Breastfeeding - myths of limiting your diet

[ShirleyPhallus]

I came across this chart which led me to this webpage on what to eat while breastfeeding, but more to what to avoid. It recommends such a lot of shit, including sticking to only plain water, not eating most green vegetables, limiting wheat etc.

I can’t believe this misinformation is still being pedalled like this. Women should be supported in breastfeeding and not told to totally limit their diet unnecessarily!

here’s the link (albeit not a medical one but lots of similar info out there!) www.dianabakerphotography.com/breastfeeding-what-not-to-eat

So much rubbish generally around babies and birth. I would like to see better nhs guidance- more actual science and evidence from midwives and less of this nonsense.

Nevertheless it did cause issues for DD when I ate windy foods. You weren't there, so please stop dismissing my ecxperiences

experienes

I am not dismissing your experience - it’s hard when your baby is unsettled but I I am dismissing the reason you attributed to it. I wouldn’t bother if it didn’t matter more generally but while mums of small babies seek to understand their babies and how breastfeeding works then they shouldn’t be given inaccurate and unscientific information. Our own understanding of all sorts of things he can be wrong and looking at science and bigger data sets is more meaningful.

I can spell experiences

but I I am dismissing the reason you attributed to it.

Well, I would rather you didn't because DD was unsettled every single time when I fed her after eating windy foods, so please stop it.

What counts as a windy food?

You can spell experiences and I don’t drink bears.

Can we agree that the research says that it is vanishingly rare for any vegetables to cause any problems for women breastfeeding although some individuals may have different experiences?

Anyway off to football now so you are free of my pedantry. Farewell

That is not particularly helpful.
My DD had cow milk (and other) allergies and she reacted through my milk. I know lots of other breastfeeding women who had to give things up for their allergic children. But even so, some GPs and other medical professionals still dispute that it can even happen. Because of studies like this. (There are other studies which show allergens persist in milk for up to 24 hours after the mother eats them). It makes getting a diagnosis and support very difficult. Thankfully I had a competent GP and dietitian and allergist for my DD.

It's hard to argue with when you follow an elimination diet and your babies symptoms clear up, then within hours of you eating something by accident they are projectile vomiting and covered in hives.

In my case it was peppers, baked beans, other pulses and Brussels sprouts. I could eat spicy foods, not windy foods.

The only things I didn’t touch were caffeine & alcohol.

I ate a good balanced diet (same as always) which included spices, garlic and ‘gassy’ vegetables. No issues.

When we started weaning her, she particularly liked broccoli, cauliflowers, peppers and my pasta sauce which had garlic and onions in it. She liked curry too, with the mild spices. She still loves them to this day!

I bf dd till age 2.9 (she recently turned 3) & she fortunately has no allergy issues.

Really no need to avoid alcohol either

I enjoyed a small glass of wine while I was feeding DD.

I was told to avoid dairy whilst breastfeeding so not to induce a dairy allergy! In reality, drinking milk boosted my supply and really helped maintain the feeding.

i think it’s personal to you and your child, so maybe a bit of trial and error. Chilli (like in hot and sour soup) gave my son terrible colic. I switched to chicken and sweetcorn soup when we had a takeaway and everyone was much happier!

Up the cream cakes if anything. Breastfeeding left me pale, depleted and underweight. Felt like a new woman when I stopped.

I hadn’t heard any of this before, not mentioned with DS1 but health visitor this time said to avoid onions, leeks and garlic when I saw her at 4 weeks. I’d barely eaten any hot meals that didn’t contain one of those things, all seemed fine and haven’t changed a thing. Is it some sort of conspiracy to get women not to eat delicious foods?!

Also as far as I understand very small amounts of alcohol are transferred in breastmilk and you’d need to be way over the drink driving limit to cause any sedation in baby and the bigger safety concern with alcohol would be not adhering to safe sleep guidelines after drinking.

How weird. I was told to eat extra garlic, spice, broccoli, spinach etc because it gives the milk an interesting tang and would encourage my reluctant dd to drink more.

I had to give up alcohol, dairy, soya and chilli when my ds was born though as he was intolerant to those 😭😭

I had a baby with CMPA and other allergies although was weaning off breastfeeding by diagnosis so didn't have to edit my diet, although it did naturally change when he went on an exclusion diet and I later realised that I have ovelapping tolerance issues.

Some babies are sensitive/ allergic to their mother's diet but that shouldn't be the default starting point for breast feeding. A default, restricted approach is not going to encourage mothers to try prolonged breastfeeding and there's already more than enough moralising and guilt over pregnancy/ motherhood. It also won't help pinpoint any issues that do arise. A varied diet is healthy and for the majority of babies, positive for them to experience.

Catofthe land - flavour compounds do come through - it’s true babies like the flavour:)

I came to the conclusion all the dietary restriction ideas were mysogynist bollocks. Blame the mother if the baby is unsettled. Blame her milk. My DD had awful colic for a month or so and it suddenly resolved without me making any changes whatsoever. If I’d been trying to cut things out of my diet I’d have attributed the crying to whatever food I most recently gave up eating. Obviously there are exceptions for highly allergic babies

Nonsense- yes highly flavoured foods may affect breastmilk flavour, just as they affect the taste of amniotic fluid for the foetus. In no way does this affect the baby, rather it serves to prepare them for the family diet. For a very small percentage of babies, usually where there’s already a history of family allergy, exposure to certain proteins via breastmilk may trigger allergic reaction. Obviously in this case the mother will subsequently alter her diet. The infographic is completely misleading and unhelpful. You are conflating flavour and allergenicity.

I ate everything and anything when DD was first born, but in my case she was very unsettled when I ate "windy" foods, so it wasn't nonsense for us, so I had to avoid certain foods when she was tiny in order for both of us to get some sleep.

She is now 22, and just about the only things she doesn't eat is meat and fish.

Has anyone read the rest of the article? What is that about the heavily aged hallucinogenic cheeses????

I know!! Guess she’s referring to the fact that those cheeses have higher amounts of tyramine, which can be associated with having nightmares. Again, no evidence that this has any ill effect in breastfed babies.

and @RampantIvy you knew your babies best, not nonsense at all to avoid foods you thought affected them but I do feel it’s nonsense to give blanket advice to all breastfeeding mothers to avoid certain foods, as in this article.

but I do feel it’s nonsense to give blanket advice to all breastfeeding mothers to avoid certain foods, as in this article.

I don't disagree with this at all, but I resent being told that eating windy foods didn't affect DD, because it did.

Dont know if it was coincidence or cause, but I drank alcohol twice when bf DS1, and had horrific nights with him both times, so stayed tea total after that with him and DS2.
Even tho DS1 was sensitive to cows milk, I was fine with butter, cheese and milk chocolate. Wasn't fussed about omitting the rest of the dairy aisle, so never tested it further.

Eat what you want would be my suggestion when breastfeeding.