breast feeding, diets & what foods to avoid?

[mum2A&L]

Before i ask my hv (when i meet her...) is it safe to diet whilst breastfeeding - well more watch what i eat with the intention of loosing a dress size and becoming more healthier by july? its not a crash diet just trying to keep weight from comming back and losing a little bit more if i can...


also - what foods should i avoid that would effect lewis?? I really can't remember from last time?


Oh, and how much more water should i be drinking?


one more - my left nipple, ive got a few little scab like things come through (its hard to explain). Im assuming we had problems latching on that side (he seems to prefer the right as i gush on the left and its almost like he can't keep up). apart from using nipple cream to keep it moist, is there anything else i can do to help? It is a bit sore if Lewis feeds on it too much. Im trying to get him to use the right more than the left at the moment just to give it a chance to heal, also i want the amount of milk in each to level out a bit as i seem to have more in the left than right... Is that the best way to get them to level out?


Apart from these, and the fact i still need to master the art of getting my boob out and in his mouth without flashing it to the WHOLE room its going great so far compaired to last time! can't say im looking forward to his first growth spurt, but we are giving it a dam good shot!!!

 

[Charlie:-)]

Congratulations and welcome to the world Lewis.

I started to eat healthily with the aim to loose weight when Maia was about 6 weeks old so I would say taking this approach definitely works, I havent had any problems with my supply. Just remember that you need healthy foods in order to be able to produce the milk so like you say no crash dieting and skipping meals. I always aim to drink 2 litres of water each day and I also have about 3 sometimes 4 mugs of fruit tea so that also counts towards my water intake so that would be roughly 3 litres in total.

There aren't any foods which you need to avoid now but you may find that some things that pass through to your milk don't agree with Lewis or he wont agree with them, for me it was garlic bread.

With the nipple you sound like your managing it well by using the nipple cream and trying to feed from the other side more often. Once its healed though I would go back to alternating between each side in order to maintain your supply in both. I too have one boob which produces more milk that the other but I never thought of trying to level it out, Im not entirely sure thats possible but hopefully someone will be able to advise further on this. You might also find that he changes his favourite side quite a bit or he might just stick to one favourite side but do feed form both sides regardless of favouritism.

Good luck, sounds like youre doing amazing already

 

[*Star*]

it's still so early for him with regards to breastfeeding. i wouldn't worry too much about trying to get the amount of milk you have evened up just yet.

let him get used to feeding and then, if there is still aproblem, have a go in a week or so

love his name btw