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Healthy diet
Being a parent is exhausting and it's easy to find that you have no time or energy to cook or eat properly. But eating well doesn't need to take lots of time or effort.

Try to make eating well a priority. It will make you feel better and healthy eating is important for the whole family. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet that includes at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Here are some healthy time-saving tips for new parents:

• Cook more than you need and freeze a couple of extra portions for another day.
• Tinned and frozen fruit and vegetables are quick to prepare and count towards your five portions a day.
• If friends or family are keen to help, take up their offer of a healthy home-cooked dinner once in a while.
• Choose vegetables that can be eaten raw, for example carrots and celery. Snack on these between meals if you get peckish.
• Steamers are a healthy and quick way to cook vegetables, meat and fish. Its worth spending a little on a good steamer which will really save you time and effort while preparing healthy snack for you and eventually for your baby too.

If you think you need to lose weight, talk to your doctor. Cut down on fat and sugar, but don’t go on a crash diet. Regular small meals will keep up your energy without adding to your weight.

Breastfeeding and diet
If you're breastfeeding and you’re a healthy weight for your height, you don't need to eat a special diet. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, drink plenty of fluids (ideally water) and get lots of rest.

See Useful links for more information on breastfeeding.

If you're breastfeeding and you're overweight, the best way to lose weight healthily is by eating a healthy, well-balanced diet and taking regular moderate exercise (such as a brisk walk for 30 minutes every other day). This will not affect the quality or quantity of your milk.

Physical activity
When you’re feeling tired, being active or taking more exercise may seem like the last thing you need, but activity can relax you, help your body recover after childbirth, keep you fit or improve your fitness, and make you feel better and more energetic. The following suggestions may help:

• Keep up your postnatal exercises. They’ll strengthen vital muscles and improve your shape. (See Your body after childbirth in Useful links for practical information on some important exercises.)
• Join a postnatal exercise class. It may help to be with other new mums. Find out if your local maternity unit has a class run by an obstetric physiotherapist, or ask your health visitor about local classes. If you’re going to a class that isn't a special postnatal class, tell the person running the class if you’ve had a baby in the last few months. You’ll need to take special care of your back and avoid exercises that could damage it.
• Push the pram or buggy briskly, remembering to keep your back straight. Walking is great exercise so try to get out as much as you can.
• Play energetic games with older children. You can exercise by running about with them. Find outdoor space if there’s no space at home.
• Run upstairs. You probably go up and down the stairs several times a day so think of it as good exercise!
• Squat down to pick things up from the floor, and hold heavy objects close to your body. This is also something you’re likely to be doing a lot. If you squat rather than stooping, with your knees bent and your back straight, you’ll strengthen your thigh muscles and avoid damaging your back.
• Swimming is good exercise and is relaxing too. If you take your child with you, try to have someone else there too so that you get a chance to swim.
• Borrow or buy an exercise DVD. This is a good way to work out at home. You could get a friend or your children to join in.