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Just Another 500 Calories: Nutrition for the Breastfeeding Woman
The last night of a childbirth series is yet another opportunity to offer current nutritional information by focusing on the woman's diet during breastfeeding. Depending on the families attending your classes, you might wonder if this necessary for your group. While most educators feel compelled to give additional information to women of lower economic and educational levels, they are less inclined to take the time to discuss nutrition with women of higher means. But research indicates that a focus on nutrition is important for ALL women regardless of educational and economic status. Access to a variety of high quality foods has not been determined to be a sufficient guarantee of good nutrition (Cox 1989). Motivation to improve food selection is best achieved through education about increased nutritional needs, combined with supplemental financial resources and creative preparation ideas.
"Just add another 500 calories, and make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water." This advice, frequently given to women preparing to breastfeed, seems simple enough. But a new mother can't continue the same food shopping and meal preparation routines of her prepregnancy schedule in addition to facing the challenges of a new baby and the postpartum period. Her lifestyle won't be the same and she will need assistance in anticipating her future needs. These are important issues to consider when planning your curriculum for educating the woman who is preparing to breastfeed.
Make it simple
Knowing that the postpartum period challenges most families physically and emotionally, it is important to make as few demands on the mother's lifestyle as possible. Dietary rules can become a barrier to breastfeeding if viewed as hard to follow and restrictive (Liljebing 1991). Make sure that your approach is simple and that your information becomes a "how to" guide for quickly nourishing the woman and her family.
Women need to take in 500 extra calories in order to lactate. While these 500 calories may be "extra," they are not "miscellaneous." As she increases the quantity of her food intake, the lactating woman must also increase the quality. Balance is the key factor in choosing these lactation support calories and is critical to maintaining effective lactation. The activity of breastfeeding requires an...