, including at night, while not resorting to supplementary feeding with mixtures and not giving the child water and a pacifier. That is, during the day, the baby should have ten short feedings or six long ones, the intervals between which are no more than five to six hours.
Secondly, the age of the child should not be more than six to seven months. If the child is older than this age, then the frequency of feeding no longer plays a special role. After six months, complementary foods begin to be present in the child's diet, and he needs less and less mother's milk. During this period, you should not ask, “is it possible to get pregnant with hv (breastfeeding)”, it is better to start using contraceptives.

When a woman has her period again, it means that her body is ready for a new pregnancy. If a woman does not want another child, then she needs to take care of additional contraceptives.

Contraception for a breastfeeding woman

Barrier contraception or, more simply, condoms and a vaginal diaphragm. As for condoms, their effectiveness as a contraceptive is quite high. It is only necessary to choose their type correctly and, if necessary, use a special lubricant. The fact is that after childbirth, women often complain of excessive vaginal dryness and discomfort during intimate contact, and lubrication helps to cope with this problem. The vaginal diaphragm is a latex domed cap with a spring that closes the cervix and thus prevents sperm from entering the uterus. The effectiveness of the vaginal diaphragm, when used correctly, is almost 90%. Its advantages include simplicity, convenience and the possibility of repeated use.
Spermicides. Women are well aware of creams, tablets and suppositories for intravaginal use, such as Pharmatex or Patentex Oval. The principle of their action is associated with the creation of a special environment in the vagina, which suppresses the vital activity of spermatozoa. The effectiveness of spermicidal contraceptives is more than 80%, which is quite enough for women whose fertility has not yet fully recovered after childbirth. These women already know if it is possible to get pregnant while breastfeeding and therefore choose a reliable and safe remedy contraception. The active ingredients of suppositories and creams do not pass into breast milk, which means they do not harm the baby.
Intrauterine device. An excellent contraceptive for those women who have no contraindications to it. You can install the coil soon after childbirth (after six to eight weeks). The cervix during this period still remains slightly open, so the doctor can easily install the spiral without injuring the uterus with medical instruments. The spiral is valid for a very long time - from five to seven years, but, if necessary, it can be removed at any time. The reliability of the spiral as a contraceptive is almost one hundred percent.
Certainly more effective method protection than oral contraceptives does not currently exist. Since it has already been said above whether it is possible to get pregnant while breastfeeding, if there are no periods, it becomes clear that precautions will not interfere. Modern birth control pills, which do not contain ethinyl estradiol, are called mini-pills, and you can take them two months after giving birth, without waiting for the start of menstruation. Mini-drinks do not affect the amount of milk in the mother, nor have they been identified negative impact on the child's body. But, in any case, you can’t prescribe mini-pills to yourself, you need to visit a doctor who will select the right drug. A woman must definitely remember that taking such pills as "Charozetta", "Ekrolut", "Mixluton" must be done exactly on time. Lateness, even for three hours, significantly reduces the effectiveness of the drug.
After the child is six months old, you can move on to more familiar and physiological for the body combined oral contraceptives. These medicines contain ethinylestradiol, guarantee a high degree of protection against pregnancy, and only slightly reduce the amount of milk. The latter circumstance is not so important, because at six months the baby begins to receive additional complementary foods.

As you can see, the number of contraceptives that a nursing woman can use is quite large, and choosing the right one is not difficult. It is important to remember that the chance of getting pregnant while breastfeeding, although small, still exists, so relying only on natural contraception is not worth it.

Breastfeeding during pregnancy

A not too common, but possible situation is planning a new pregnancy while breastfeeding. It also happens that the pregnancy occurred by accident, but, nevertheless, the woman wants to leave the baby and asks herself: to continue or not to breastfeed while carrying a child?

If the baby is weaned from the breast, how will this affect his development and health? And if you still continue to feed, will it not harm the child, whose body is just being formed? Accept correct solution an obstetrician-gynecologist trusted by a woman will help.

