At every stage in life, a healthy balanced diet is essential in maintaining all of your body’s complex functions. This is especially important while you are breastfeeding.  Aside from ensuring you’re getting enough energy from the foods you eat, you should also be aware of certain vitamins and minerals that are of particular importance during this time.

Folate is a B-group vitamin that is needed for normal growth and development of cells.  It is found in green leafy vegetables, broccoli, avocado, spinach, lentils, wholemeal bread and fortified breakfast cereals.

It is recommended that you increase your folate intake during the breastfeeding period, although your requirements are not quite as high as they were during your pregnancy. You should consume at least 0.5mg folate per day.

Zinc is a mineral which helps support healthy growth.

Your requirements for zinc while breastfeeding are higher than during pregnancy. The RDI for zinc is 12mg per day for breastfeeding women.  Foods that are rich in zinc include lean meat, wholegrain cereals, milk, seafood, legumes and nuts.

While breastfeeding, you should aim for at least 1,100µg of Vitamin A per day. Being a fat soluble vitamin, vitamin A is found in foods like milk, cheese, eggs, fish and also in yellow-orange vegetables and fruits such as carrots, pumpkin, mango and apricots.