Despite the fact that doctors recommend to eat only balanced and varied food while you breastfeed, but surprisingly your breast milk can meet all nutritional needs for your baby’s health even without consuming healthy products. When a mother won’t eat perfectly she might hurt herself more than her child. However, if she starts to skip meals in order to come back to her pre-pregnancy shape as soon as possible, then she will probebly lose her milk supply.
Know your body
Different mothers have different body reaction on certain foods and drinks. One mother can eat a few snickers a day and nothing will happen neither to her nor to her child. In contrast, another breastfeeding woman will eat just a small piece of a cake and her child might not feel good after that. Therefore, if you notice that after certain food or drink your child gets fussier than usual just try not to eat that for a while to check whether your suspicions are correct. That way you can eliminate slowly that type of food which definitely won’t affect you anyway.
What kinds of food should be limited while breastfeeding
Doctors and lactation consultants warn that some foods more likely to form gassiness in you and, therefore, in your child’s tummy more easily than others which may cause your baby’s colic. They say that such foods include cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, brussels sprouts, collards, mustard seed, arugula, and cabbage) and legumes (soy beans, peas, peanuts, and beans). Foods that are high in acidity might also irritate the infant (citrus fruits and juices, strawberries and tomatoes). In addition, dairy products such as cow milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, etc. might cause intolerance in infants as well. However, it doesn’t necessary mean that in order to avoid or reduce babies colic mothers should eliminate all of the foods mentioned above. These are just a potential list of foods that doctors say might cause forming gas in mothers and then pass to their children through the milk resulting in babies’ tummy discomfort. Breastfeeding mothers need just to figure out what kinds of foods are good for them and which not (if any) because your baby’s wellbeing depends not only on your food choices but also on your metabolism and your activity level.
Plan you meals
If you do breastfeeding your child will not eat anything but your milk for at least the first six months of life. Therefore, you don’t need to worry about your baby’s diet just yet. You need to concentrate on your food choices instead which can help you to feel good and be healthy not only for yourself but for your child as well. It will not be easy to accomplish that due to the lack of time since you will be tied from taking care about your newborn 24/7. However, maybe on weekends you can make a big list of not only what you going to buy, but also what you are going to cook in order to have all needed ingredients for your recipes. Then when someone from your family will be home and can sit for a while with your child you might go to a store and buy all necessary things for the week.
Medical Disclaimer
The author is not a doctor and the information in the article is general in nature with no medical advises given or imply. Talk to your doctor, nurse or medical advisor how to treat health related problems.