Jeani Read, The Province

It was three in the morning.

New mom Annemarie Tempelman-Kluit found herself wandering around the house, ravenously hungry, wondering if she could stand to eat another container of yogurt or another healthy cookie or bowl of cereal. Again.

“It’s awful!” she says. “People tell you a lot of stuff about having a baby, but nobody tells you what to do after you have the baby. Nobody told me I’d be that hungry, or that thirsty. You don’t realize how little time you’re going to have. I thought there had to be a better way.”

The lightbulb went on. She knew she wasn’t the only mom looking for answers, so she decided to write a breastfeeding manual. “I ended up going back to the bedroom, and I wrote up the proposal for the book in five minutes,” she says.

The concept for what is now Healthy Mum, Happy Baby: How to Feed Yourself When You’re Breastfeeding Your Baby may have come together instantly, but Tempelman-Kluit also ended up doing an incredible amount of research. She read a ton of books, interviewed consultants at local health units, talked to dietitians and pored over the websites of the Canadian Health Network, the Canadian Pediatric Society, Health Canada and lots more.

“All the information is out here,” she says. “But it’s in 50 different places. Who has time to do that?”

Tempelman-Kluit made time, and Healthy Mum, Happy Baby became a super-useful handbook. The first half is packed with tips of all kinds for keeping your sanity, as well as keeping your baby and yourself healthy, and the second half is healthy, easy recipes. (look at Eat Right During Pregnancy for more!)

Healthy Mum, Happy Baby is a hot shower gift and is also spinning off a career for Tempelman-Kluit in related websites.

Healthymumhappybaby.com updates the information in her book, and yoyomama.ca provides helpful, hip info, tips and guides to local events to smooth over the yo-yo bumps of early motherhood.

Here are the author’s Top 10 survival tips for new moms:

1. Don’t worry that you don’t have enough milk if your baby’s always hungry. Breast milk digests faster than formula. Even if the baby’s hungry, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your milk supply.

2. Don’t be obsessive about what you eat, or limit your intake. Have a glass of wine, a piece of chocolate, some spicy food — limiting yourself is not a good idea unless your baby reacts.

3. Fully empty your breast. The baby does need both the early, “flow” milk and the later, “hind” milk. They both have different nutrients and richness.

4. Trust your instincts. Look at your child instead of reading all those books. You’re building a relationship with your child at the same time as you’re breastfeeding, so it’s important to trust your instincts.

5. Remember to take care of yourself. You may think it’s all about the baby, but the best way to take care of the baby is to take care of yourself. You’re probably not getting enough sleep and you’re probably not hitting the gym or the spa, but at least you can control what you eat.

6. Ask for help, and accept it when it’s offered. “I let my sister-in-law clean my bathroom!” says Tempelman-Kluit, still sounding amazed. “I called people I barely knew, in tears!” There is no shame in this kind of thing, and nobody will think the worse of you, she says. People are happy to help.

7. Don’t believe people who tell you that if you start your baby on solid foods early it will help your baby sleep through the night. This is a prevalent piece of folklore, and a mistaken one, says Tempelman-Kluit. Babies’ digestive systems have to mature and they have to be able to sit up to swallow properly. “You’re so tired you’re willing to try anything, but don’t start your baby on solids for six months.”

8. Stay away from transfats. Avoid them as much as possible. What you eat doesn’t always go directly into your breast milk — the milk is composed of nutrients from your food plus what your own body provides. The only thing that comes directly from your diet is the fat, says Tempelman-Kluit. Transfats can decrease the overall fat content (which babies need) and inhibit the assimilation of essential fatty acids. It’s simplistic to say the (trans-fat-laden) dessert doughnut will cancel out the (healthy) piece of salmon, but that’s the idea.

9. Don’t use breastfeeding as birth control, says Tempelman-Kluit. It can be effective, but not always. Why risk it unless you’re ready or willing to have another child right away?

10. Lower your expectations. Sometimes it’s fine to eat the same meal three nights in a row. This is not the time to do gourmet cooking. Take it easy on yourself. Stare at the dust bunny. Don’t stress.

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