A vegetarian diet that contains some animal derived food, such as milk, milk derivatives, or eggs is usually complete. Women who don’t eat meat, but consume dairy or eggs usually do not have problems breastfeeding. When a diet does not contain any of these foods (such as in the case of vegan and some macrobiotic diets), a mother needs to sure to include vitamin B12 into her diet in some way. Many vegetarians use a supplement for their vitamin B12 intake.

Vegetarian mothers have been found to consume less calcium and vitamin D than other mothers, but this does not affect the levels in their milk.

Research has shown that milk produced by vegetarian women has lower levels of environmental contaminants (such as PCBs) than that of other women. These substances are stored principally in the fatty tissues of the body, and vegetarian diets tend to contain less fats than diets with more animal products.

THE BREASTFEEDING ANSWER BOOK. Schaumburg, IL: LLLI, 2003; 444-445