Your Postpartum Diet: Breastfeeding, Weight Loss, and Tips

When you have a newborn baby, it’s easy to let your own self-care slip by the wayside. However, while it might be easier to stick to takeout and quick, processed meals, maintaining a healthy postpartum diet is essential for both you and your baby’s well-being.

Read on to learn what an ideal postpartum diet looks like, which foods to avoid, and how to make eating healthily less of a chore.

When you were pregnant, your body had to work overtime and share nutrients with your growing baby. This, coupled with the demands of labor and delivery (whether you gave birth vaginally or via C-section), means you need to make up for all those nutrients you lost. 1

A healthy postpartum diet will help you replenish those nutrients, give you the stable energy you need to care for your newborn, and also alleviate uncomfortable postpartum symptoms like swelling and fatigue.

Moreover, if you’re breastfeeding your baby, your diet has a direct impact on the quality and quantity of your milk supply. The more nourished you are, the better your baby’s milk will be. 2

While your goal should be to eat a well-balanced diet, certain nutrients are especially important during your postpartum recovery.

For instance, during pregnancy, your body’s iron stores get depleted. You’ll need plenty of iron to replenish these and prevent complications like anemia. 1

Other key nutrients to incorporate into your diet include:

• Protein
• Healthy fats (e.g., omega-3 fatty acids like DHA)
• Complex carbohydrates
• Choline
• Iodine
• Vitamins and minerals (e.g., vitamins C, D, and zinc)

Your doctor may want to put you in touch with a registered dietician who’ll let you know what to include in your diet to provide these important nutrients.

Foods to include in your postpartum diet

A postpartum diet doesn’t have to be complicated. You can get most of the right nutrients by building your meals and snacks around:

• Lean proteins: Fill your plate with lean protein sources, such as fish (especially low-mercury options like salmon), chicken, lean beef, eggs, tofu, beans, and lentils.
• Fruits and vegetables: To get a wide range of antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber, opt for berries, citrus fruits, leafy greens like spinach and kale, broccoli, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes.
• Whole grains: Make sure your diet includes complex carbs like oats, quinoa, brown rice, and whole-wheat bread.
• Healthy fats: For healthy fats, you can opt for foods like avocados, nuts (walnuts, almonds etc.), seeds (chia, flaxseed), and olive oil.
• Dairy or dairy alternatives: Low-fat yogurt, milk, and cheese are great sources of calcium, protein, and iodine. You can also get probiotics from fermented dairy products like yogurt and kefir. If you follow a plant-based diet, you could opt for fortified soy or other non-dairy alternatives.

If you’re breastfeeding, you’ll need extra energy to support your baby’s growth as well as your own recovery.

To keep up, you’ll need an additional 330 to 440 calories per day on average. Your specific needs will vary based on your body size, activity level, and whether you’re exclusively breastfeeding or supplementing with formula. 3

Your doctor will be able to advise you on how to build the right breastfeeding diet for you and your baby.

The importance of staying hydrated

To keep up your milk supply and maintain your energy levels, it’s also important that you stay hydrated. Breast milk is composed of about 87% water, and you’ll need a lot more water when you’re regularly breastfeeding your baby. 4

Aim to drink around 8 cups (64 ounces) of fluids per day. 5 While plain water is the best choice, you can also drink decaffeinated tea and other unsweetened beverages.

Always have a large water bottle nearby, especially in the places where you most often nurse or pump, and don’t wait until you’re absolutely parched to have a drink.

Although many of the foods you needed to avoid during pregnancy are no longer off-limits, you’ll still need to be careful about what you eat, especially if you’re breastfeeding.

Let’s take a look at what you should be careful of with your postpartum diet:

Caffeine

Although coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages aren’t usually risky when you’re breastfeeding, you can still pass caffeine to your baby when you feed him.

For that reason, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends limiting your caffeine intake to 300 milligrams or less per day, which works out to about 2 to 3 cups of coffee. 3

Alcohol

While abstaining from alcohol entirely is the safest option if you’re breastfeeding, an occasional drink usually won’t do any harm.

