Why Do I Work With Dietitian In Pregnancy?
You are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. A registered dietitian can help you to get nutrients like folate, especially during the first trimester of pregnancy, to reduce your newborn’s risk of neural tube or spinal cord defects.
You need guidance and confidence to breastfeed your baby. A registered dietitian can help make sure you’re getting enough iron, vitamin D, fluoride, and B vitamins for you and your little one.
After the completed pregnancy, every mother wants to feed her baby exclusively with breast milk for the first 6 months and get rid of her birth weight as soon as possible. During this period, mothers are asked “How should I eat?”, “How can I increase my milk productivity?”, “What should I pay attention to for weight control?” There are a number of questions such as: Of course, every mother’s greatest wish is to lose weight while breastfeeding her baby without decreasing her milk supply.
Restricted diets reduce milk productivity!
The energy need during this period is much higher than during pregnancy. Restricted diets during breastfeeding reduce milk secretion by 20% and reduce the quality of milk. A mother who breastfeeds her baby regularly secretes an average of 700 – 800 ml of milk per day. This means that the mother spends an extra 700-750 kcal of energy per day. This extra energy spent means spending the same calories as exercising for 2 – 2.5 hours. For this reason, a mother who eats adequately and balancely will lose weight faster than normal time.
Breastfeed your baby happily!
Hormones that enable milk production and release are secreted from the pituitary gland in the brain. In case of stress or sadness, the stimulus to the brain affects milk secretion and causes your milk supply to decrease. Your baby’s contact with you and frequent and happy breastfeeding causes more milk to be released, which means more energy is spent.
Consuming plenty of water and fluids increases the efficiency of your milk!
The most important drink that increases the milk production is water. A mother should consume at least 10 – 12 glasses of water daily. Since energy expenditure is high during this period, the needs of liquid increases. This need; In addition to water, it can be obtained from foods such as freshly squeezed fruit juices, kefir and compote.
You should consume a balanced diet from each group of food while breastfeeding!
During this period, every food you consume will pass into your milk, which will affect your baby’s growth and development. For this reason, be careful to consume a balanced diet. As the need protein also increases. A breastfeeding mother should consume a boiled egg and enough amount of cheese every day. 3-4 portions of meat, chicken or fish should be consumed a day. Apart from these, consuming 2-3 portions of milk and yoghurt rich in calcium, 3-4 portions of fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin C (orange, tangerine, parsley, tomato, pepper) and seeds (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds) are very important for milk quality. Also its important that the enough amount of carbohydrate should come from whole grain foods.
Don’t forget!
Restricted diets during pregnancy and breastfeeding, especially in the first 6 months, negatively affect both the mother’s health and the baby’s growth and development. Therefore, by eating a balanced and correct diet, losing 2 kg of weight per month during breastfeeding will be sufficient for you to be back to your prenatal weight.