With a normally developing pregnancy, lactation will not be a hindrance. However, a woman must remember that nature took care, first of all, of protecting the weakest link in the chain "mother - infant - fetus".

This means that all resources female body will first be directed to the development and growth of the unborn baby, then to the nutrition of the already born child, and last but not least - to the woman herself.

Therefore, before you become pregnant while breastfeeding, you need to weigh your strength and assess your health. After all, a nursing woman, having become pregnant with another child, should rest and eat three times better than before.

In the first weeks of pregnancy, a woman may feel discomfort during feeding, which passes rather quickly, without consequences for the developing baby. The hormone oxytocin, which is produced during feeding, does not affect the muscle tone of the uterus, so you should not be afraid of premature termination of pregnancy.

Lactation is a natural physiological process of producing a specific nutrient - maternal (breast) milk. The lactation period lasts from the end of childbirth and the first attachment of the baby to the breast until the milk flow stops. According to research data and the recommendations of obstetrician-gynecologists, the baby should be applied to the breast immediately after childbirth.

Despite this, the mammary gland does not immediately begin to secrete milk immediately after childbirth. However, the mother's body synthesizes colostrum that is useful for the child's body, which plays a huge role in the development of the child.

Lactation, as a physiological process, begins approximately 2-3 days after the end of childbirth. At this time, a woman may begin to experience uncomfortable, and even painful sensations: pressure in the chest, enlargement of the mammary glands, slight pulling pains. This is a physiological norm.

From the moment breast milk appears, the baby should be breastfed as often as possible. Only in this way can lactation become sufficiently stable. Neither pumping nor other methods will help establish stable lactation. Otherwise, there is a risk that the milk will be wasted.

After 14 - 21 days after birth, the next phase of the lactation period begins, the so-called "mature lactation". In some cases, it may come later - after 1-1.5 months.

In this phase, it is no longer necessary to feed the baby as often as possible. Lactation is stable, which means that the baby can be applied to the breast on demand. The intervals between each subsequent feeding should be about 2 hours (at least). In the future, as lactation comes to an end, breaks should be increased to 4 hours.

Only in this single case, the entire period of breastfeeding will be as comfortable and useful as possible, both for the child and for the mother herself.

A little about lactation as a physiological process

As mentioned, lactation is a natural process during which the synthesis, accumulation and further release of a specific nutrient - mother's milk. Lactation is an extremely complex process. It is caused by the production of a number of hormones. The main active substance that affects milk production is the pituitary hormone prolactin.

It directly affects the mammary glands, giving them a "command" to produce milk. The intensity of production directly depends on the concentration of the hormone in the blood. Milk accumulates in the glands themselves and in the so-called milk ducts, through which the milk comes out.

Another hormone important for lactation is oxytocin.. This active substance is intensively produced in the process of sucking by the baby of the mother's breast. With muscle contraction, milk leaves the body faster. The hormone does not directly affect the intensity of milk production, but it helps it to evacuate faster, which means it prevents milk stagnation and the development of such formidable complications as lactostasis and mastitis. In addition, oxytocin promotes contraction of the muscles of the uterus, and hence a quick stop.

The first two or three days after birth, mothers still do not produce milk, but colostrum is released. In some cases, colostrum begins to be synthesized even during gestation.

It is important to keep in mind that during breast stimulation, the hormone oxytocin is released, so women who have colostrum at the end of pregnancy should not express it. Oxytocin promotes contraction of the uterus and the onset of preterm labor.

Colostrum is replaced by mother's milk approximately 3-5 days after the baby is born.

In the first days of life, the baby has enough colostrum. It is not necessary to feed the child in addition to formula milk or anything else.

