Eat Well, Lose Weight, While Breastfeeding: The Complete Nutrition Book for Nursing Mothers

by Eileen Behan

The new mom’s most trusted resource–now revised and updated to include the latest in nutrition and dietary concerns

This hands-on guide provides mothers with expert advice on losing weight and eating well, so you can feel good about your decision to nurse. Registered dietitian, professional nutritionist, and mother of two Eileen Behan shows you how to shed pounds safely and naturally while nourishing a happy, healthy baby. Learn what and how much to eat, what foods to avoid, the best exercises, plus ways to keep the pounds off after you stop breastfeeding. Get the latest

• vitamin and mineral recommendations from the frontlines of nutrition research
• the Glycemic Index–what it is and what it means to breastfeeding women
• fish safety–what you need to know about toxin levels to protect you and your baby
• low-carb diets–good or bad for breastfeeding moms?
• calcium–does it speed up weight loss?
• whole grains–the best ways to integrate this ultimate energy food into your diet
• nuts–high-protein food or fattening snack?
• childhood obesity–how to prevent harmful eating habits, from breastfeeding through toddler years
• sugar substitutes–which ones are best?

PLUS–All new crock-pot recipes, more Web-based resources, and a breakthrough eating plan that allows mothers to eat well, lose weight naturally, and have a happy nursing experience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting, Nutrition, Health

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1992

Reviews

[A.L. Sowards]

After skimming through this book, I think it would be great for the following people:

-those that have no prior knowledge of basic nutrition
-those without any common sense when it comes to eating
-those extremely vulnerable to fad diet temptation
-moms that magically have more time when a newborn comes along for calorie counting, meal planning, and food diaries
-insomniacs

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book starts out well by going into the debate on the caloric needs of the average nursing mother. From there the author touches on a few other important topics like the effects (or lack thereof) of certain foods/food groups on babies and breastmilk, the need for exercise (and the levels at which the nursing mother should ease back into it), and useful tips for the busy mother to plan meals for her and her family.

I felt that the author overreached a little bit towards the end when she started going in to feeding children, the effects of television on children, and other similar topics. Her research did not seem as sound and they were completely off-topic for this book. The author also makes the mild assumption that there will be lots of people on hand to help. As a mother that does not have a huge local support network, I found some of her suggestions to be non-viable for my lifestyle. I also felt like the author pump-shamed a bit and, as a large-breasted mother whose child could not latch and therefore mainly a pump user, this really discouraged me.

All in all the book has some good suggestions and has specialized topic points for mothers of multiples, mothers who gave birth via cesarean, and other such subgroups within the overall group of "new mothers". But if you've done some general reading on fitness and don't fall into the above subgroups, there's a very good chance that the information on a nursing mother's caloric needs and the effect/non-effect of food on babies and breastmilk is about all you'll really need.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not at all what I was looking for. It is basically a glorified menu plan from a dietician for a caloric intake that may or may not work for all breast feeding moms. Other than that, it just tells you what you should already know about eating healthy to support the health of mother and child. There are no great weight loss tips in this book other than continue to eat healthy and exercise and don't restrict calories until you are no longer breast feeding. There. I saved you from having to waste the time in reading this book.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book- read it cover to cover, but might be most useful for the average reader to skip around. Very engaging, interesting, and useful. I was amazed at how practical and interesting the author made this subject. I was especially motivated to read this book before our childbirth class on breastfeeding. Childbirth class was great, but I was sorely disappointed with our instructors complete LACK of nutrition knowledge concerning breastfeeding. Of course she can recite every benefit of breastfeeding- that's easy, but when asked about weight loss during breastfeeding she didn't have a clue. I've noticed most lactation educators and lactation consultants come from an RN background instead of RD or nutrition background. Why!? Behan also gives some great recipes in the back that made my mouth water! Did I mention I'm pregnant? Yep! Loved reading the recipes :) I was most surprised to learn that safe weight loss during the first 6 mo of breastfeeding is 1-2 lbs per MONTH!! Not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Recommend this book to others- definitely! Couldn't put it down.

