7 Important rules of a safe and healthy breastfeeding mother's diet

Changes in the body after giving birth sometimes make breastfeeding mothers consider going on a weight loss diet. The question is, can a mother actually go on a diet while breastfeeding exclusively? Is there a natural, healthy diet for breastfeeding mothers that can still meet the baby's nutritional needs?

Before starting a diet for breastfeeding mothers, get to know the rules first, let's!

Can the mother diet while breastfeeding?

Literally, diet means regulating food intake for health purposes.

This is because the diet is usually used when someone has certain health conditions, such as heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, and then wants to regulate their food intake.

Meanwhile, for those of you who want to lose weight, a diet is aimed at losing weight.

Now, wanting to immediately return to the original weight like before pregnancy is usually the reason for breastfeeding mothers to start a weight loss diet program.

Even though at this time, it is not only the nutritional needs of nursing mothers that need to be fulfilled, but also the nutritional needs of the baby.

In other words, you actually still need a lot of nutrients to support milk production.

If the mother's nutritional needs are not met properly, you will lose money because the body will work around this by taking nutritional reserves to produce breast milk.

Also pay attention to the food of breastfeeding mothers so that you can sort out what foods are good to eat during breastfeeding.

In short, considering the importance of nutritional intake from food for mothers and their babies during exclusive breastfeeding, it is better if you want to postpone a diet.

Actually, as long as the diet as an effort to lose weight is done in a proper and healthy way, of course it doesn't matter.

It's just that, it is feared that you will actually go too far and be too extreme on a strict diet while breastfeeding so that you risk causing bad effects for yourself and the baby.

Take, for example, your body becomes weak due to not eating enough, making it difficult to care for and care for the baby.

What are the nutritional needs of nursing mothers?

Diet for breastfeeding mothers is not recommended enough because it is feared that it will interfere with the fulfillment of nutritional needs which have increased at this time.

According to the Republic of Indonesia Minister of Health Regulation Number 28 of 2019 concerning Nutritional Adequacy Rate (RDA), the nutritional needs of breastfeeding mothers are as follows:

Breastfeeding mothers aged 19-29 years

Despite trying to diet, the following are the nutritional needs of breastfeeding mothers aged 19-29 years in the first 6 months:

• Energy: 2590 kilocalories (kcal)
• Protein: 80 grams (gr)
• Fat: 67.2 grams
• Carbs: 405 gr
• Fiber: 37 gr
• Water: 3150 milliliters (ml)

Following are the nutritional needs of nursing mothers aged 19-29 years and 6 months of the second:

• Energy: 2650 kCal
• Protein: 75 gr
• Fat: 67.2 grams
• Carbs: 415 gr
• Fiber: 38 gr
• Water: 3000 ml

Breastfeeding mothers aged 30-49 years

Following are the nutritional needs of breastfeeding mothers aged 30-49 years and 6 months of the second:

• Energy: 2480 kCal
• Protein: 80 gr
• Fat: 62.2 gr
• Carbs: 385 gr
• Fiber: 35 gr
• Water: 3150 ml

Following are the nutritional needs of breastfeeding mothers aged 30-49 years and 6 months of the second:

• Energy: 2550 kCal
• Protein: 75 gr
• Fat: 62.2 gr
• Carbs: 395 gr
• Fiber: 36 gr
• Water: 3000 ml

Instead of reducing food intake when you want to diet to lose weight, mothers who are breastfeeding are strongly advised not to limit eating.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), breastfeeding mothers need more calorie intake than when they are pregnant and are not breastfeeding.

How do you run a healthy diet for breastfeeding mothers?

Actually, when you breastfeed, the body has burned quite a lot of calories.

So indirectly, breastfeeding also helps you to lose weight, especially if you breastfeed exclusively for 6 months or more.

If the mother wants to go on a weight loss diet while breastfeeding, it is best to follow these guidelines to ensure its safety for herself and the baby:

1. Avoid too limiting food consumption

A weight loss diet that is too strict is not good to do while the mother is still breastfeeding.

Previously, we explained the nutritional needs that breastfeeding mothers need to meet, so that your daily nutritional intake should not be less than that number.

This is because the fulfillment of calories below this number risks hindering milk production for your little one.

At least you are losing only 0.5-1 kg of weight per week and no more than this.

Losing more weight than this can also affect milk production to be less than normal.

2. Reduce food intake gradually

Reducing the portion of food that is done drastically and suddenly can make breast milk production also decrease.

Suddenly large decreases in calorie intake can also cause your body to perceive this as starvation.

As a result, the body responds to this by decreasing the amount of your milk production.

It would be better to reduce food portions little by little and gradually as long as breastfeeding mothers try to undergo a diet to lose weight.

However, mothers need to ensure that their intake of nutrients from food is not less than the recommended needs according to their age while breastfeeding.

3. Do not rush into a diet after giving birth

Mothers are less advised to do a weight loss diet at the beginning of the breastfeeding period, aka after birth.

The reason is, you need a lot of nutrients to speed up the recovery of the body after giving birth.

When you go on a weight loss diet at this time, of course, it can cause the body's recovery period to be longer and make you feel more tired.

Launching from the Baby Center page, if you want to go on a diet while breastfeeding, you should do this at least 6-8 weeks after the birth of the baby.

4. Breastfeed as often as possible

The more often you breastfeed your baby, the more milk you will produce.

This will support the smooth running of breastfeeding so that they are better able to provide exclusive breastfeeding to babies for the full 6 months.

To make it more comfortable, you can find the most suitable breastfeeding position for you and your baby.

Apart from breastfeeding directly from the breast, you can also use a breast pump to help increase milk production.

Don't forget to apply the proper way to store breast milk so that the quality remains good until later it is given to the baby according to the breastfeeding schedule.

Regular exclusive breastfeeding can increase weight loss if the mother wants a diet during the breastfeeding period.

That way, it is hoped that you can return to your original body size as it was before pregnancy.

Interestingly, exclusive breastfeeding can help prevent pregnancy or it is called the lactation amenorrhea method.

This method can be another option besides using birth control which is safe for breastfeeding mothers if you want to postpone the baby after giving birth.

5. Eat healthy foods

In an effort to breastfeed while losing weight, you can change the way you cook food.

For example, you can replace the habit of eating fried foods with boiled ones. This can cut the number of calories you get from the oil.

In addition, consume more fruits and vegetables, eat more fibrous foods, choose proteins that contain little fat, and drink lots of water.

Instead of consuming sugary drinks that contain additional calories, you should prefer to drink healthier water.

These various methods are considered more effective in regulating food intake as part of a healthy and natural diet for mothers when breastfeeding exclusively.

6. Do exercise regularly

Reducing a little intake of breastfeeding mothers is indeed important as a dietary effort to lose weight.

However, what is equally important for mothers is doing regular exercise.

This is better than just having a strict diet.

Not only does exercise help in weight loss, exercise can also help mothers relieve stress and sleep better.

You don't need to do vigorous exercise to lose weight. Just doing light exercise is sufficient, such as taking a leisurely walk by pushing your stroller.

This activity is able to help your muscles work. Get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week or 30 minutes per day.

Do not forget, make sure you also consult with your doctor before starting to start a weight loss diet for breastfeeding mothers.

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