10 mistakes breastfeeding moms make

Many women, out of inexperience or ignorance, make quite serious mistakes:

In no case should you set a schedule (mode) for feeding the baby immediately after childbirth. The child himself knows how much and when to eat. It is advisable to establish a feeding schedule only when the period of so-called mature lactation begins (after about 14-21 days) and closer to its completion (intervals of 2-4 hours). Starting in this way the feeding of the child, the mother runs the risk of losing milk very quickly, since lactation on initial stage extremely unstable.

It is not recommended to supplement the baby with artificial mixtures. This is probably one of the most serious mistakes mothers make. For one reason or another, a woman decides that the baby does not have enough milk, and buys an artificial mixture. Such a diet can lead to a number of adverse effects. Firstly, sucking from a nipple is much easier than applying to the breast, and secondly, the mixture has better taste properties, which means that there is a high risk that the baby will completely refuse mother's milk. Despite all positive properties artificial mixtures (proximity in composition to mother's milk), they are not able to completely replace breast milk. In addition, mixtures provoke mass side effects. The child may begin colic, problems with digestion and immunity, allergic reactions.

Do not give your child water. Contrary to popular belief, milk is not only food. Almost 90% of it consists of water, which means that this is quite enough for the child. If the mother suspects that the child is thirsty, the best solution would be to stimulate lactation and "unplanned" next feeding. If the baby consumes water in addition to milk, this can lead to refusing to eat. The fact is that as the stomach fills, the brain receives a signal about this, and a feeling of artificial saturation sets in. It is possible to give water to an infant only in two cases: if the time has come for the introduction of complementary foods (not earlier than from 6 months), or if the child is initially bottle-fed. Otherwise, problems with the kidneys may begin, and the development of edema is not far off.

Crying is not always caused by hunger. The child is designed in such a way that crying is the only way to get attention. But there can be a lot of reasons for crying: the child may have, he may have a headache, the baby may simply be bored, he may want to be picked up, the baby may be scared, it's time to change the diaper, etc.

For some reason, many mothers are sure that a dense and firm breast is an indicator of a large amount of milk. This is a huge misconception. If seals are felt in the chest, this does not indicate an excess of milk, but the beginning of lactostasis. The chest, on the contrary, not only can, but should be soft. Moreover, a woman with the normal development of lactation should not experience a lot of discomfort. Therefore, dense breasts are not a reason to avoid feeding in order to reduce lactation, but a signal that the glands need to be drained.

Without sufficient reasons, you should not express breast milk. When expressing milk, a woman loses the most useful part of it, the so-called "hind" milk. Instead of expressing, it is better to once again offer the baby a breast. Pumping is advisable only if available.

Do not use outdated data on weight gain in babies. Many pediatricians use old schemes and tables of weight growth ratios, etc. These data were relevant 10-20 years ago, and the materials were compiled for artificially fed children.

If possible, do not give the baby a pacifier. The sucking reflex of the child is satisfied by the mother's breast. If the baby is crying, you need to find and eliminate the cause of irritation, and not plug the baby's mouth with a dummy.

Control weighing the baby is useless. Often, mothers weigh their baby before and after feeding to see how much they have eaten. But the fact is that, firstly, the baby consumes a negligible amount of milk. To reflect such a small result, very sensitive scales are needed, which cost quite a lot of money. Ordinary household scales will not tell the truth. Secondly, each time the baby consumes a different amount of milk. It is not advisable to use this method of control. Weigh your baby once a week, that's enough.

Don't introduce complementary foods too early. Complementary foods should be introduced no earlier and no later than 6 months. If you enter it earlier, there is a risk of allergic reactions and development of problems with gastrointestinal tract if later - mental and physical development disorders are possible. ()

How long should a baby be breastfed?

There is no consensus on this issue, both among specialists and among experienced mothers. Some believe that it is necessary to breastfeed a child up to 1 year, and after a year it is not advisable to do this, some continue to feed longer, and still others generally believe that a child should be fed as much as he wants.

The optimal solution is breastfeeding for at least the first six months of life. At this time, milk should be the main source of nutrition for the baby. After six months, breast milk is no longer able to provide the child with all nutrients and require complementary foods.

