Nutrition & Fitness

A healthy diet is important for everyone. Some new moms wonder if they should be on a special diet while breastfeeding. The answer is no. You can continue to enjoy the foods that are important to your family, including the meals you know and love.

Nutrition Tips
  • Drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated.
  • Limit drinks with added sugars, like sodas and fruit drinks.
  • Limit the amount of caffeine you get each day.
  • Choose a variety of all food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein foods.
  • Talk to your healthcare provider about taking a supplement.
  • - In addition to healthy food choices, some women may need supplements.
Some Foods May Affect Your Milk
Sometimes a breastfed baby may be sensitive to something the mother eats.

The following symptoms could indicate your baby has an allergy or sensitivity to something you eat:

  • Diarrhea, vomiting, green stools with mucus or blood
  • Rash, eczema, dermatitis, hives, dry skin
  • Fussiness during or after feedings
  • Intense crying for long periods
  • Sudden waking with discomfort
  • Wheezing or coughing

These signs do not mean your baby is allergic to your milk, only to something that you ate.
You may need to stop eating whatever is bothering your baby or eat less of it. After a few months you may be able to eat the food again with better results.

Talk with your baby’s healthcare provider if you notice your baby having any food allergy symptoms. If your baby ever has problems breathing, call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room immediately.

Foods for

Breastfeeding Moms

Get A Daily Plan for Moms Designed Just for You

The USDA’s online, interactive tool can help you choose foods based on your baby’s nursing habits and your energy needs.

Visit https://www.myplate.gov/life-stages/pregnancy-and-breastfeeding

Vegan

Diets

If you follow a diet that does not include any form of animal protein you or your baby might not get enough vitamin B-12.
In babies, not enough B-12 can cause symptoms such as:

  • Loss of appetite
  • Slow motor development
  • Being very tired
  • Weak muscles
  • Vomiting

You can help protect your and your baby’s health by taking vitamin B-12 supplements while breastfeeding. Talk to your healthcare provider about your supplement needs.

Fitness

Being active helps you stay healthy, feel better, and have more energy. It does not affect the quality or quantity of your milk or your baby’s growth. Unless your doctor tells you not to be active, include 2½ hours of physical activity each week.

Start with a 10 or 15-minute activity that you can do most days throughout the week.

Advice About Eating Fish

Fish and other protein-rich foods have nutrients that can help your baby’s growth and development. Some fish have higher levels of mercury, which can pass to your baby through human milk. Exposure to mercury can harm your baby’s brain and nervous system development. This chart can help you choose which fish to eat, and how often to eat them, based on their mercury levels.
  • Anchovy
  • Atlantic croaker
  • Atlantic mackerel
  • Black sea bass
  • Butterfish
  • Catfish
  • Clam
  • Cod
  • Crab
  • Crawfish
  • Flounder
  • Haddock
  • Hake
  • Herring
  • Lobster, American and spiny
  • Mullet
  • Oyster
  • Pacific chub mackerel
  • Perch, freshwater, and ocean
  • Pickerel
  • Plaice
  • Pollock
  • Salmon
  • Sardine
  • Scallop
  • Shad
  • Shrimp
  • Skate
  • Smelt
  • Sole
  • Squid
  • Tilapia
  • Trout, canned light (includes skipjack)
  • Whitefish
  • Whiting
  • Bluefish
  • Buffalofish
  • Carp
  • Chilean sea bass/Patagonian toothfish
  • Grouper
  • Halibut
  • Mahi mahi/dolphinfish
  • Monkfish
  • Rockfish
  • Sablefish
  • Sheepshead
  • Snapper
  • Spanish mackerel
  • Striped bass (ocean)
  • Tilefish (Atlantic Ocean)
  • Tuna, albacore/white tuna, canned and fresh/frozen
  • Tuna, yellowfin
  • Weakfish/seatrout
  • White croaker/Pacific croaker
  • King mackerel
  • Marlin
  • Orange roughy
  • Shark
  • Swordfish
  • Tilefish (Gulf of Mexico)
  • Tuna, bigeye

Feeding a 6-7 Month Old

Feed solids with a spoon and from a bowl, never from a bottle.

Feeding a 10-12 Month Old

Breast milk is the most important source of nutrition for your baby, even after you start offering solid foods.

Feeding a 8-9 Month Old

Feed solids with a spoon. Never put cereal in a bottle.

Tips

Mom new born home

Breast milk and formula feeding:

Around 2-3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months of age, babies may experience a growth spurt when they feed more often.

As they grow babies can hold more milk, so feedings may become further apart and take less time.

To prevent choking, always hold your baby when feeding. Never prop up a bottle to feed.

Start offering whole milk when your baby is one year old.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and that breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months and beyond.

feeding solid foods

Feeding solid foods:

Wait to offer solid foods until your baby:

  • Can sit up and hold up their own head.
  • Opens their mouth when they see food.
  • Can close their lips around a spoon.

To prevent choking, always hold your baby when feeding. Never prop up a bottle to feed.

Try one new food at a time. Wait 5 days before trying another new food to watch for allergies. Food allergies may include wheezing, rash, or diarrhea.

Introduce peanut butter around 6 months. Spread a small, thin smear of peanut butter or nut butter thinly on a cracker.  Watch your baby for any reaction for the next 2 hours.

Babies under one year should NOT have honey due to the risk of botulism. Also, babies should not have foods that can cause choking like nuts or whole grapes.

All babies are different. Talk with WIC or your baby’s healthcare provider about your baby’s needs.

Feeding Cues

Feeding a 4-5 Month Old

Before teeth come in, wipe gums with a soft, clean wash cloth after each feeding, especially before bed.

Feeding a 0-3 Month Old

Newborns have tiny tummies and need to be fed often. In the first few weeks, you may need to wake your baby to feed if they sleep longer than 4 hours.

Growth Spurts

Many babies are fussy during a growth spurt and will want to nurse longer and more often. This is called cluster feeding. This is your baby’s way of helping you increase your milk supply so that you can keep up with their needs. Remember, the more your baby nurses, the more milk your body makes.

Growth spurts can happen at any time, and every baby is different.

They often happen at these ages:

two-three-weeks

2 to 3 Weeks

6 Weeks

three-months

3 Months

six-months

6 Months

What foods can I get?

Authorized Food List
Authorized Food List

Where can I shop?