If you follow a certain religion, you
would be worried about periods that you need to keep a vegetarian diet, whether
this diet affect the baby or not.
The following information can answer partly
your worries.
Should you keep a vegetarian diet when
breast-feeding baby?
During this period, you should not keep a
vegetarian diet for too long time. The time and the moment for vegetarian meal
depend on baby’s age, breast-feeding completely or combining with powdered milk
… If your baby is under 6 months and completely has breast milk, it is best
that you do not have vegetarian meal. When it begins weaning and keeps on
having breast milk at the same time, you now can have vegetarian meal for a
short time.
Consider
vegetarian diet while breast-feeding baby.
Is having vegetarian diet harmful for
baby?
If your baby is fully breast-fed, your long
lasting vegetarian diet is not good for the health of your baby. However, you
can still have vegetarian meal in one day without affecting the milk quality
because at this moment, calorie amount cut has not significantly influenced the
production of breast milk. Your body will adapt by releasing the reserved
energy to compensate for the amount of food or fluid shortage. The science
proves that women can fast for 24 hours but the quality and quantity of breast
milk still contain enough nutrients. In a short time (several days), the fat in
breast milk is kept the same, so your baby is not affected if you keep your
vegetarian diet within time limit. But if you fast for long time (several
weeks), your weight will be lost, the fat contained in your breast milk starts
decreasing and may have bad effect on the the health of your baby.
One research shows that the human body is
able to adapt to the fast without any influence on health. But for people who
are breast-feeding their babies, long lasting fast may lead to dehydration as
follows:
·
Always in thirsty condition
·
Dark color urine with strong smell
·
Always feeling tired, unpleasant
·
Usually having a headache
Fast
can affect the health of your baby.
If having one of above signs, you need to
stop vegetarian diet and supplement water to the body. After half an hour, if
these symptoms are not decreased, you need to see a doctor. After stopping
fasting, in addition to supplementing water, you also have to add both calories
and other nutrients to the body. In case that you lose weight during fasting,
but not having such symptoms, you should not worry about that.
Preparation for fasting period
Buy some foods and drinks rich in energy to
prevent as a precaution in emergency needed to supplement nutrients.
Energy
rich foods
Write down all the menus in day to ensure
the necessary energy or use in case of unfortunate situation.
Keep the good mood, take a rest in
moderation.
Besides, you should see your doctor asking
for advice if your baby has signs of not receiving enough nutrients from breast
milk as following:
·
Less pee than usual
·
Green stools
·
Often cry
·
Losing or not gaining weight
