Promoting nutrition in breastfeeding women

Abstract

Nurses have a vital role in providing nutritional education to breastfeeding women. In this article, the authors discuss the nutritional requirements for breastfeeding women in terms of micronutrients, macronutrients, and minerals. They provide recommendations for women with vegetarian diets and low-income women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program who may have dietary deficiencies, and they present a directed case study to provide an example of how to perform a dietary assessment and the educational support that may be offered by nurses to breastfeeing women.