Eating healthy while nursing

[Lifestar]

A treat for you instead of store-bought cookies which are high in fat and calories, might be a recipie I make ...

1Keebler reduced-fat graham cracker crust

1 Pkg chocolate pudding mix (cook and serve) made with Skim Milk... following Pie recipe.. . Chill in shell 'till set firm.

Top with 1 Pint- tub of Fat-free Cool Whip topping and decorate with Chocolate Sprinkles 1/8 serving of pie has @ 160 calories, and only 3 grams of fat, .5 grams sat.fat, and a lot of calcium...

Not bad for a sweet desert treat...

The fat-free cool-whip is really pretty good. It's sweet and milky-tasting, without any of the "oily" mouth-feel that you get from other non-dairy whipped toppings. It's a nice break from salads and fruits, ans it's "low-guilt"

Val

[bbkimberly]

Instead of drinking water drink milk - more calcium for the two of you. I made it a point to drink a lot of it while I nursed my 3 because I needing to keep my weight up. Yes, UP - I lose weight easily and have a hard time keeping it on. Yeah, I know a lot of you want to beat me with a stick at this point but believe me it's no fun being scrawny! I'm a mere 97 lbs. and 5'2"
Oh - other snacks that you can do ...... yogurt and cottage cheese!

[dinsky]

Before substituting milk for water, talk to a lactation specialist. When I was nursing my dd, I drank a lot of milk and she did not tolerate it AT ALL!!! She would nurse for one to two minutes and then double up screaming. She was not gaining weight and eventually I had to stop nursing. She was lactose intolerant and had to have special formula. Towards the end, all I was eating/drinking was boiled chicken, plain rice, water, and milk. Later, the lactation specialist told me that sometimes, children develop lactose intolerance as a result of the mother drinking too much milk. She also said that because of the way it is processed, this does not happen with cheeses and yogurt. So with my son, I stayed away from milk but added more cheese and yogurt. He did not have a bit of problem. The body also needs plain water.

dinsky

[bbkimberly]

What a trip! I have never heard of that. I drank a lot of milk and juice. I drank water too but wasn't real big on it. Oh - I was watching an episode of Gilmore Girls and Lorelai and her mother were at a spa that had "cucumber water" - water with some cucumber slices. It sounded interesting to me so I tried it - not bad!

[dinsky]

Milk is 90 plus percent water. In some instances, the remaining proteins and sugars cause problems in nursing infants. Cow's milk can be especially troublesome. Those proteins and sugars pass from the mother into breast milk and can subsequently cause problems. The larger the amount of cow's milk that the mother drinks, the larger the amount of these sugars and proteins that pass through to the nursing baby. And in some children, this can cause significant gastrointesitinal problems resulting in lactose intolerance, allergy, failure to thrive (weight loss or failure to gain), and/or dehydration secondary to refusal to nurse or inadequate intake. In my dd's case, she developed a lactose intolerance, failure to thrive, and dehydration which resolved with the discontinuation of nursing (and it was an absolutely devastating moment for me). At 6 months old, she weighed 14 pounds. The long and short of it is, some nursing infants have trouble breaking down the sugars and proteins from cow's milk that pass through into breast milk. Increase the cow's milk in a mothers diet, and these sugars and proteins are also increased. Processing cow's milk into cheeses and yogurt changes the molecular structure of these sugars and proteins making them easier for the nursing infant to digest without decreasing the beneficial aspects to the mother. It has been a long time, but I could probably still map out the molecular changes that occur and the physiological process of the normal versus the affected infant.

So, while you may think that my comments are a "trip", they are supported by scientific and antecdotal evidence.

dinsky

[bbkimberly]

I didn't mean it in a bad way I was just surprised because I had never heard of that. Please do not take offense

[dinsky]

Thanks for the clarification.

dinsky