Are you sure you can eat that if you’re breastfeeding?
When a new mother decides to breastfeed her baby, she is often immediately bombarded with advice from a variety of sources. Her neighbors, her sisters, even the gal sitting next to her in the doctor’s office waiting room all seem compelled to offer some tidbit of information or to share their own sagas of breastfeeding with her to guide her way. She is then charged with the task of sifting through this multitude of news clips to determine which are valuable and which can be disregarded as “old wives’ tales.” One area that seems most confusing is the issue of mom’s diet while breastfeeding. She will hear that she can’t have broccoli, onions, or cauliflower, but she should eat plenty of vegetables. She will hear that spicy foods will make her baby fussy, but she should eat a good variety of foods. She may hear one mom say she needs to drink milk to make milk, but another will tell her that dairy causes babies to get stomach cramps. It can be mind-boggling.
The good news is that research has shown that breast milk is consistently a quality product, even if mom sometimes fails to have perfect nutrition. The mother’s body tends to withdraw from its own storage to meet the baby’s needs. It has been estimated that there are around 500 calories per day diverted to breast milk production, but research now suggests that mothers do not necessarily have to increase their dietary intakes by 500 calories per day to compensate for this. They just have to fortify their body’s with energy-rich foods to stay healthy. In other words, there is a need to eat well, but not necessarily to eat more. Continuing on prenatal vitamins while nursing the baby is advised to help mom sustain a healthy base while the breast milk production continually pulls from her body’s stores.
As to the question of avoiding things like beans, or broccoli, or spices, the truth is that there is no evidence that these foods cause all babies to react. Sensitivities would be different for each individual baby, as they would be for the rest of the population. Dairy products, for some, will cause gastric distress in the baby, but certainly not for all. If there is a known family allergy to something like peanuts, it would be wise for mom to avoid peanut products while nursing the baby, to reduce his exposure. However, if there is no family history of a problem, there really is no reason to avoid any particular food. People of all cultures breastfeed their babies, and their diets are quite different from one another, yet breastfed babies thrive equally well in all regions. It turns out that strong foods like garlic or onion do flavor the milk a bit, but research suggests that babies tend to become more accepting of food variation from this, and may be less picky eaters as children. The current advice, then, is for moms to enjoy an unrestricted diet, with a colorful variety of foods, unless a problem comes up. If it does, a lactation consultant can help determine whether a food, or something completely unrelated, is causing the issue. Call Tess Johnson Lactation Services at 905-6635 for more information!
Toni Danielson, ad agency working mom of a big brown-eyed little man, wife to an amazing husband, Digital Media Lover. Blogger. Infographic-obsessed. Expat. Happy Hour Mom. BBall Wife. Not all in that order. Join me in my journey to become the ultimate Happy Hour Mom!
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