Being pregnant, having a baby, and then caring for that baby can all be very hard on your body. To be performing at your best, you have to know how to take care of yourself during each of these times in your life and in the life of your child.

To help you with this as you deal with being postpartum and nursing your newborn baby, here are three tips for caring for your body while you’re a breastfeeding mother.

Get Enough To Drink Each Day

When you were pregnant, you were likely told that it was important for you to keep yourself hydrated. Well, now that you’ve delivered your baby, hydration is still very important, especially when breastfeeding.

According to the Mayo Clinic, you should be drinking enough water each day that you don’t ever actually feel thirsty and that your urine never appears dark yellow. If either one of these things is happening, you’re not getting the water that your body and your baby needs to breastfeed effectively.

So to keep yourself, your baby, and your breasts as healthy as possible—even though you might find yourself wanting to get some help from a plastic surgeon once you’re done nursing—make sure you’re getting your recommended daily amount of water. Because if you’re not properly hydrated, you’re going to have a hard time producing the milk that your little one so desperately needs.

Be Wary Of Dieting

When you were pregnant, you likely put on a few pounds over the nine-month process. And while some women seem to drop their baby weight very quickly, especially if they breastfeed, others don’t have that same experience. But as much as you might like to buckle down and lose that baby weight fast, while you’re nursing isn’t the best time to be putting yourself on a strict diet.

According to Alina Petre, a contributor to Healthline.com, nursing mothers need to be eating at least 1,500 calories per day to keep up their milk supply. While this is the bare minimum, you should shoot to be eating more like 1,800 calories or more. So rather than trying to diet by cutting calories, just make sure you’re eating healthy foods in proper proportions if you’re worried about keeping your weight down.

Practice Proper Hygiene

Having a newborn means you’re going to be up close and personal with their spit up, urine, feces, snot, and much more. And if you’re nursing, you’re also going to be dealing with breast milk as well. So while it might seem like fighting a losing battle, Melissa Kotlen, a contributor to Very Well Family, shares that you need to practice proper hygiene both for your own health and for the health of your baby. This means that you shower often, cleanse your breasts regularly, and keep your breasts clean and dry.

If you’re unsure about the best ways to care for your body when you’re breastfeeding, consider implementing the tips mentioned above.

 

Whether you’re looking to dress your baby in a graduation outfit to mark their graduation from baby to toddler or you are graduating from college in the near future and would love to purchase a baby graduation cap and gown so that your baby matches you, simply continue reading to discover how to choose the right baby graduation cap and grown.

How to choose a baby graduation cap and gown:

1. If you’re purchasing a baby graduation cap and gown for your graduation, find out what color your robes and gown are likely to be

If you’re looking forward to taking photos of yourself in your graduation outfit with your baby and would love your babies cap and gown to match yours, check your university website to find out what color your college or degrees robes are. As an example, your graduation robes may be black but they could also be navy or red depending on the college which you attended.

2. Consider whether you want to personalize your baby’s graduation cap

If you want your baby’s graduation cap to stand out you may want to consider getting your baby’s name or a cute phrase such as future grad embroidered on to the top of their graduation cap. The latter of which is a particularly fitting idea if you’d love to present your baby with their baby graduation cap as a memento, when they one day graduate college as a young adult.

3. Don’t be too fussed about the size of your baby’s graduation gown

Just like adult graduation gowns, babies graduation gowns are designed to be one size fits all. If your chosen baby graduation gown ends up being a little too long for your baby, simply carry your baby in your graduation photos or use Hollywood fashion tape to take up the hem of your baby’s graduation gown. Without causing any damage to your baby’s graduation gown.

Tips on getting the perfect photo of yourself with your little graduate:

1. Get a family member or friend to get your baby’s attention

If you want your baby to look directly at your camera, get a friend or family member to stand right next to your photographer and to wave your baby’s favorite toy and call their name. Which will make it far easier for your photographer to get a winning shot of yourself with your little graduate. Alternatively, some parents find that their child will look straight at a baby rattle if it is rattled in their direction!

2. Make sure to pose in a spot which offers adequate natural lighting

Also, make sure to pose in a spot which offers adequate natural lighting. If in doubt, you can’t go wrong selecting to take your graduation photos with your baby in tow outside.

What to do with your baby’s graduation cap and gown:

1. Keep both items for their future graduation

You may want to keep both items for your child’s future high school or college graduation.

Hopefully, if you’re interested in acquiring a baby graduation cap and gown, you have all the information you need in order to make a wise decision!