From the second year, the child begins to eat almost like an adult. In the first and second years of life, milk plays the role of a factor supporting growth and development, but is not absolutely necessary. Moreover, nowadays it is not difficult to choose a high-quality milk mixture. Despite this, there is no absolute replacement for breast milk.

Benefits of long-term breastfeeding

There are several advantages of long-term breastfeeding:

High level nutritional value. Breast milk is rich in all the necessary substances and it is extremely difficult to replace it, especially in the first months of life;

Stimulation of the development of immunity. Mother's milk contributes to the production of specific immunoglobulins;

Reducing the risk of developing diseases caused by allergies. According to research scientists, the risk of development is lower in those children who long time fed on breast milk. In addition, mother's milk itself is not rejected by the child's body and does not cause an immune response;

Formation of the correct bite and development of facial muscles. The sucking reflex contributes to the development of facial muscles and proper bite;

Optimal physical development.

When should you not stop breastfeeding?

You should not stop breastfeeding in two cases:

If the child is sick or unwell. Babies recover faster if they are breastfed. With it, children in finished form receive the substances necessary to fight the disease, and the body's immune system itself is strengthened;

In the hot season (late spring, summer). Food during such periods deteriorates faster, and the risk of developing poisoning is much higher. Therefore, mother's milk in summer is optimal and a complete product nutrition.

To increase the quantity and quality of breast milk, mothers need to adhere to proper diet and consume in large quantities a number of products:

Tea. Green or black tea contribute to a more active evacuation of milk;

Bread with cumin and bran. Cumin seeds increase the amount of milk produced. During lactation, preference should be given not to simple bread, but to bread with bran, or cumin seeds;

Fruit compotes and decoctions. Decoctions and compotes from dried fruits or fresh berries help to increase the vitamin value of breast milk. They should be used as often as possible;

Pure boiled water. Pure boiled water helps to increase the volume of milk and at the same time reduce its viscosity. This will help not only the child, but also the mother, as it will reduce the risk of lactostasis;

Nuts. Walnuts, cedar and almonds. You need to limit yourself to 1-2 nuts per day. Only in this case the quality of milk will increase. In large quantities, nuts can harm the baby because they cause gas and persistent

In order to feed the child for a long time and correctly, you need to follow the feeding regimen. It is equally important to stimulate lactation and maintain it for as long as possible. The possibility of full breastfeeding is provided both by the choice of products that the mother will consume, and the frequency of meals, as well as compliance with the drinking regimen. Let's talk about what can and cannot be included in your diet for a nursing mother.

A mother's diet and diet are extremely important for her baby's health, as they all affect the quality of her milk. Alcohol, chemicals, and medications can also pass into breast milk and affect the baby, so they should be avoided.

Rules for choosing food

The main criteria that should guide the mother of a newborn from the moment he is born to the age of one month:

quality;
authenticity;
freshness;
seasonality;
diversity.

It is advisable to choose vegetables and fruits that grow in your native region. It is worth including in the diet products of plant origin, which it's time to bear fruit.

If possible, it is better to eat vegetables grown in your own garden or on the plots of farmers who do not use fertilizers. Then you can eat almost any fruit or vegetable - they will not cause allergies in the child.

Herbal Products

Vegetables and fruits, of course, are necessary for the mother's body - they are sources of nutrients, and also contribute to the normal functioning of the intestines, have a positive effect on the state of the immune system, some improve the quality of milk and increase its production. However, it is worthwhile to enrich the table of a mother who is breastfeeding with them, excluding those that can potentially harm the health of the newborn.

In the first months after childbirth, most of the plant gifts of nature should be consumed after heat treatment (steaming, boiling, baking).

During the formation of breastfeeding, vegetables and fruits in the mother's diet must be pre-treated thermally

When choosing products for your table, a nursing mother (especially in the first month after giving birth) should pay attention to the color of the products. Pigmented red fruits and vegetables are more likely to cause allergies than their green counterparts. This applies to apples, pears, apricots, raspberries, cherries, cranberries, etc.