However, to minimize the amount of alcohol that reaches your baby, you’re best off breastfeeding or pumping right before you have a drink. You should then wait at least 2 hours before nursing again. 6

Fish high in mercury

Much like when you were pregnant, many kinds of fish and seafood aren’t safe when you’re breastfeeding, as they can contain high levels of mercury. Mercury can harm your baby’s developing nervous system.

As a rule, the higher on the food chain a given type of fish is, the more mercury tends to accumulate in it. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it’s safe to eat the following (common) types of seafood in moderate quantities (8–12 oz per week):

• Anchovies
• Atlantic mackerel
• Catfish
• Crab
• Haddock
• Lobster
• Pollock
• Salmon (wild or organically farmed)
• Sardine
• Shrimp
• Squid
• Tilapia

Avoid seafood dishes with larger fish, including marlin, shark, and swordfish. 7

Processed foods and added sugars

While a candy bar or fast food may seem like a quick way to get an energy boost, do your best to limit packaged snacks, sugary drinks, and fried foods.

Highly processed or sugary foods often lack the vitamins, minerals, and fiber your body needs during your postpartum recovery.

If your diet is high in processed foods and added sugar, you’ll be more likely to have energy crashes and could throw off your blood sugar levels and hormone regulation.

One of the top concerns for many new moms is when they’ll finally shed that “baby weight.”

Remember that your body has been through a lot. Your top priorities are letting your body recover and caring for your baby.

In the first few weeks of postpartum, focus on eating well, establishing a healthy milk supply, and bonding with your baby.

Why you should avoid restrictive diets during postpartum

You shouldn’t significantly cut calories or eliminate entire food groups (especially carbohydrates) during your postpartum period. Doing so could: 8

• Reduce your energy: You need fuel to care for a newborn, and severely restricting your calories will leave you feeling exhausted.
• Harm your milk supply: As mentioned, you’ll need up to 440 extra calories a day to produce milk if you’re breastfeeding. Restricting too much can compromise your supply.
• Deplete your nutrients: Your body will prioritize your baby’s needs, pulling nutrients from your own stores to make breast milk, leaving you depleted.

If you’re determined to lose your pregnancy weight, try to take it slow. You can focus on following a balanced diet full of whole foods and adding gentle exercise, like walking, to your daily routine.

Best of all, you can let your doctor know your weight loss plans, and they’ll be able to advise you on how to shed those pregnancy pounds safely.

Knowing what to eat is one thing; finding the time and energy to prepare your meals with a newborn baby is another challenge entirely.

Here are a few strategies that’ll make it easier for you to eat well during postpartum:

Prepare and plan ahead

A little meal prep goes a long way. Prepare large portions of soups, stews, or roasted chicken and vegetables that you can eat for several meals.

Before your baby arrives or when you get a moment, fill your freezer with nutritious meals that you can easily reheat.

You should also stock up on healthy snacks, such as:

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Yogurt cups or tubes
• Nuts and seeds
• Pre-cut fruits and vegetables
• Cheese sticks
• Whole-grain crackers with nut butter

Get a little help

Don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family for a little help during your postpartum recovery. When your friends and family offer to do something, suggest they bring a meal.

You could also look into hiring a postpartum doula. They can help you out with household chores like cooking and cleaning, which gives you more time to rest and bond with your baby.

Eat smaller, more frequent meals

Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, you could try having 5 or 6 smaller ones throughout the day.

This can help keep your blood sugar stable and your energy levels more consistent, which is especially helpful when your sleep schedule becomes unpredictable thanks to your newborn baby.

Above all, pay attention to your body; when you feel hungry, eat something.

Your postpartum recovery takes time, but with a healthy diet, you’ll be able to look after yourself and your newborn baby. This isn’t the time to obsess over the scales. Instead, focus on filling your diet with nutritious foods that’ll boost your energy and ensure your baby gets enough nourishment.

Most importantly, be kind to yourself; you’ve been through a lot, and you got through it like a champ!