Health and Diet Tips for Mothers

Health and Diet Tips a Lactating Mother Needs to Know

By Hermilando Aberia
Health studies have shown that the health and diet of a mother from the first trimester of her pregnancy to the time she gives birth to her child are of great consequence. They help ensure her breastfeeding abilities, like sufficiency of her breast-milk's nutrients from which her child will be wholly dependent for proper growth and development.
This assumes that it is solely a lactating mother's outlook to sustain a good and healthy diet for her breastfeeding child. A mother who gives birth to a large baby that grows fast may experience difficulties in producing and sustaining enough quantities of milk. This is because the fat reserves she had during the pregnancy period can be lost soon after childbirth and eating well enough might become a problem for her.
Lactating mothers need a large calorie and elevated nutrition diet to promote perfect health. An unhealthy or malnourished mother may still be able to produce milk, but one that is still considered deficient in vitamins A, D, B6 and B12.
Also, nursing mothers who smoke must know that having more than 20 cigarettes a day contributes to the reduction of their breast milk supply and also causes vomiting, diarrhea, rapid heart rate and restiveness among breastfeeding infants. The dreaded Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS have also been shown to commonly occur in infants often exposed to smoke.
Heavy alcoholic drinking is also acknowledged as commonly harmful to both the mother and the baby. If you are a lactating mother, drink only small quantities of alcohol at a time or, better yet, avoid them totally. A breastfeeding mother drinking alcohol excessively can cause her lactating infant to become irritable, sleepless and may constantly demand increased feeding. But a moderate consumption of say, 1 to 2 cups a day usually has no effect on the feeding child. Lactating mothers must then avoid if not limit their alcohol intake for the sake of their breastfeeding child.
Having a healthy diet and the discipline to limit your intake of the most common and harmful elements to the body such as caffeine, alcohol and cigarettes will help to ensure that your breastfeeding child will be healthier and have better growth and development. This is a crucial stage in anyone's life, and you may never wish something bad happening to your baby.

Hermilando Aberia is an expert in social development work with at least 22 years of professional experience as either consultant or key staff member of health, community development, education and local governance projects. He has a Master's Degree in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management. Contact Information: B21 L59 Kassel Kristina Heights, Tacloban City, Philippines. Mobile:  (+63) 9058664106 ; Website: http://www.freewebs.com/ahd114

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