Highly pigmented fruits and vegetables are more likely to cause allergies, even if their ecological purity is not in doubt. It is advisable to choose not imported analogues, but gifts of local nature

Meat products

Official medicine believes that the nutrition of a woman feeding a child is unthinkable without animal proteins. This question is debatable, but for those who are used to eating meat, it is pointless, if not harmful, to refuse it during lactation. It is believed that a suitable protein for a baby is one that is extracted from poultry meat (preferably turkey, because chicken can cause allergies), rabbit or calf.

Since many manufacturers use antibiotics in feed to rid livestock and poultry of infectious diseases, as well as hormones to accelerate livestock growth, it is better (if possible) to use poultry meat grown at home or small farms that do not abuse pharmacological drugs.

In any case, the meat is consumed boiled or stewed. Why not fried while breastfeeding? Proteins and vitamins with this type of cooking are very quickly destroyed, but there are more than enough carcinogens in fried foods - they are harmful not only for the baby, but also for the mother. It is also better for a nursing mother to refuse cooking based on meat broth up to 3-4 months.

Fish

Breastfeeding mothers can be recommended low-fat varieties of fish - pollock, pike perch, hake or flounder. It is believed that they can slightly affect the taste of milk, especially flounder or mackerel. However, there is no confirmed data for this. A well-known consultant on breastfeeding, Natalya Razakhatskaya, claims that there is no direct connection between the food consumed and breast milk, because it is formed not from food, but from blood and lymph components.

Seafood and caviar can cause severe allergies, in this sense, squid is considered the safest, but it is also recommended to introduce it into the diet only closer to six months. In addition, seafood is easy to get poisoned - the fish, if eaten, should be the freshest. You can cook it, like meat products, by boiling and stewing.

Fish broths are also best avoided for the same reasons as meat broths. Fish farms use all the same antibiotics and hormonal agents.

Fish and seafood should be consumed with caution as they can greatly alter the taste of milk, cause allergies and breast rejection.

cereals

Cereals, especially during the first month, form the basis of the diet of a nursing woman. The most useful for mothers and their children during breastfeeding are buckwheat and oatmeal. Permitted are corn (inhibits the processes of decay in the intestines) and wheat. But rice cereal, beloved by many, removes useful trace elements and is not recommended for constipation. One of the significant advantages of these cereals is their low allergenicity and high safety.

You should not eat cereals with gluten in the composition (semolina, pearl barley, barley, rye) - they are potential allergens.

Milk and dairy products

milk and dairy products- a storehouse of easily digestible protein, promote lactation and normalize digestion. Regarding the use of milk in the first month after childbirth, the opinions of experts differ. Some categorically do not recommend the whole cow's milk, others suggest drinking it after all, adding it to weak tea to increase lactation, but limiting the amount to 200 ml per day.

Cottage cheese, like all fermented milk products, must be fresh, it can be consumed no more than 150 grams per day. You can drink liquid sour milk no more than 800 ml per day (kefir, fermented baked milk, bifilin, yogurt, acidolact, etc.). The fat content of such products should not exceed 2.5%.

It is believed that tea with the addition of milk improves breastfeeding. Since this fact has not been scientifically proven, it is still not worth focusing on the use of dairy products for a nursing mother in the first month.

Foods that are prohibited

allergenic;
toxic;
exciting;
gas generating.

The list of these products is quite large, especially in the first month after childbirth. So, potential allergens can be:

tropical fruits and citrus fruits;
red fruits and vegetables;
caviar, seafood and fatty red fish;
chicken eggs;
cocoa beans and coffee;
whole cow's milk;
peanuts;
crayfish and crabs.