[Leticia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I find a lot of issues with this one:

-"Breast is Best" shaming formula feeding mothers is annoying and unrealistic in this day and age. There are many reasons why a mother might not be able to breastfeed. A mom could need medications that would be dangerous to transfer to breastmilk. She might have her own medical reasons why she can't produce a sufficient supply of milk. She might have a special needs child who for whatever reason cannot breastfeed. It is okay to state the facts about how breastfeeding is *generally* the superior way to feed, but it is also crucial to mention the reasons why formula feeding or formula supplementing might be necessary.
-Way too much focus on a low-fat diet. Pushing low-fat diets is bad science, outdated, and studies have shown that a healthy amount of fats in the diet is crucial to both mom and baby.
-No mention of help for undersuppliers for boosting milk supply and those who are exclusively pumping (which I hoped to find in this book)

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book hoping for information on how to safely lose weight while nursing, because I definitely do not automatically lose weight while nursing. The information in it I didn't all agree with, but the numbers was good information to know (how much to realistically/safely lose, how many calories, etc.). Some of the studies she used seemed a little ridiculous (these people did a study with 5 breastfeeding women....really?! You can't get anything conclusive from studying so little people.) So some of the information was good. I skipped the sections that didn't apply to me (info on coffee and alcohol, I don't drink either). So in all, some good info, but i don't know if it gave me QUITE enough info to actually use only this book to lose weight.

[Melania Andrisan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about eating habits and principles that can be applied by anybody, not just a nursing mom. In it I found what are the foods that contain every needed vitamin and what are these vitamins good for. Now I have on my fridge a list with foods from the most important 6 categories of food that we need to eat, the proper quantities per day and the vitamins contained in them.

And here is a list with 10 things that I learned from it: http://readlearnlovedo.tumblr.com/pos...

[Sylvia Laurence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written, straightforward and simple. I appreciated that it wasn't cheesy or trying too hard to be entertaining. It just provided information, was backed by solid science, and offered a great overview of the nutrition you need while breastfeeding. My big issue is that she advocates low-fat products and artificial sugars. I am against fake sugars and low-fat products are generally just compensated with extra sugars and are not healthy. Aside from that and some other small nutritional discrepancies, this was a great one.

[Nathalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borrowed this one from the BR La Leche League Chapter when I attended a recent meeting.

Good information, especially the menus - specifically catered to breastfeeding women, but if the author puts stock (albeit begrudgingly) in moms' "research" into foods that disturb babies' tummies, why does she constantly include broccoli in her recipes?! RETARD!

[Michelle Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, informative and all, but didn't really share anything that wasn't obvious. We all know to follow the basic food groups, drink lots of water and exercise. What was helpful were the recipes, different exercises and help with calculating how many extra calories are REALLY needed while breastfeeding.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book for mothers who don't know much about nutrition, but I do not agree with many things that she states or suggests. For example, she says, "Cereal is my favorite breakfast food because its quick and nutritious." I'm pretty sure that the cereal most moms reading this book consume is in no way nutritious. I think 3 stars is generous for this one.

[Christin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a lot of the same old that we all know but there were parts of it that I really liked. Over all it was not that great and I disagreed with some of the things that were said (such as children should be given dessert every night so they dont crave it). It was just ok over all.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay. It mainly just talked about nutrition and the benefits of nursing. And the downside was it's an older book.

[Susan]

Obviously I just perused this title. One thing I did not agree with was the title for the section "Chocolate - the food we hate ourselves for loving." Puh lease. That's so ridiculous.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very basic book on nutrition. It is a good book for anyone who does not know how to eat healthy. However I actually do. Some of the discussions on studies are interesting.

[Lisa Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent information but fairly obvious.

[Erin Lodes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Based on some very traditional dietary practices, but still had lots of good advice for moms

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ended up skimming this book, but liked its common-sense approach.