Carbs , protein and Breastfeeding

[melsy]

Can they make a difference to yuor milk type ? Reading on kellymom it says a diet off mainly maize will give a different fat type to a diet of proteins like meat. Which is also confusing as was told it was carbs that made the milk more creamy ?

I didnt think diet could change yuor milk at all??????

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can you link to the article you have been reading...as, as far as i know diet doesn't really influence quantity and quailty that much

hm...this is one of the kellymom articles \link{http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-diet.html\link) and in this one it doesn't seem to imply that at all....it actually says that it doesn't make any difference to quality at all...just that mums even in underdevelloped countrys produce qualitative great milk...

Melsy,I think when you're breastfeeding you should just enjoy a wide range of thingsto eat without worrying too much.You have enough on your plate as it is.

I think I found the bit you are referring too...
link

But it doesn;t actually say if this is a good or bad thing for a Baby...also fat content will be different in 3. world countries anyway, due to mums being undernourished and therefore the normal feedingrythm is completely different to the one accepted, rightly or wrongly so, in the western world...i.e feeding frequency is much higher....
saying that, I have read some stuff how , in a perfect world, a bf mom should eat a healthy and preferable vegetarian diet that is organic, long before becoming pg, as that will ensure a lower toxin level, etc... but, most literature still comes to the conclusion that in most/any case bf is healthier then ff...

It's pretty well accepted that the type of fat in a mother's milk can change with her diet, but it doesn't make it better or worse.

Quality of breastmilk is not influenced by diet, and nor is quality (except in extreme situations of starvation).

Carbs won't make milk more creamy - the amount of cream ie fat in the milk is affected by the volume of milk in the breasts, not diet. Al explained well on kellymom

Thank you for the replies , Im not concerned for me as such.

I was more concerned that a mum at BF grp was told by an expert that she wasnt eating properly and thats why her baby was loosing wieght. She was told to eat more carbs (she is coleiac sp?), so has to be really careful. They said it would make her milk more like full fat milk rather than semi skimmed , I thought sitting there. I bet she went away that day thiking shed done so worng by her boy when may be she hadnt at all. I was thiking weres tik tok when shes needed to counter the expert info!!!!!

I did say I didnt think diet changed it , just feed more.

low carb diet and milk supply .

Could this be the reason may be , as she is coleac , then she probably doesnt have that much in the way of carbs through wheat/gluten etc. The only thing is that they addresed the whole group on this and shes is very specific in her needs.

I can't agree there is evidence that carbs affect the fat content of the milk, melsy, and yes, if I had been there I would have been very and probably asked what their evidence was!

I think the anecdotal evidence on kellymom is based on the experience of people on deliberately and crazily low carb diets, and even then it's just 'some' mothers, and even then it's quantity they felt was affected, not quality....the main reason for babies not gaining weight is that the baby is either not feeding effectively or not feeding often enough. I get a bit when I hear of mothers being told their diet is inadequate and to go home and change it - simply looking at the breastfeeding and how often it's done is far more likely to have an effect.

There's some speculation among US experts that very low carb diets - and maybe someone who has coeliac disease is on something similar, I don't know - might affect milk quantity, and for this reason, mothers are counselled not to start these diets until 2 months have passed. There's certainly no evidence that mothers in general need to up their carbs, though.