Effects of my diet on bf newborn?

[Coffeeandafag]

My baby is 3 weeks. She's been a fairly typical, uncomplicated newborn until last night when she had diahrrea (if a bf baby can have that!) - very frequent dirty nappies, unpleasant smell and very unhappy baby. She's continued like this today but is certainly improving though her tummy is noisy and she's farting/crying quite a bit.

Last night I had a spicy lentil curry. Could this be the cause? What other foods should I be careful about?

Hi there, sorry to hear your little one is out of sorts. The most important thing would be to make sure she's not dehydrated from having diarrhoea as that can happen quite quickly and be a serious thing for a young baby, then you should seek medical advice. Also check she doesn't have a fever. Sorry if you know all that. As far as I know, spices and "gassy" foods like lentils could upset the baby. Other symptoms such as a rash could indicate some kind of food intolerance. There is so much conflicting advice about what to avoid / not to avoid that it can become quite confusing, even a quick google comes up with lots if different opinions. I'm currently breastfeeding number 4 and I just try to keep my diet quite bland and uncomplicated. DC3 had skittery nappies every time I ate tuna so I just cut it out. Sometimes it can be down to coincidence and just the baby's immature digestive system playing up. Definitely have a word with your health visitor as a lot of what you'll find online regarding foods to avoid is inaccurate. Meantime you could try pedalling her legs and a warm bath to help with the gas. Hope it clears up soon.

Thank you. She seems a bit better now, just up for her second feed, still a bit unhappy though. Hv is popping in tomorrow (today!) so I'll see what she says.

I'd be quite sad to be on a bland diet while breastfeeding especially as I intend to let ds self wean which happened to my previous dc around 2. I'd hope to be able to live life to the full - when your bf and tied to a baby most of the time I'd think it's be tough for most people to also have a bland and plain diet . I get the feeling nature didn't intend for bf women to be deprived of tasty food anyway so I'd just eat what I liked - they soon grow out of wind anyway!
What I did find really helpful to keep wind at bay was drinking plenty of fennel tea and ajwain tea ( buy the herb from most Asian grocers , boil and drink )!