Avoiding Foods While Breast Feeding

Many women find that they may eat whatever they may like during breast feeding.  Even though it’s true that some strongly flavored foods can change the taste of your milk, many babies seem to enjoy variety in the breast milk flavors. Occasionally, your baby may get cranky at the breast after you eat certain foods.  If you notice this happening, simply avoid that particular food.

The most common offenders for changing the breast milk flavor during breast feeding include chocolate, spices, citrus fruits, garlic, chili, lime, gassy vegetables, and fruits with laxative type effects, such as prunes and cherries.

Too much caffeine can interfere with your baby’s sleep, so you may want to limit your coffee intake to one or two cups a day.  Keep in mind, caffeine is found in many soda’s, tea, and even over the counter type medicine as well.

It’s okay to have an alcoholic beverage every now and then, although having more than one drink can increase your blood alcohol level, putting the alcohol into your breast milk. If you are planning on having more than one drink, it’s best to wait two hours or more per drink before you resume any type of nursing or breast feeding.  There is no need to pump and dump unless your breasts are full and its time to feed your baby.  While breast feeding, any type of heavy drinking should be avoided.

Before you actually omit any foods from your diet, you should talk to your doctor.  If you avoid certain foods you may cause a nutritional imbalance in your body; consulting with a nutritionist may be necessary to correct the imbalance with similar foods or nutritional supplements.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Breastfeeding and Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.