Question: Is a special diet necessary for the lactating mother? Is there anything particularly harmful?
It is not necessary for a lactating mother to have a special diet. An ordinary, middle-class vegetarian meal with the daily consumption of 3 glasses of milk is good for the health of both, the feeding mother and her sucking infant. Various communities all over the world are rife with superstitions and beliefs regarding food requirements of delivery and breast feeding — avoid sour food, take less ghee, take more ghee, avoid cold drinks and many others. Certain substances in the mother’s diet enter the milk and thereby reach the child’s stomach. Keeping this in mind, it is beneficial to take dill seeds, bishopweed seeds, garlic and dry ginger over and above regular meals. These, indirectly exert a good influence on the child as well.
Any food which causes indigestion and gas or does not suit the mother’s system may, similarly affect the child and, cause diarrhea, stomach ache, cold and other ailments.
In short, a routine, square meal with fair amounts of pulses and vegetables, in addition to adequate consumption of milk ensure proper lactation and prevents weakness. It is the practice in many families to give porridge, gruel and similar preparations to the feeding mother. It’s fine to take these if possible. Remember, any medicine taken is going to reach the child in greater or lesser proportion and should not be taken without medical advice.

Pregnancy often brings on a multitude of sleep disturbances including nausea, heartburn, restless leg syndrome, and snoring. These sometimes unavoidable problems may be aggravated by bad sleeping habits that you established before you were pregnant.
During the initial three months of your pregnancy you are likely to feel surprisingly drained and fatigued. During this time your sleep-inducing hormone progesterone starts surging through your body. You may notice that you need more rest during the day and more sleep during the night. This is due to the new demands pregnancy is making on your system. Your body is trying to cope with the dramatic changes in the hormone levels. During the second trimester, your body will get more used to the changes.
In the third trimester, again, particularly from about six weeks before your baby is born, you will feel quite exhausted and will feel the need for more rest, although your physical strength might have increased progressively, remember that your baby is now becoming heavier, it is growing and developing all the time, and its movements are more noticeable now. That is the reason for feeling fatigued as also the need for additional hours of rest and sleep.