I am also currently trying to revise our handouts for mums re diet
during breastfeeding.  I have to work with our nutrition department
which had been adamant on the 500 calorie addition.

So I have been digging up references to refute this statement.  So far I
am only at the secondary reference stage but my two favourites are:

Nutrition During Pregnancy and Lactation: An Implementation
              Guide (Full Document and 1998 Update)

available free of charge from:  http://www.nmchc.org

and

Eat Well, Lose Weight While Breastfeeding : Complete Nutrition Book for
Nursing Mothers  by Eileen Behan
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679733558/o/qid=954895958/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/104-2887629-3154836

According to these sources

less than 1800 calories per day:  Mums may not be able to maintain their
milk supply, and mum will likely not obtain enough nutrients from her
food to maintain health

2200 calories - fine for milk supply but if mum has a poor diet/makes
poor food choices she may not get enough nutrients to meet her needs

2700 calories (this is the extra 500 calories recommended) - mum will
likely get enough nutrients even if she eats a "typical" poor diet.

So the theory is that prescribing the 2700 calorie diet for every bf mum
will mean that she is likely to get all the nutrient she needs.  However
is is likely that mums don't really need to eat all those calories to
get the nutrients they need because:

- mums who are breastfeeding generally do eat better diets than the
average person

-RDA's have a wide margin of safety (may be unnecessarily high)

- and there is evidence that breastfeeding women's metabolism is indeed
better at utilizing foods.

IMHO since most people don't know how many calories they are consuming,
this is a rather useless piece of info.  Some people are eating too much
and some too little.  Nutrients not calories are the important point.
And even that isn't more important for breastfeeding mums than any other
person.

So while I am still struggling to get to the primary sources, my goal is
to get nutrition to agree on a handout for new mums that emphasizes
healthy eating, eating to hunger, importance of not skipping meals but
doesn't mention a set calorie intake.

I also want to reassure mums that they can eat things like garlic,
broccoli and, of course, the Lactnet favourite: chocolate but that as in
all things moderation is the key.  Don't overdo any one thing in the
diet.

Wish me luck.

I like the menu ideas in the How to Lose Weight book mentioned above.
It emphasizes good food choices. It also addresses many bf mums concerns
about losing weight but pushes for realistic losses and increased
activity.

Thanks for the timely topic. Always nice to know I can count on my
friends for confirmation when these things come up.

Janet Vandenberg RN, BScN, IBCLC, CHN
Ontario, Canada

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