Does cutting out chocolate make a difference? Please say no...

[iamaLeafontheWind]

Not had much chocolate this week & DD (12 wks) seems calmer & happier in the evenings. I'm really hoping it's just coincidence as chocolate is my favourite thing, anyone else got any experience on this?

It can be a cause of colic I'm afraid!! Try reintroducing a bit and see what the next feed brings! It may just be a coincidence (fingers crossed!!!)

I hate to say it but cutting out chocolate helped me with DD's colic. Mind you, I also cut out eggs and dairy at the same time as I was desperate to sort out the colic and it seemed to work. I was so relieved that I could sleep again that I did not reintroduce any of them for over two months.... Sorry. You have my sympathy. I did eight weeks without chocolate. It was not nice. You will survive though. After a certain point, sleep beats chocolate hands down.

Dammit, the chocolate was helping with the feeling grotty from no sleep and i don't eat much dairy anyway. Do Crunchie's count as chocolate?

I have never heard of a link between choc and colic myself - though I suppose in individual cases some babies might be sensitive to anything. I am sceptical, in fact...to be sure one way or the other you would have to have no choc at all, and not 'not much'.

Kathryn, where have you come across it as a cause of colic??? Not disbelieving it, or anything, just a bit puzzled!

Tiktok - one of the breastfeeding leaflets I picked up over here (Luxembourg) mentions that chocolate and coffee can sometimes cause problems. That's why I cut chocolate out along with eggs and dairy. Personally I think it was the eggs in my case as DD went on to have an egg allergy; I'll see if I can dig out the leaflet for you and see what reasons / citations they give (if any).

Last thing you need when breastfeeding is the feeling that you have to deprive yourself, especially after months of it.

Eat, drink and be merry (within reason) I say.
I had hellishly colicky baby and nice food and good wine stopped me going completely mental.

just co incidence. 12 weeks is the typical age for colic to improve.

don't give up chocolate!

throughly second what moondog says (glad to see you're still aroung moondog!) I gave up alcohol and coffee when dd1 was born, and it didn't stop her from being the most colicky baby ever! I ate and drank whatever I wanted for dd2 and she had no colic. Neither does ds aged 1 month, so again I'm eating and drinking whatever I like.

Hi Belgo
Oh yes, still very much here.

Thaks, broguemum....it would seem that it was eggs in your case, wouldn't it, and you cut out the choc unnecessarily

Public/government leaflets on breastfeeding and diet may not be evidence-based, unforch, and before officials give out general advice, it would be better if they knew they were on solid ground. I think they should reference the leaflets and if something is anecdotal or hearsay, then it should be stated that it is.

My main moan about stuff like this - choc can cause colic, don't eat onions, broccoli's bad for wind etc etc - is that it makes breastfeeding sound difficult and challenging. Well, as we know, breastfeeding can be difficult and challenging, but we shouldn't be inventing or exaggerrating new challenges

If a dietary connection is suspected, then the only way to test it is to be scrupulous about removing the item and then recording symptoms, and then to reintroduce it and watch for symptoms recurring. You prob wouldn't reintroduce it if you were sure the baby's symptoms had gone, of course.

Kathryn - interested to see where you have read that chocolate is a cause of colic...is there some research on this?

Well, in my case the chocolate was with the eggs... I had this real thing for mousse au chocolate - you know the ones that cote d'or make? Lovely but perhaps three a day exceeds the daily recommended dose for anyone.

Tiktok, I've tried to find the leaflet / phamplet thing but I can't - it was called Stillen A bis Z (Breastfeeding A to Z) and I did find it really useful and am sure they mentioned chocolate as it was a real road to Damascus moment for me at a v. bleak time. I've looked at some of the other pamphlets I've got and they all mention caffeine as perhaps a bad plan and citrus as a possible irritant. However, there are no references. Not much help I know but if I do find the leaflet or remember to pick another one up when I go back to see the doctor and remember to check it I will post again.

Ds is quite happy most of the time, think chocolate might make a bit grumpy, but I LIKE chocolate and curry and that, and the odd coke... One of the reasons I am bf because of convenience so can't be faffed trying to cut out x, y, z. Maybe would be different if he was screamy, colicky baby I suppose. I switched to decaff tea in first few weeks and I think that maybe did make a difference though

Ate and drank everything including mountains of chocolate with both DCs. Neither was colicky.
A friend who read every book and bit of literature going ate only organic veg etc and had a horrendously colicky baby....

Agree with moondog and tik tok....
Everything improves after 12 weeks

My DS has really terrible colic, he used to scream blue murder after just a couple of mouthfulls of milk nearly every feed.

I had all sorts of advice over changing my diet. but nothing I ate/drank made any difference, and it was just as bad on formula as on breastmilk, so obviously had nothing to do with my diet.

Unfortunately everyone kept saying it would improve after 12 weeks, but actually went on till approx 20 weeks.
It will last as long as it lasts.

sorry to sound negative but on the plus side, I would keep eating chocolate, you need to keep your mental state healthy

I wonder if one eats the same sorts of things in pregnancy and b/fing, there isn't such a reaction?

Whilst pregnant, I ate loads of chillis, and neither DD nor DS ever reacted while being breastfed.

TBH, would be very surprised if chocolate was the cause of colic...

Cheers for the advice, had screaming DD again last night so back on the chocs today! It makes the evening easier to bear, I don't think she's read the bit in the book about stopping now she's 12 weeks.

can you get dairy free chocolate?

I know you don't want to hear this, but, yes, it made a huge difference to ds2. In our case I think it was the caffeine, as it didn't seem to make much difference whether I ate Cheap'n'Nasty, Dairy Milk, or Lindt 70%.

Of course, it could just be coincidence - many colicky babies settle down at about 3m. But you could test it by going strictly caffeine-free (not just chocolate, but also tea, coffee, cola etc) for a couple of weeks, then indulging in chocolate for a day or two. You'll ssoon know!

I find that I can allow myself a square or two of Lindt 70% a day without problems, but not more or we both regret it.

Actually, that ought really to be a . Thanks, PrettyTealight!

I may not have the self-control for myself, but it's different if I have to do it for the baby.

So now I've got to lose chocs, coffee and cola? Oh dear god Though that probably means that I'm having way too much caffeine. Too much sugar isn't bad for babies, is it?

LOL I eat chocolate, drink strong coffee, scoff tons of garlic, chilli and curry and yet both my little monkeys are unaffected. Start as you mean to go on I say I ate this stuff in pregnancy so they are used to it!