The short answer

The NHS says you do not need to follow a special diet while breastfeeding. Eat a varied diet with at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, starchy foods, protein and dairy or fortified alternatives, and keep a drink beside you when you feed. Consider a daily 10 microgram vitamin D supplement (the NHS says everyone should in autumn and winter). Keep caffeine to no more than 200mg a day, oily fish to no more than 2 portions a week, and remember that not drinking alcohol is the safest choice. Peanuts, spicy food and most other foods do not need to be cut out unless you are allergic or your baby reacts.

This is the starting guide for our postnatal courses. It covers what goes on your plate. Our sister guides go deeper on the rest of life with a new baby: easy meals for new parents when you have no time to cook, coping with sleep deprivation, combination feeding if you mix breast and bottle, and breastfeeding after you go back to work.

What to eat while breastfeeding: the balanced plate

There is no breastfeeding superfood. The NHS advice is the same healthy, varied diet it recommends for everyone, built from four groups plus plenty to drink. Think "most days, roughly" rather than counting.

Snacks that fit round feeds

Night feeds and cluster feeding make proper meals hard. The NHS suggests these quick snacks, which it says will give you energy:

• fresh fruit with a handful of unsalted nuts
• lower-fat, lower-sugar yoghurts or fromage frais
• hummus with bread or vegetable sticks
• fortified lower-sugar breakfast cereals, muesli or other wholegrain cereals with lower-fat milk
• milky drinks, or a 150ml glass of 100% unsweetened fruit juice

The NHS also suggests cooking extra portions to freeze, keeping raw vegetables such as carrots and celery for snacking, using tinned and frozen vegetables, and saying yes when friends or family offer a home-cooked meal. Our guide to easy meals for new parents turns this into one-handed food you can actually eat while holding a baby.

Fluids: how much should you drink?

The NHS does not set a number of glasses for breastfeeding. Its advice is to drink plenty of fluids and to have a drink beside you when you settle down to breastfeed. Good choices are water, lower-fat milk and diluted pure fruit juice.

In practice, that habit does most of the work: feeds come round often in the early weeks, so a glass within reach at each one adds up without tracking. If your go-to drink is tea or coffee, remember it also counts towards your caffeine total, covered below.

Vitamin D: the one supplement to think about

Vitamin D helps regulate calcium and phosphate in the body, which are needed for healthy bones, teeth and muscles. It is found in oily fish, red meat, egg yolks and fortified foods such as some breakfast cereals, but the NHS says it is hard to get enough from food alone. From about late March or early April to the end of September, most people can make all they need from sunlight.

For you

The NHS says everyone, including breastfeeding women, should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (10mcg) of vitamin D during the autumn and winter months. The NHS Best Start in Life breastfeeding page simply advises a 10mcg daily supplement while you breastfeed.

Some people should take it all year round. The NHS vitamin D page names people who are not often outdoors, people who usually wear clothes that cover most of their skin when outside, and people with dark skin, for example from an African, African-Caribbean or south Asian background, who may not make enough vitamin D from sunlight. If any of these apply to you, take 10mcg every day, not just in winter.

More is not better: the NHS says not to take more than 100 micrograms (4,000 IU) a day, as it could be harmful. Labels sometimes show IU instead of micrograms; 10mcg is the same as 400 IU.

For your baby

Breastfed babies need their own vitamin D drops: a daily supplement of 8.5 to 10 micrograms from birth, whether or not you are taking vitamin D yourself. Babies having more than 500ml (about a pint) of infant formula a day should not be given vitamin supplements, because formula is already fortified. If you mix breast and bottle, our combination feeding guide explains how to tell which side of that 500ml line your baby is on. Your health visitor can advise on drops.

Breastfeeding plate check

Tap what you have had today. You will get a quick, kind read-out based on NHS advice. Nothing is saved.

Portions of fruit and vegetables so far todayFresh, frozen, tinned and dried all count.

0 to 2 3 or 4 5 or more

Which of these have you had today?Tap all that apply.

Starchy food Protein (beans, eggs, fish, meat) Dairy or fortified alternative Vitamin D tablet (10mcg) A drink beside me at most feeds

Your read-out

Tap your answers above

Your read-out will appear here as you go.

