Overview It's important to keep track of your diet, but when you're breastfeeding, paying extra attention to your diet can ensure you and your baby get all the nutrition you need. Sodium, or salt, can have a great impact on your health, but it does not affect your breast milk, according to "The Journal of Nutrition." Low-sodium Diet You may follow a low-sodium diet for a variety of reasons -- from hypertension to kidney complications. Getting too much sodium in your diet can cause your body to retain more fluids, since salt attracts water, and cause you to urinate more frequently. When your body stores too much salt, it causes your heart to work harder. Most doctors recommend that you consume 1 tsp. or less of sodium each day. Breast Milk The Department of Nutrition at the University of California performed a controlled study feeding exclusively breastfeeding mothers specific amounts of sodium for lunch on different afternoons. The breastfeeding women consumed a low-sodium lunch of 130 mg one day, and then a high-sodium meal for lunch -- which contained 2175 mg of sodium -- on a different day. The breast milk was collected from subjects every 15 minutes for approximately two hours after each of these different lunches on different days. All the samples were tested to see how the low- and high-sodium diets affected the milk. The results showed that no matter how little or how much sodium was consumed, it did not affect breast milk. Breastfeeding While you may be on a low-sodium diet, you must ensure that you get plenty of nutrients from your diet. You can accomplish this by eating a wide variety of various foods, including fresh fruits and vegetables. Even though sodium does not appear to affect breast milk, your milk supply relies on nutrition and hydration. Malnourishment and dehydration can affect your milk supply. Considerations As long as you're consuming a healthy diet, you can breastfeed while you're following a low-sodium diet. It is important to get enough sodium in your diet to help you maintain the right amount of fluids in your body, however -- especially since dehydration can affect your breast milk. Sodium also helps your nerves transmit impulses and helps your muscles contract and relax. Source: livestrong.com