You do not have to go into an elaborate routine procedure, if you wish to develop some healthy eating habits for you and your baby – it is just that you have to bring some discipline in your life. As a mother of a baby and especially as a breastfeeding mother, you need to have a very healthy diet. This is so because your baby will get the flavors of all the food you are eating through the breast milk. It is known that if a mother eats bananas, the flavor of the fruit stays in the breast milk for an hour after it is being eaten…similarly the flavor of mint stays upto a period of 8 hours.

So…now you know how eating healthy with your baby is so essential, as whatever you eat, your baby is going to eat that. Here are some very important facts which you need to know:

Balanced diet:
• The diet of a mother should be balanced and varied.
• It is good to eat with the help of a food pyramid which shall help mothers to know how much they should eat and what to fulfill the needs of the baby.
• It shall also help to know which category of food to eat more and which to eat less.

Calories:
• If you wish to develop healthy eating habits you need to have at least 400 calories in a day.
• Calorie intake is also dependant on how much you exercise.
• Women need to eat different types of foods which includes vitamins, calories and minerals.

Colicky foods:
• There is no proof of the fact that spicy food can cause discomfort to a baby which breastfeeds – however, it is suggested to have such foods in moderation.
• Gassy foods are normally not responsible for crying babies since gas does not enter that part of the blood stream which enters the breast milk and hence it is not responsible for gas in babies.

Vegetarian eating habits:
• If you are a vegetarian mother, you need to ensure that your diet is similar to that of meat eating mothers, so that your baby gets all the nutrition.
• You should ensure that their diet has enough of proteins.
• You should keep watch on how much calcium, iron, vitamin D and B12 you are having in your diet.

Other facts which need to be considered for  healthy eating habits are:
• Meals should not be skipped.
• It is important to eat on time and in right quantities. Mothers shouldn’t starve themselves nor eat too much of any food.
• Mothers should ensure that they have enough of fluid intake…they should drink enough of fresh fruit juices and water.

Image credits: gm.tv, ladyzona.com