A quick snapshot, not a diet plan. The Nutrition While Breastfeeding course has the full plate guide, a vitamin D checklist and a caffeine counter.

Start again

Foods you don't need to avoid while breastfeeding

Search "foods to avoid while breastfeeding" and you will find long lists. The NHS list is far shorter. The NHS Best Start in Life page on food and drinks to avoid when breastfeeding covers just caffeine, alcohol, and shark, swordfish and marlin, plus notes on peanuts and cows' milk. The long pregnancy list of soft cheeses, pâté and the rest does not appear. Here is what the NHS wording says about the common worries.

One caveat: medicines and herbal remedies still need care. The NHS says not enough is known about herbal remedies to guarantee they are safe while breastfeeding, so avoid them, and always tell your pharmacist, GP or dentist that you are breastfeeding before taking any medicine.

The limits that do apply, at a glance

Three things have real NHS limits while you breastfeed. Here they are side by side before we go through each one.

Caffeine while breastfeeding: 200mg, and why the figures look different

The NHS says there is not enough information to say how much is too much, and babies respond to caffeine differently. Because it is a stimulant, a lot of it may make your baby restless and keep them awake. The NHS recommends no more than 200mg a day while breastfeeding, and says it is a good idea to cut down, especially while your baby is less than 6 months old.

Here is where it gets confusing. The NHS breastfeeding page and the NHS pregnancy page use the same 200mg limit but different figures for the same drinks:

Both sets are estimates. If you counted with the pregnancy figures, carrying on that way keeps you comfortably under 200mg. Our guide to what 200mg of caffeine looks like adds up real drink days using the pregnancy figures, for comparison. For a closer look, see our guide: Going Back to Work While Breastfeeding.

An NHS Best Start in Life page still says to try not to have more than 300mg a day. The main NHS breastfeeding diet page, reviewed in May 2026, says 200mg, and that is the figure we use.

Caffeine-free swaps the NHS suggests include herbal teas, mineral water and 100% fruit juice (one 150ml glass a day). Tired enough that the third coffee is calling? Our guide to sleep deprivation in new parents has ways to get through the day that do not involve more caffeine.

Fish while breastfeeding: oily fish, tuna and shark

Fish is one of the most useful foods while breastfeeding, and one of the most confusing. The NHS advice is:

• Aim for at least 2 portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily, such as salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines, herring or pilchards. A portion is about 140g.
• No more than 2 portions of oily fish a week. This applies to all girls and women, including breastfeeding women, because pollutants found in oily fish may build up in the body.
• No more than 1 portion a week of shark, swordfish or marlin. This applies to all adults, because of mercury.
• Tuna has no limit while breastfeeding. Fresh and canned tuna do not count as oily fish, so they do not use up your 2 oily portions.

So a simple week might be one salmon or mackerel meal plus a cod, haddock or tuna meal. If you followed our fish in pregnancy guide, the big change after the birth is tuna: there is no limit on it while breastfeeding.

Alcohol while breastfeeding

Alcohol passes into breast milk and then to your baby. The NHS notes that the Royal College of Midwives recommends avoiding alcohol completely while breastfeeding as the safest approach. That said, an occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby, especially if you wait at least 2 hours after drinking before you feed. NHS Best Start in Life puts it as 1 or 2 units once or twice a week, which it says should be fine.

If you plan a drink

• Wait until breastfeeding is well established. The NHS suggests avoiding breastfeeding for 2 to 3 hours per drink.
• Express beforehand and give that milk for the first feed after drinking. Our guide to storing expressed breast milk covers how long it keeps in the fridge and freezer.
• You do not need to express to "clear" alcohol. Levels in your milk fall as alcohol leaves your body. You may still need to express for comfort if your breasts feel full.
• Know your units. One unit is a small (125ml) glass of wine, half a pint of beer or a single 25ml spirit measure.

If you smoke or vape, the NHS advice is to avoid smoking before a feed and to vape after, not before, breastfeeding. Nicotine replacement therapy is a safer choice than smoking.

If your baby seems to react to something you eat

The NHS says traces of what you eat and drink can pass through to your breast milk, and that if your baby is sensitive to certain foods or drinks, you may need to avoid them. That is very different from cutting foods "just in case".

