Does diet affect quality of breastmilk?

[Ginni]

Just curious and a tad confused as most of what i've read on the internet suggests it doesn't. However, I came across this book today in a public library (not my library so was unable to take it out)www.amazon.co.uk/New-Breastfeeding-Diet-Plan-Breakthrough/dp/0071461604/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&q id=1241816482&sr=8-3 . I didn't have much time to browse as dd needed my attention, but it did mention that mothers intake of omega3 during pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding will affect the levels in her milk and it suggested that higher levels were likely to be more beneficial for baby. It also discussed how vitamin and mineral deficients in mother could lead to deficiencies in baby eg vitamin D and calcium (rickets) and also how toxins from foods eaten by mother are removed via breastmilk direct into baby. I really do find this fascinating and am planning on getting hold of a copy to learn more (i'm almost 5 months into breastfeeding my dd). It did cite research but of course I don't know how robust this might be.

I'm posting as i'm curious how much other mumsnetters know about this area and if others are supplimenting/ taking extra care of diet with quality of breastmilk in mind?

that pic was on the telegraph article referred to by kat earlier today.

no you don't need anything else to make milk. you need to keep your own strength up but that's it.

"Why not do your best to offer your nursling premium dairy before he's weaned?"

I spotted this sentence in the first chapter and that would make me put the book down!!

Dairy indeed.

I hate this kind of 'plan'.

It gives credibility to the myth that BF is something only well-off women with time to make smoothies and inclination to eat mackarel can do.

I mean yeah, if you are actually suffering starvation your milk is likely to be affected, but really, its not something to worry about.

I mean what do these peope suggest women who eat a sub-optimal diet with little hope of changing it do exactly - formula feed? But cows only eat grass - how can their milk be any good? Oh... so maternal diet isn't the be-all and end-all then

Healthy diet is great. But generally, BM is BM.

NO.

Farking BFing myths

Diet does not affect breastmilk, but if a mother has an awful diet it will affect maternal health. The mother has to be close to stravation before it affects supply.

"...formula may be a more reliable source of nutrition than the breastmilk of a woamn who isnt eating very well."

Wank

When I was breastfeeding I was paranoid about this sort of things. I kept expecting someone to say "Malfoy, you musn't breastfeed when you have a diet of coffee, biscuits and coke (drink, not drugs)".

Here, someone else can pick apart the farking thing

.....but my babies did well.

Babies in Africe start starving/become malnourished when they are weaned, not usually before (unless, as pointed out above, mother is really starving herself ) - one of many reasons why formula marketing in developing countries is truely truely cynical and evil.
Eat, drink and be merry - and do not worry about it too much: stress really not good for milk let-down !!

mawbroon - I think it referred to premium dairy as being premium quality breastmilk, as opposed to breastmilk lacking in certain vitamins and minerals?

I really, really dislike this sort of anxiety-making stuff.

It's a horrible sort of pathologising of a normal, physiological function and a normal, physiological relationship between a mother and her baby and her body.

It's a ridiculous twisting of science and discovery, and it's done with everything that science reveals about breastfeeding and breastmilk (not that I am against scientific discovery...far from it).

But when the let-down was discovered, what happened? Women were told it might not work if they were stressed. Ditto when they discovered that milk did not always have the same fat content - wooooooooh....babies might not 'reach the hindmilk' or help, they might get 'foremilk-hindmilk imbalance'.

Now we discover all sorts of brilliant stuff in breastmilk and we get to worry we are not producing enough of it, or that it's contaminated in some way.

And what do we have to do to fix it? Tie ourselves in knots before, during and after pregnancy to detoxify and to increase our intake of whatever it is we might not have enough of....and if we don't, it'll be our fault if our babies get rickets.

Bollocks with bells on

@ tiktok. Now breathe....

Hear, hear! Well said!

Wish I had known any of this/had had the confidence to tell everybody to fark off where to go, when the going got tough when Bfing DS1.

Ginni, yes it probably did, but I don't think that comparisons with cows are terribly nice whatever context they use it in!

So no one's inclined to start taking a daily dose of cod liver oil and calcium tablets then just in case?

yes i was told by a friend the reason why i did not produce enough milk is that i was not eating right or drinking enough fluid. my goodness all this to think about where you are trying to look after a newborn, i did not care much for myself all my efforts were for my baby. i was also told i dont know if true that baby only got the foremilk, not hindmilk.

This is interesting because I've been wondering two things - firstly, DH is very keen for me to take vegetarian omega 3 oils because they are supposed to be very good for baby's brain development and as a vegetarian I don't get many in my diet naturally, as it were. Does this mean that's redundant or can it still benefit DD?

Secondly, I keep being told (cos DD has bad trapped wind at the moment) that what I eat can make her wind worse. I don't see how this works - If i eat beans it's not like my bm suddenly has little "bean molecules" in it - isn't this just a myth??

Does anyone know..?

this book would suggest if you eat vegetarian omega 3 oils then this will pass through into your milk and there would be some benefit to baby - there is a link to the first few pages of the book which talks about this. I don't see how it can hurt - I was taking Pregnacare plus omega three capsules during pregnancy and still take cod liver oil now for the same reasons your dh wants you too. I also started taking a calcium and vitamin D tablet after reading a noticeboard in the hospital about rickets being on the increase and seeing it recommend this for breastfeeding women - my diet is fairly low in calcium and omega 3 generally too. It's certainly strengthening my nails so even if it's not increasing the quality of my breastmilk for dd then I seem to be benefiting.

I am also curious about which components of food pass into milk to make baby windy and if there has been any research on this...anyone?

Sorry I thought the amazon link showed you the pages about omega 3 in the mothers diet but it doesn't unfortunately.

All I eat is cake and have stopped taking the omega 3 I consumed in pregnancy. DD is doing fine on my breast milk but I sometimes feel that I should eat better. Can't resist the cake though!

I think that all of the goodness in your diet is first sucked out of your body by the baby in utero and then through breast milk so having a good diet is probably good for maternal health. By good diet I mean one with lots of stuff in it rather than a cake free one. My baby is aneamic so I do worry that I need more iron in my diet.