Eating a variety of food from Canada's Food Guide will help you stay healthy and meet the nutrient needs of your baby. Healthy eating will also give you the energy needed to care for yourself and your new baby. The following are some guidelines to consider while you are breastfeeding your baby.

• Follow Canada's Food Guide, choose an extra 2 - 3 servings each day.

• Breastfeeding often helps you lose weight slowly. Some of the energy used to make breastmilk comes from weight gained during pregnancy

• Most foods can be eaten while you are breastfeeding. Some fish should be limited by women of childbearing age. These include shark, swordfish, orange roughy marlin, escolar and fresh or frozen tuna. They are too high in mercury. Canned light tuna is lower in mercury than canned white (albacore) tuna. While breastfeeding, follow the recommendations for fish described in the "eating safely for pregnancy" section of this site

• Please check with your doctor or dietitian if you have a family history of allergies.

• Women of childbearing age (including breastfeeding women) are advised to take a multivitamin containing 0.4 mg (400 micrograms). This reduces the risk of birth defects in babies if a pregnancy occurs

• Prenatal vitamins are not usually needed now. They contain more iron than most breastfeeding women need.

• You will probably find you are more thirsty than usual when you are breastfeeding. Drink plenty of fluids to satisfy your thirst. Good choices include milk, fruit and vegetable juices, water and soups

• Limit caffeine intake to 300 mg a day or less (no more than two-8 ounce cups of coffee) Caffeine is also found in tea, cola, chocolate and some medications. If your baby is wakeful or fussy, reduce your caffeine intake further

• Some herbs can act like drugs and affect you and your baby. To date, there is not enough information on the safety of many herbal products including herbal teas

Alcohol passes into your breastmilk and then to your baby. No one knows how much alcohol a breastfeeding woman can drink before it harms her baby. If you intend to drink during this time, talk to a knowledgeable health care professional about how to reduce your baby's exposure to alcohol through breastmilk

Nicotine passes into your breastmilk. It may reduce your milk supply and make your baby fussy. If possible, try to quit or cut down on the number of cigarettes. It is better to breastfeed your baby before you smoke to reduce the amount of nicotine your baby receives.

Secondhand smoke is very harmful to your baby.  Babies exposed to cigarette smoke where they live are more likely to have respiratory illnesses and to die of SIDS. If you smoke, it is better to smoke outside your home and away from your baby. Ask your family and friends to do the same. Because secondhand smoke also stays on your clothes, it is best if you change the shirt you wore when smoking before holding and cuddling your baby.

Medication  If your doctor recommends a medication, be sure to mention that you are breastfeeding. Many medications are safe to take while breastfeeding. Check with your doctor or lactation consultant before taking over the counter medication.