By Lindsey Hurd, MS, RD, LDN, IBCLC and Owner, Angel Food Lactation & Nutrition, LLC
Last month, we talked about the prevalence of food allergies, how a baby’s immune system is established, and how maternal immunity plays a role. This month, we are diving a little deeper into understanding how mom’s gut influences baby, what causes an unhappy digestive system, and what we can do about it.
Today, I'm thrilled to introduce a new guest blogger, Lindsey Hurd, MS, RD, LDN, IBCLC. Lindsey is the owner of Angel Food Lactation & Nutrition, LLC, a business in Wilmington, NC that specializes in perinatal nutrition and lactation services. Over the next several months, Lindsey will be sharing her brilliant knowledge about breastfeeding and nutrition, including multiple articles about breastfeeding children who have food intolerances.
Before Lindsey starts writing her monthly articles, we wanted our readers to have the opportunity to get to know her first. Welcome to our blog, Lindsey! We are so excited to have you share your passion and expertise!
We know it can be difficult to eat those 1800-2000 (or more if you are exercising) calories a day to keep up a robust milk supply while breastfeeding, so here are some fantastic tips for delicious, easy, nutritious snacks! Remember: Think healthy fats, complete proteins, and green veggies!
Here are some of the most effective milk production-supporting foods out there:
Last week, Tracy Anderson made some pretty provocative comments about women using pregnancy as an ‘excuse’ to gain weight, to eat whatever they want, and keep on the weight after having a baby. Tracy, having given birth just 3 months ago, has already lost all of her pregnancy weight, yet remember ladies….. this is not a normal expectation for us regular moms out there. While most of us in the real world cannot spend hours a day, or thousands of dollars, working to lose weight and tone our bodies after our babies are born, her body and exercise program is what she is KNOWN for.
What I did appreciate was that Tracy mentioned that when you are losing weight while breastfeeding, you can’t forgo the nutritional aspect of the foods you eat and the calories you need to maintain your breastfeeding relationship. I’ve seen Tracy talk about her daily nutrition and this woman eats more than her fair share of nutrient dense foods, healthy fats, and protein, which are all going to keep up your milk supply while you exercise and gently shed those pounds after birth.
Now, here is the deal…. we ALL want to lose our pregnancy weight after we have our babies. Yet it is really important to make sure you are losing weight healthily so that your milk supply doesn’t end up slowly sinking away. Excessive dieting CAN reduce your milk supply. So here are a few tips to keep in mind.
