‘Eating for two’, a mantra so often repeated during the pregnancy, should be continued through breastfeeding because breastfeeding drains many nutrients from mothers’ bodies. Studies have shown, in particular, that breastfeeding mothers’ bone calcium and mineral levels (bone mineral density) can decline dramatically, increasing their risk of osteomalacia (rickets) in the short term, and of osteoporosis in later life.

Maintaining an adequate level of vitamin D3 is particularly important. The body cannot absorb calcium from food without it. Whereas an adult can remain in reasonable health on 1,000iu of vitamin D3 a day (national Departments of Health say 200iu a day), research [1] has suggested that breastfeeding mothers probably need 4,000iu a day to maintain their vitamin D levels. This is twenty times what the UK and US Departments of Health currently recommend, and almost twice the maximum level the US Department of Health agrees is safe.

The study’s conclusion confirmed the advice given by Professor Robert Heaney* and his colleagues at Creighton University Medical Center (US) that 4,000iu a day was safe. It also found that supplementation with 3,600iu a day dramatically reduced the decline in the mother’s bone mineral density, previously considered by the medical establishment to be an unfortunate, but inevitable, result of breastfeeding.

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* a world-renowned expert on calcium and vitamin D