sushi, deli meats, young cheeses and coffee are all safe to enjoy again. However, a small handful of safety-related considerations persist during lactation due to the potential effects of certain food-borne compounds on a baby’s developing nervous system. These include alcohol, mercury and endocrine-disrupting chemicals like Bisphenol-A (BPA). One to two alcoholic drinks per week is considered safe while lactating, but experts advise limiting intake to a single drink in a sitting and allowing a full two hours to pass between drinking and nursing. Also, be aware that even trace amounts of alcohol in breastmilk can interfere with babies’ sleep, and newborns are more sensitive to alcohol exposure than older infants and toddlers. To help protect nervous system development, limiting your intake of high mercury fish — as you did during pregnancy — remains prudent. If you buy canned foods like soups, beans, tuna and tomatoes, look for brands that use BPA-free can liners, including Eden Organics, Muir Glen, Amy’s Kitchen, Native Forest, Wild Planet and Vital Choice. Products sold in aseptic tetra paks are also BPA-free and safe to use during lactation.
Ease into exercise.
Producing over 1,000 calories worth of milk daily, you’ll burn more by breastfeeding than you could ever expect to walk off on a treadmill. That’s why most nursing moms of multiples lose a substantial amount of baby weight without ever donning a pair of sneakers (let alone a bra!). That’s a good thing, since breastfeeding multiples tends to be a round-the-clock enterprise for the first several months, one that leaves little time and energy for the gym. As your babies grow and the demands of nursing subside, you may find yourself ready to get moving again.
of it. Therefore, a rigorous exercise regimen that produces a significant calorie deficit may adversely affect the amount of milk you produce. Similarly, poor hydration from excessive sweating can also reduce the amount of breastmilk you produce. For these reasons, light physical activity that focuses on fitness, strength and stress relief (i.e. walking, yoga or pilates) may be more compatible with your demanding lactation regimen than intense workouts like running, interval training and spinning. This rings true at least in the first several months of breastfeeding before your supply is well-established. It’s a huge challenge to prioritize self-care when faced with the overwhelming task of caring for your newborns, so enlist help from your partner, relatives and friends in keeping yourself fed, watered and rested. Raising multiples is a marathon — not a sprint — so consider taking care of you as a form of endurance training! Tamara Duker Freuman is a registered dietitian who specializes in medical nutrition therapy for digestive disorders and is an expert in celiac disease. In addition to her clinical work, Tamara blogs for US NEWS & WORLD REPORT’s eat + run health page and hosts a popular blog devoted to healthy eating and gluten-free living.
Protecting your hydration status and eating enough to keep up with the additional energy demands of exercise are the two primary concerns when considering a return to the gym. When calories are in short supply, the body diminishes the quantity of breastmilk it produces — not the quality 6
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