A recent press release from the World Wildlife Fund advised lactating women to avoid meat and dairy foods to reduce the risk of chemical contamination of breast milk. The British Nutrition Foundation is concerned that this would lead to nutritional problems in lactating mothers. We would suggest the following advice.
Breast milk is considered to be the best food for young babies.
Breast milk has additional advantages, for example, it contains special proteins called antibodies and white blood cells, which help to protect the baby against infection. A breast feeding mother requires extra energy and nutrients. Although extra stores that have been laid down during pregnancy supply some of this requirement, the diet still plays a very important role in ensuring sufficient nutrients for both mother and child. It is inadvisable to either restrict food intake, or to limit the variety of foods during lactation, as this could result in a low intake of important nutrients. This group of foods provides iron, red meat being a particularly good source There is no scientific evidence to suggest that foods grown organically have a better nutrient content than those produced non-organically .