Any imbalances in Mums milk will affect your baby’s temperament, sleep, growth and taste for foods when it comes to weaning - so it really is worth getting it right!
It is a common misconception that the baby will get all of the nutrients needed regardless of Mum's diet; this is not true - research shows that mum’s diet, especially when it comes to dietary fats – directly impacts the nutrients in her milk.
If Mum is deficient in the vital fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K then her milk will be too, meaning baby may end up deficient in these nutrients impacting their development and growth in numerous areas.
Other key developmental nutrients found in animal foods such as choline and DHA are often much lower in milk from mothers eating a plant based diet, alongside a 5 fold increase in the pro-inflammatory fatty acids.
Nutrition in this stage is extremely important and must not be overlooked. Multiple times a day your body is creating an entire meal for your baby – we have to make sure it has the right reserves to draw on!
I hear this a lot from Mum’s – the physiological changes that take place during pregnancy should rebalance over time, with breast feeding being the trigger for this to happen. However, if you were imbalanced in particular areas like immunity, microbiome, weight or mood before pregnancy then all the breast feeding in the world is not going to sort them out - but getting nutritional therapy to support you and your milk certainly can help!
My health has not been the same since pregnancy...
Breast feeding acts as a trigger for the body to start to rebalance all the processes that are skewed during pregnancy – including immune function and microbiome changes.Sadly some Mum’s, no matter how much they want to breast feed, it just doesn’t happen for them. If this is the case then there is a lot you can do to improve the quality of a formula to ensure your baby gets the most bioavailable nutrient dense, milk possible.
If you're looking for nutritional help before, during and after your pregnancy then I would be privileged to work with you thought your journey.
What if I can't breastfeed?