Breastfeeding is one of the main aspects of mother and newborn. For this reason, nutrition is crucial. Let’s see what not to eat while breastfeeding and how to avoid colic. If necessary, while breastfeeding, they are also ready to follow a targeted diet and review their diet. In some cases, this is required if the baby has colic, an annoying problem and, unfortunately, widespread in the first months of life.
What Not To Eat While Breastfeeding?
Nutrition is always essential to protect the health of the body, but it is even more so during breastfeeding when the woman’s body is called to delicate and precious work. For this reason, mothers who breastfeed their little ones must follow a healthy and balanced diet. The ideal is to rely on the Mediterranean diet, one of the healthiest regimens in the world.
These indications are also valid if the little one suffers from gaseous colic: a healthy, varied, and balanced diet is always the best choice because it guarantees innumerable benefits. How to regulate quality and quantity? Bearing in mind that when you are breastfeeding, it is normal to have more appetite: the calorie requirement is higher than usual. However, we must not exaggerate: the ideal is to introduce about 500-700 more calories a day, increasing the protein quota.
However, it is advisable to reduce foods that are too fatty, fried, industrial, processed, and preserved products to keep weight under control. Also, limit sweets and spices, which can give milk an unpleasant taste. Also, beware of tea, coffee, alcohol, beer, and chocolate. However, it seems that some foods should be limited (especially if they were consumed very little during pregnancy) because they could alter the taste of the milk and cause colic, such as shellfish, mollusks, cherries, peaches, apricots, cabbage, garlic, onion, asparagus, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, grapes, fermented cheeses, game, cream desserts, liqueur products, cocoa.
What To Eat While Breastfeeding?
What are the ideal foods instead? Following the Mediterranean diet means eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, cereals, legumes, fish, lean meats, and extra virgin olive oil. Remember that a balanced diet must include all nutrients: lipids, proteins and carbohydrates, fruit, and above all, vegetables.
Increase protein consumption by adding a snack based on milk, yogurt, or cheese and increasing the portions of main courses. When choosing the food to bring to the table, it is also advisable to respect the criterion of variety: alternate foods as much as possible to ensure that the body has all the substances it needs. Furthermore, the breastfeeding mother must drink at least two to three liters of water a day.
Breastfeeding Colic: Why Do They Come And How To Deal With Them?
Gas colic is a crisis of abdominal pain that affects newborns in the first months of life and can cause wind in the intestine. They are generally intermittent, have a variable duration, and occur only at certain times of the day, especially after meals. How to recognize them? The symptoms of newborn colic are quite unmistakable: we are witnessing sudden, uncontrolled, and continuous crying crises, accompanied by abdominal tension, legs bending on the belly, various contortions, stiffening of the arms, reddening of the face, and sometimes gurgling at the abdominal and expulsion of air.
In most cases, colic is a physiological phenomenon that tends to resolve within three or six months of life. Only in some children are they related to other diseases or disorders, such as an intolerance or food allergy to the protein or sugar (lactose) in milk. To help the child during crises, hold him in your arms, rock him gently, talk to him in a delicate and calm tone, limit sounds and lights, and massage his tummy.
Alternatively, you can take him for a walk or a car ride. Keep his belly on your forearm, lay him on his back, and bend his legs back and forth to help relax the abdomen. Usually, medications are not required. Parents can consult the pediatrician, especially if the disturbance is intense and prolonged.
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