Healthy diet for Breast Feeding Mother
With birth of baby your responsibility increases as a mother. You need to make all efforts to take excellent care of your baby. It is likely that every mother cannot fulfill all requirement of their baby due to many reasons such as financial capacity, cannot spare time due to job, etc. But one precious thing certainly every mother can give to her new born baby is breast feeding. Breast feeding is very important for baby’s health. It is recommended to breastfed baby minimum for six months. No food for baby is nutritious then breast milk. Mother’s milk is easily digestible to make your baby healthy compare to bottle feeding or formula feeding.

Healthy Meal and Breast Feeding to Stay Fit
For breast feeding mother healthy diet is very important. A breastfed mother should schedule her diet by taking guidance of health consultant or nurse or doctor while staying in hospital after birth of baby. Your baby becomes hungry at every 2-3 hours. Therefore, you need to feed your baby frequently in the day and night as per baby’s need. In such case mother needs healthy food as she requires more energy to consume for feeding and caring her baby. She should remember to take healthy diet for enough breast milk production. Mother’s diet directly affects baby’s health to breast feeding baby.

• Make your breakfast full of nutrition like milk and daily products such as low fat cheese slices, yoghurt, paneer cubes; poha, whole meal bread, leafy greens vegetable sandwiches, steamed sprouts, baked vegetables and fresh fruits or fruit juices, pulses (beans and lentils). Ghee is good for health, but you need to eat in limit as it increases calories.
• Eat starchy foods like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes.
• For non vegetarian lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs and beans, you can eat fish twice in a week including oily fish.
• Food with protein, calcium an iron is very essential for mother. Eating whole grains, cereals, fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Ready-to-eat apricots, vegetable soups, bean soups, muesli, wholegrain cereals with milk, milk shakes.
• You need vitamin C in your meal. Good sources of vitamin C are citrus fruits, tomatoes, baked potatoes, and steamed broccoli.
• Drink more liquids like fruit juices, vegetable juices, milk, lassi, buttermilk, coconut water, etc. It is advisable to drink minimum 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. It helps in breast milk production. It also protects you from constipation.
• Breast feeding mother needs vitamin D [10 micrograms] daily.

Manage your Diet Schedule

• It is not possible to eat all such things together, but your can make diet schedule by selecting right combination of foods and drinks. Good combinations of fruits and vegetables increase your food interest. 
• Sometimes many women do not like to eat fruits or some vegetables. In such case you need to mix up 2-3 fruits together and prepare fruit dishes or make vegetable salad alternatively to change flavor of your food.
• Always use fresh fruits and vegetables. Maintain your diet and never eat excess food in single meal, better you eat more times, than eat everything in a single meal. Always remember while preparing diet schedule that your lunch should be more nutrition then dinner. As in day time you need to consume more energy therefore, you need good lunch while at night you have to go to bed. In such case you need light dinner, which is easy to digest. Do not prefer heavy food at night. Take your dinner early in the evening. Do not sleep soon after eating.
• Keep regular time for taking meal in day and night. It is not necessary that you need to follow sharp time to take lunch and dinner. You can adjust few minutes ahead or back in your schedule, but do not eat morning meal in late noon or evening meal at late night. It affects your digestive system and your baby’s too.

What to Avoid for Breast Feeding Mother

• As a responsible mother you should control your habits if any for health of your baby and yourself especially when you breast feeding your baby. If mother is habituated with smoking or drinking, she should certainly avoid such things until she feeds her baby. It is helpful to prevent your baby because smoking and drinking directly and indirectly affects your baby. Try to leave such habits to protect your baby to get habituated with such habits in long time when she/he grew-ups. You should always remember that children are always follows their parents first. Therefore, try to make good habits for your baby’s good feature.
• You should not eat oily fish (fresh tuna, mackerel, sardines and trout) more than once in a week. You should also avoid shark, swordfish or marlin more than once in a week because of the mercury levels in these types of fish.

Stay fit with regular Exercise

• After birth of a baby, your body needs some time to come back in original shape which you have before pregnancy. Some women gain extra weights while some may gain a few kilograms only.
• If you are over weighted and you need to reduce some weight you can try some moderate aerobic exercise. Never try tough exercise or diet for reducing weight quickly. It affects your health. You should feed your baby before exercise. Walking is also good exercise. You need to consult your doctor before start exercise after delivery especially when cesarean delivery.
• If you are active physically and breast feeding your baby, it is sufficient exercise for you for few weeks after delivery.

In addition, mother should keep herself clean; hygienic habits can benefits you such as wash your hand before eat, after changing diaper, etc. She needs to clean her breast and nipple daily to protect baby from any infection. You should also keep your baby’s room clean. Caring such small things can prevent your baby from illness. You can breastfeed your baby as long as possible for you. If you are working women you can feed baby in the morning and night time. Feeding baby for once or twice for long time is also beneficial for mother and child both. Always try to give your child the best things, lots of love, good habits and tender care.