There are many reasons (100 reasons) why breastmilk is the ideal food for your baby.

Many vegan mothers breastfeed for the WHO recommended 2 years or more, therefore bypassing any need for formula, which is usually dairy based. There are soy formulas readily available but it is increasingly difficult to find vegan formula, due to fish oils and vitamin D3 being added to most of them. Regular fortified soy & nut milks are not suitable as main milks until after two years of age.

Should I see a dietitian?

Even if you have been eating a healthy vegan diet for many years, it is still worth seeing a registered dietitian when you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy. They will be able to help you plan your diet to ensure you are getting the correct requirements to grow and nurse a healthy baby.

You can search for a local registered dietitian on the Irish Nutrition & Dietetic Institute (INDI)’s website (link to http://www.indi.ie/). It is worth trying to locate a dietitian who has experience in vegan nutrition as well as pregnancy & infant nutrition. They will also be able to give you some help and advice on feeding your infant in the future.

Is it safe to remain vegan during pregnancy & breastfeeding?

The American Dietetic Association says:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life-cycle including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

The key here is planning & knowledge. With a bit of both you’ll be well on your way to growing & feeding a bouncing, healthy baby. Breastmilk is the best food for your baby and all mothers, vegan or not, should make sure they are getting the right balance of nutrients to fill their milk with goodness for their child.

Do I need to take extra care with my diet while breastfeeding?

A nursing mum’s dietary requirements are pretty much the same as when she was pregnant and for vegan mums there are a couple of important things to watch out for:

Vitamin B12 –You must take a reliable daily source of Vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 is only reliably found in animal products and fortified plant foods and is absolutely crucial for your baby’s development.

A pregnant woman’s body will harvest her B12 stores to give to her baby, however these stores are not used to make milk. If you do not have a reliable dietary intake of B12, your breastfed baby won’t either and this is a very serious problem which can ultimately lead to anemia and irreversible nerve damage.

http://www.vegsource.com/articles/walsh_b12.htm)

Fortunately, it is incredibly easy to ensure you are getting enough daily B12:

Drink fortified soya milk, juice or eat fortified breakfast cereals.

Take a multivitamin containing B12 (make sure it is suitable for lactating mothers) many women continue to take their prenatals while breastfeeding.

Vitamin D – Vitamin D (the sunshine vitamin) is a fat-soluble vitamin which acts like a hormone in the body, one of its important task is aiding the absorption of calcium. A deficiency in Vitamin D causes rickets.

People make their own vitamin D by the action of sunlight on the skin, it is also in many animal foods, such as fish oils. Vegans should make sure to also include fortified foods in their daily diet, such as soy milk, margarine and breakfast cereals.

Vitamin D deficiency is most commonly found in Northern latitudes and in countries where people routinely cover their entire bodies with clothing (such as Islamic countries). It is on the rise again in many countries, possibly due to increased awareness of the dangers of too much sun.

In the summer in Ireland, a brief time spent outdoors (even on cloudy days) is enough to make the required amount of vitamin D if you are fair-skinned. However, if you or your infant are dark-skinned, you may need to supplement your diet as you may not synthesise enough vitamin D in our fantastic sun!

In winter months (between October & March) the required wavelength of sunlight required to manufacture Vitamin D is not present in latitudes above 52 degrees North, i.e. most of Ireland. Therefore, current recommendations from the FSAI ( link to http://www.fsai.ie/news/press/pr_07/pr20070516.asp) are to supplement all breastfed infants with vitamin D during winter months, as adults we work off our stores from the previous summer, your baby may not have these built up yet.

Vitamin D2 is vegan, vitamin D3 is usually derived from lanolin or fishoil. It is quite difficult to find a product that is completely vegan, so you may need to use D3 supplements.

Calcium & Zinc – Your body will deplete its own store of calcium & zinc to enrich your milk, so for your own health you should make sure to include an adequate supply of both.

Calcium is very easy to get on a vegan diet, good sources include fortified soymilk, juice, green leafy veg, blackstrap molasses and nuts.

Good sources of zinc include peas, beans, brown rice, spinach, nuts, tofu, and tempeh.

Iron – Generally, no additional iron is needed while breastfeeding, although many women continue to take their prenatals for a few months after their child’s birth to ensure their own iron levels stay high.

So, for your own health, make sure to eat plenty of leafy greens, nuts, whole grains or dried (unsulphured) apricots. And have a glass of orange juice at the same time to increase iron absorption.

Breastmilk is lower in iron than formula, but the important difference is that the iron in breastmilk is very well absorbed by your baby.

Essential Fatty Acids – Breastmilk contains DHA & EPA which are used in brain formation. These fats are made in your body from omega 3 fats. Include a source of omega 3 in your daily diet to ensure a good intake of fatty acids.

Hempseeds are a fantastic source of omega oils and have a pleasant nutty taste, walnuts are another great source, as are flaxseeds/linseeds. Only buy cracked linseeds as the whole ones are difficult to digest & remember to drink more water if you are consuming linseeds. Buy linseeds in small quantities and keep in the fridge as they go off quickly due to their high oil content.