What foods are strongly discouraged for breastfeeding mothers? Of course, those that can cause maximum damage to the health of the baby, due to their toxic properties: alcohol, vinegar, all types of fast foods, foods with dyes and preservatives, smoked meats, spicy, salty, fatty and fried foods and spices. It is better for a nursing woman to exclude these “little joys” from her table for the entire period of breastfeeding, they will affect both the body of a newborn and a child 4-6 months old.

Watermelon, despite its ability to stimulate milk production, is better not to eat (we recommend reading:). Firstly, this berry can act as an allergen, and secondly, it accumulates nitrates and urea, which unscrupulous farmers stuff watermelons with.

Despite the well-known female love for sweets, it is better to postpone cocoa bean products for several months. Cocoa is a strong stimulant of the nervous system, so it can adversely affect lactation and the health of the baby. Replace sweet table can be a small amount of cottage cheese with fruit

Summary table of useful and harmful products

Dr. Komarovsky notes that the nutrition of a pregnant and lactating woman does not differ significantly. Therefore, the main principle of introducing products into the diet is consistency - i.e. new product trial 1 time in 3 days.

We have prepared a table proper nutrition for mothers, it can be taken as the basis of the daily menu:

Month	It is forbidden	Carefully	Can
In the first month	seafood, red fish, caviar sausage and sausages potentially allergenic fruits and berries (red apples, grapes, kiwi, pineapple, strawberries) gas producing vegetables (cabbage, celery) mushrooms pâtés soft cheese citrus coffee and cocoa cream cakes, nuts	whole milk chicken eggs pasta cookie	fermented milk products (ryazhenka, curdled milk, kefir, yogurt) cottage cheese and cheese boiled / stewed / baked vegetables (potatoes, cauliflower, zucchini) boiled / baked turkey, rabbit lean fish (cod, hake, zander, carp) cereals (buckwheat, oatmeal) fruits (green apple, pear, banana) dried fruits (dried apricots, prunes) wholemeal bread, crackers, biscuits vegetable broths
1 to 3 months		Can add: meat broths bright vegetables in fresh and boiled form (beets, carrots, eggplant, tomato, cucumber, radish) fruits (apricots, peaches, plums, cherries), melon and watermelon homemade jam	Can add: lean beef, chicken corn, millet, rice porridge
From 3 months to six months			Can add: boiled beets, carrots, pumpkin tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden nuts (except pistachios, peanuts)
From 6 months			Can add: lean pork (carbonade) legumes boiled red fish

Another useful table is a balanced diet for a nursing mother:

Squirrels	Fats	Carbohydrates	Vitamins and trace elements	Beverages
sour milk (without additives) - 500 ml	butter - 50 gr	coarse bread and pastry - 200 gr	vegetables (zucchini, potatoes, pumpkin, cauliflower, eggplant) - up to 800 gr	green tea - up to 500 ml
milk (in the absence of allergies) - 200 ml	sour cream - 75 gr	cereals - 200 gr	fruits and berries (not brightly colored - red, orange) - up to 500 gr	dried fruit compote - up to 500 ml
low-fat cottage cheese - 150 gr	vegetable oil - 20 gr			juice from green apples and pears - up to 200 ml
cheese - 40 gr				still water
lean meat (beef, rabbit, turkey) - 150-200 gr
fish (perch, cod, hake) - 150 gr

Drinking regime

Immediately after childbirth and when breastfeeding is established, a woman's body loses a large amount of fluid. This loss must be made up. Modern pediatrics recommends drinking a volume of liquid instead of the prescribed 1-1.5 liters, based on its own weight - 40-45 ml. per 1 kg. Before feeding, for half an hour, you can drink 1 glass of warm water to stimulate lactation.

Water during breastfeeding should be the main liquid for drinking. You can use filtered or buy bottled water (mineral, but without gas).

What can a nursing mother drink in place of water? Compotes based on dried fruits (prunes and dried apricots), apples and pears, rosehip broth, herbal moods or a weak hour with milk are suitable. However, the latter is recommended to be included in the diet after two months. You can also use kissels and fruit drinks (but not more than 1 glass a day).