5 Nutrients Breast-feeding Moms Should Not Miss

Breast-feeding moms have double duty: They must nourish their babies and themselves. As such, nutrients and food choices are a top consideration.

Although nursing moms can indulge in an extra 300 to 500 calories per day (the job of nourishing another human being is a big one after all), it’s ideal to ensure food choices are full of nutrients that may have a positive impact on both baby and mom. To do so, it’s important that moms don’t skimp on these five very important nutrients:

Protein: This is the building block of new tissue and required for growth. Adequate protein is needed to ensure the body can build, repair and maintain tissues and organs. This is particularly important for mom’s health and baby’s growth.

According to the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, nursing mothers need two to three servings, or at least 65 grams, of protein per day. Breast-feeding moms can meet their protein needs by making sure they have, at a minimum, a healthy source of protein at each meal. These include lean meats, poultry and fish; dairy products, such as milk and yogurt; nuts and nut butters; beans and legumes; some vegetables and grains; and eggs.

Iron: Sufficient iron intake helps maintain energy and prevent fatigue in breast-feeding mothers. A diet that includes good sources of iron, such as beef, dark meat poultry, dark leafy green vegetables and iron-fortified breakfast cereals, can help nursing mothers meet their iron needs.

Plant sources of iron are best utilized by the body when accompanied by vitamin C, which is found in citrus fruits, for example.

Starting around their fourth month, babies experience tremendous growth. As a result, their iron stores decrease while their blood volume expands and they develop their own iron stores. As breast milk contains little iron (even though it is well-absorbed), this situation creates a critical period of iron need for baby. Due to this, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively breast-fed babies are given a liquid iron supplement beginning at age 4 months of age. Iron supplementation should continue at least until iron-rich solid foods are started, and possibly longer, depending on baby’s overall iron consumption.

DHA: Docosahexaenoic acid is an omega-3 fatty acid essential for the development of the retina of the eye and the brain. Researchers believe that optimal levels of DHA, particularly in the frontal and prefrontal areas of the brain, are very important during infancy when the brain is rapidly growing and developing.

But breast milk will only be a rich source of DHA if a mother’s diet is rich in DHA. High concentrations of DHA in breast milk have been tied to positive outcomes for baby; that includes better adjustment to changes in the environment, attention scores and memory skills, according to a 2016 review published in the journal Nutrients.

The Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Dietary Guidelines recommend a minimum of 8 to 12 ounces of low mercury fish – such as herring, canned light tuna and salmon – per week to meet the breast-feeding mother’s DHA requirement. This can be achieved by eating two seafood meals each week.

Other sources of DHA include fortified eggs, DHA-fortified milk and DHA-fortified orange juice. Nursing mothers should consider a DHA supplement in the amount of 200 to 300 milligrams per day if they’re not consuming enough DHA from food.

Calcium: Breast-feeding mothers have a storage of calcium in their bones. Should their diet be lacking in calcium, the body will remove calcium from the bones to supply it to the breast-feeding infant. Some studies have shown a 3 to 5 percent reduction in a mother’s bone mass during breast-feeding, most likely due to insufficient intake of calcium from diet.

Almost all mothers – or those between ages 18 and 50 years – need to consume 1,000 mg of calcium per day to protect themselves from bone loss during lactation. This requirement can be met by consuming three servings of dairy daily. In addition to milk or yogurt and cheese, this can include dark leafy vegetables, calcium-fortified juice and other calcium-fortified foods such as tofu and soy milk.

If it’s difficult to meet the daily calcium requirement of 1,000 mg, mothers should discuss adding a calcium supplement to their diet.

Vitamin D: This is also important for bone formation and is required for the body to absorb calcium. While mothers who breast-feed want to ensure they get enough vitamin D, either from their diet or from supplementation, their babies should also be getting a vitamin D supplement from birth.

Breast milk does not supply enough vitamin D for baby. Although sunshine, an activator of vitamin D in the skin, is an effective way to accumulate vitamin D, it’s not safe for baby. Additionally, although still rare, the incidence of nutritional rickets – a deficiency of vitamin D causing softening of the bone, making them prone to fractures and deformity – among children has increased. Hence, starting a vitamin D supplement (400 international units, or IU, per day) within the first few days of life is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Supplementation should continue until baby is weaned to vitamin D-fortified whole milk at 12 months and drinking a quart per day.

For breast-feeding moms, target vitamin D-rich foods such as salmon, or vitamin D-fortified milk and juice. Consider a vitamin D supplement also, if meeting the daily requirements is difficult.

Moms should eat a healthy diet, including energizing protein foods, whole grains, nutrient-packed vegetables and fruit, dairy or non-dairy fortified substitutes and healthy fats, including sources of DHA. Any nutrient imbalance in the diet of the nursing mom should be addressed so that she can pass on her optimal health and nutritional status to her baby. A nutritious diet – along with supplementing where appropriate – will not only keep mom well-nourished, but it will help her baby grow and develop optimally.

Reference: http://health.usnews.com/wellness/for-parents/articles/2017-03-08/5-nutrients-breast-feeding-moms-should-not-miss