Omega-3 oils are also thought to help alleviate feelings of depression. A mother’s body gives up its own stores of DHA to her developing baby and when breastfeeding, so it makes sense for your own health to include a daily source of fatty acids.

What about calories & protein?

You only need an additional 300-500 calories a day while breastfeeding and your protein needs rise a little also. You will probably feel quite hungry especially when your baby is very young, so listen to your body & choose healthy nutrient-dense snacks.

Here are a couple of snack ideas:

~ A bowl of whole grain cereal with chopped fruit and fortified soymilk, topped with hempseeds

~ Granola tossed in soy yogurt with fruit and mixed seeds

~ A serving of mixed nuts - almonds, walnuts, pistachios (many women avoid peanuts if there is a family history of allergy)

~ Smoothies - blend soy milk/yogurt with a banana, orange juice, seeds and berries

~ Mashed avocado on wholegrain crackers

~ An avocado and a spoon, eat it like ice-cream straight from the container!

~ Toasted pitta strips with hummus

~ Carrot/veg sticks with hummus, baba ganoush or bean paste

~ Fruit - apples, bananas, nectarines, any fruit really!

~ Porridge/oat cookies - oats are known to boost milk production

That’s a lot of information to take in!

This does seem like a lot of information to take in, but all breastfeeding mothers, vegan or not, would do well to ensure their diet contains the appropriate building blocks for nutritious milk. A bonus for vegan mothers is that studies have shown their milk to be lower in environmental toxins than omnivorous mothers.

Your milk will take on the flavour of the food you eat, it is thought that this helps your baby develop a taste for the food that your family eats. So breastfeeding is a great way to give your baby a taste for your own unique cooking style long before he or she starts on solids!

By making sure your milk & cereals are fortified, and by adding seeds to your salads or yogurts, you will quite effortlessly be taking care of all of the above requirements!

Remember, as the saying goes “You don’t need to drink milk to make milk”!

WWW:

Vegan Pregnancy & Breastfeeding:

Vegan Diet in Pregnancy & Childhood – Vegetarian Resource Group

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/pregnancy.htm

http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/veganpregnancy.htm#lactation

Breastfeeding – The Vegan Society

http://www.vegansociety.com/people/lifestyle/families/parenting/vegan_children/breastfeeding.php

Nurtition for Vegan Pregnant & Breastfeeding Mothers – Queensland Health, Australia (PDF file)

www.health.qld.gov.au/nutrition/resources/antenatal_vegan.pdf

Vegetarian Diets for Pregnancy & Breastfeeding – PCRM

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/pregnancy.html

The Vegetarian Breastfeeding Mother – LLL

http://www.llli.org//llleaderweb/LV/LVJunJul97p69.html

The Importance of Breastfeeding your vegan baby – Vegfamily

http://www.vegfamily.com/babies-and-toddlers/breastfeeding-vegan-baby.htm

Pesticides in Breastmilk: The Good news for Vegetarians:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/toxic/breastpest.cfm

General vegan information:

Vitamin B12:

Vegan Society http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/b12/

Vegetarian Resource Group http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm

Vitamin D:

Vegan Society http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/vitaminD.php

Vegfamily.com http://www.vegfamily.com/dietician/0406a.htm

Calcium:

Vegan Society http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/calcium.php

Iron:

Vegan Society http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/iron.php

Vegetarian Resource Group http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/iron.htm

Essential Fatty Acids:

Vegan Society http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/e_fatty_acids.php

Protein:

Vegan Society http://www.vegansociety.com/food/nutrition/protein.php

Irish Links:

The Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI) http://www.indi.ie/

Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s Vitamin D recommendations:

http://www.fsai.ie/news/press/pr_07/pr20070516.asp

Books:

Feeding your vegan infant with confidence- a Practical Guide from Pre-conception Through to Pre-school by Sandra Hood, The Vegan Society's consultant dietitian

http://www.vegansociety.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=242

PubMed:

American Dietetic Association; Dietitians of Canada.

Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: vegetarian diets. Can J Diet Pract Res. 2003 Summer;64(2):62-81

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12826028?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Sanders T Good nutrition for the vegetarian mother Mod Midwife. 1994 Apr;4(4):23-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7788369?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Specker BL. Nutritional concerns of lactating women consuming vegetarian diets.

Am J Clin Nutr. 1994 May;59(5 Suppl):1182S-1186S.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8172121?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Sanders TA, Reddy S The influence of a vegetarian diet on the fatty acid composition of human milk and the essential fatty acid status of the infant. J Pediatr. 1992 Apr;120(4 Pt 2):S71-7

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1560329?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Struci?ska M Vegetarian diets of breastfeeding women in the light of dietary recommendations [in Polish] Rocz Panstw Zakl Hig. 2002;53(1):65-79.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12053485?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Mangels AR , Messina V Considerations in planning vegan diets: children J Am Diet Assoc. 2001 Jun;101(6):670-7.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11424546?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Moilanen BC Vegan diets in infants, children, and adolescents. Pediatr Rev. 2004 May;25(5):174-6
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15121909?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Article with many thanks to the fabulous pixie!