Maternal Diet

Mothers need to be encouraged to drink plenty of fluids. One simple way to ensure this is to drink 8 oz. of water, juice, or milk while they are nursing. They need to eat their routine diet and an estimated extra 500 kcal/day. This will allow mothers enough nutrition to breast feed the baby and to gradually lose weight over six months of breast feeding.

Lovelady studied overweight lactating mothers at 4 weeks post-partum and assigned them to two groups. One group had their usual dietary intake, while the second group had a reduction of intake of 500 Kcal a day and exercise. The mothers in the second group had greater weight loss and greater fat loss with no effect on infant growth

Mothers should be encouraged to rest while their baby is resting because they will be up at night feeding him or her. Most breastfed babies are genuinely hungry every 2 to 3 hours and are unlikely to sleep any longer than that.