Cows' milk allergy is one of the most common childhood food allergies. It can happen in breastfed babies, though it is more common once formula or solid food starts. Signs listed by the NHS include a red itchy rash, swelling of the lips, face or eyes, tummy upset, a runny or blocked nose, and eczema. Lactose intolerance is different: it is not an allergy and may only be temporary, with diarrhoea, vomiting, tummy pain and wind.

Vegan and vegetarian diets while breastfeeding

You can breastfeed well on a vegetarian or vegan diet. The NHS points to two things to get right:

• Vitamin B12. If you follow a restricted diet such as a vegan diet, you may be advised to have foods and drinks with added vitamin B12, or a B12 supplement.
• Fortified dairy alternatives. Choose plant drinks and yoghurts fortified with calcium and vitamin D, and with iodine if you are vegan. Unsweetened, calcium-fortified soya drinks and yoghurts are a good dairy-free option.

Beans, pulses and nuts cover protein. If you are unsure your diet is covering everything, ask your GP, midwife or health visitor.

Losing weight gently while breastfeeding

Many parents want to lose weight after the birth. The NHS advice is calm and specific:

• If you are a healthy weight for your height, you do not need to eat a special diet. Eat a healthy, balanced diet, drink plenty of fluids, including water, and get enough rest.
• If you are overweight, the best way to lose weight is a healthy, balanced diet and regular, moderate exercise. The NHS says this will not affect the quality or quantity of your breast milk.
• Moderate exercise means something like a brisk 30-minute walk each day. After a straightforward birth you can start gentle exercise, such as walking, gentle stretches and pelvic floor exercises, as soon as you feel up to it. Wait for your 6-week postnatal check before high-impact exercise such as running, and check with your midwife, health visitor or GP first after a caesarean or complicated birth.
• Tell any weight-loss group that you have recently had a baby and whether you are breastfeeding, so they can give you the right advice.

The NHS pages do not give a number of extra calories for breastfeeding, so we have not invented one. The NHS does list a lower risk of obesity among the benefits of breastfeeding for mothers. At your 6-week postnatal check, if your BMI is 30 or more, your doctor should offer advice on weight loss, healthy eating and activity.

For a low-stress approach with no diets and no counting, Postnatal Nutrition covers easy meals, one-handed snacks, a freezer plan and hydration. For a closer look, see our guide: Menopause diet UK.

Free help: Healthy Start, vitamins and prescriptions

• Healthy Start. If you qualify and are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you get a card with money added every 4 weeks to spend on plain cows' milk, fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables, pulses and infant formula. You can also use the card to get free vitamin supplements, including vitamin drops for your baby. In Scotland the equivalent is Best Start Foods.
• Free prescriptions. You are entitled to free NHS prescriptions for 12 months after your baby is born. If you did not apply for a maternity exemption certificate while pregnant, you can still apply after the birth.
• Breastfeeding support. The National Breastfeeding Helpline is on 0300 100 0212.

Going back to work? Our guide to breastfeeding after returning to work covers your rights and how to keep feeding going.

Want it all in one place?

Our postnatal courses turn these NHS answers into tools you can use on a tired Tuesday.

Questions parents ask

Sources

• NHS: Breastfeeding and diet (last reviewed 15 May 2026)
• NHS: Breastfeeding and alcohol (last reviewed 1 May 2026)
• NHS: Breastfeeding and medicines (last reviewed 7 May 2026)
• NHS: Breastfeeding and smoking (last reviewed 22 May 2026)
• NHS Best Start in Life: What to eat and drink when breastfeeding
• NHS Best Start in Life: Food and drinks to avoid when breastfeeding
• NHS Best Start in Life: Breastfeeding vitamins
• NHS: Vitamin D
• NHS: Vitamins for children
• NHS: Fish and shellfish (last reviewed 26 June 2026)
• NHS: Foods to avoid in pregnancy (caffeine figures, last reviewed 15 June 2026)
• NHS: Keeping fit and healthy with a baby (last reviewed 20 April 2026)
• NHS: Benefits of breastfeeding
• NHS: Your 6-week postnatal check
• NHS Healthy Start

This article is general information based on UK public health guidance. It is not medical advice. If you have a health condition, take medicines, follow a restricted diet or are worried about your baby's feeding, speak to your midwife, health visitor, GP or pharmacist.