Nutrition while pregnant and nursing

[Ixcuina]

I am about 8 weeks pregnant and have a 2 year old who still loves to nurse. He has actually been sick twice in the last month (as have I) and so he is nursing even more right now. I am following the Brewer Diet (80-100 grams protein, 4 servings of calcium foods a day) and taking Rainbow Lite prenatals (600 mg calcium per day).

My question is for those of you who nursed through your pregnancy...did you change your nutritional requirements at all? Did you supplement with more calcium then what was in your prenatals (and what kind of calcium did you supplement with)? I am a vegetarian and I don't drink milk (cheese is fine) so I have to really work on getting my calcium. It seems as though it is even more important if nursing at the same time.

Any insights? I would love to hear what I should be trying to do so that I make sure all three of stay healthy (me, ds and new one on the way)!

Thanks!!

[tinyshoes]

Well, I do know that the ol' chain of command goes: Baby in utero, nursling, and then mama, as far as who gets the 'best' stuff the mama's body has to offer.

I've also heard that the ol' prenatal vitamin is more 'for mom' than baby, and offers the mom nutritional insurance--again, the idea being that baby will get first dibs on mama's resources.

(And I am not saying eat Chee-toes and drink Coke all day and magically your baby will be perfectly nourished and the mom is the only one who will 'suffer'--but y'know what I mean! :P )

[MommyT]

I followed Dr. Brewer's Blue Ribbon Baby diet www.blueribbonbaby.org during pregnancy and will continue it as long as I'm nursing. I switched from my prenatals to a multivitamin about 2 months after birth. I've added a lot more water to my diet also. BFing really takes a lot of fluid out of you! :

[Beth-TX]

I'm not following any particular diet, but I do try to think about how I could make each meal more nurtitious. For example, adding chick peas and cheese to plain rice, a cut up veggie burger to spaghetti, whole wheat flour and fruit in pancakes instead of white flour. I just take it one meal at a time.

peace, Beth

[Charmie981]

when pg with multiples or nursing, you need to up the Brewer protein requirements to 120-140g of protein a day.

tending to toddler, sorry

[late-night nan]

I'm lactose-intolerant, so I also find it nearly impossible to meet the 1 qt/day of dairy recommendation. Instead of milk, I drink enriched rice dream, and I also try to eat a fair bit of cheese. also, tofu apparently has more calcium per ounce than milk because of the way it's processed. and of course there's also calcium from dark leafy greens.

[PB's Mom]

I take a vitamin from LifeTime called "Professional Pre-Natal Formula" ....it was recommended in a nutrition book I have. It has everything in it you'd need in a day (keep in mind that the serving size is 6....yes, you have to take 6 a day....2 at every meal or 3 in morning and 3 at night.) You could probably find it in a health food store. There was another brand that was very similar, but I can't think of the name right now. It has plenty of magnesium and other stuff that is important that most other pre-natals don't have.