Eating a healthy diet during pregnancy greatly benefited both you and your growing baby. Similarly, a healthy diet during breastfeeding will also benefit your baby, and, yourself. Nursing moms should continue good healthy eating during lactation, but in order to breastfeed, one's diet doesn't have to be perfect! No worries; you can still breastfeed if your diet isn't ideal! It is to mom's benefit however, to maintain a healthy diet while nursing. For when mom's nutrition stores are depleted, their bodies will continue to produce milk for their babies, but at her expense, not her baby's.

There are no hard and fast diet rules during lactation. It's important to eat a good variety of foods from all food groups to ensure a balance of nutrients. Additionally, with a few rare exceptions, there is no need to eliminate any particular food(s) from your diet. In fact, because mom's milk can take on subtle flavors of the foods they eat, baby gets exposed to a variety of flavors and taste sensations!

Use these other tips for healthy eating during breastfeeding

• Drink non-caffeinated beverages when thirsty
• Continue taking a prenatal vitamin or multivitamin
• Consume smaller, frequent meals and snacks
• Use the MyPlate Guide to guide your daily food choices