Do I Have to Change My Diet While Breastfeeding?

I don't know if this is still pertinent advice, but 30 years ago when I had my first child, the doctor told me to not eat chocolate, nuts, or shellfish when I was breast feeding!
M. D

I agree that it is more likely dairy or wheat. The spicy foods could be an issue as well. If you eliminate foods, you need to wait two weeks to really see if there is a difference, because it will take that long for the offending food to completely clear out of his system. I've had to go dairy free for all three of my kids while BFing, and it's not as hard as it sounds. Although I would not replace milk with soy!!! I use Almond milk instead. Good Luck!

I had the same issue when I breast fed my son. Major gas. And I always heard that if you breastfeed that it is supposed to make them LESS gassy. Not true in my case. Anyway, I took probiotics every day and that really helped. I don't know why it helped but when I started taking them, that is when the gas started going away. :) Hope it helps and congrats on your new little guy!

Hi Amy!

I didn't change my diet at all when I breastfed. (1st till 6 months, 2nd till 18 months.)

Our kids were BIG SPITTERS. I had to keep a bib on them pretty much at all times and keep spare outfits. It was probably from my diet. We eat salad EVERY DAY. I LOVE spicy mexican food. NO FAST FOOD! I drink milk every morning, etc etc.

What I did to help our kids out a little was take them to the chiropractor. The chiropractor also showed me where and how to massage the baby's tummy to help with digestion as well.

Stick to eating healthy and give the chiro a try.

I think you can easily give up spicy foods for a while - you might be surprised at how your taste buds become more sensitive and taste more subtle flavors again! :)

As far as leafy greens, perhaps making small salads twice a day would work better than 1 or 2 large salads. Everyone is different and we need to find what works for us.

Best wishes!

There is NO proof that what you eat matters in causing gas in your baby. Babies have gas because they are babies. This phase will likely pass. Doctors tell you to change your diet because a doctor will NEVER say "I don't know".

I second the Gripe Water advice. It is wonderful stuff that I wish I would've known about with my first 2 children. I have only found it locally at Walgreens stores and it is a bit pricey, but so worth it.

Also remember, new babies are just gassy. They are just using their digestive systems for the first time and they need to build up tolerance to things. All 3 of my little ones were like that the first 2 or 3 months and then it all calmed down.

I am a vegetarian so if I gave up green leafy veggies, I would be eating very little. :) Don't worry, this will pass. You are doing a great thing for your baby!

I agree with other posters - I don't think it's the food that's causing the gassiness. It doesn't make sense to me, at least as far as the vegetables go, since I think the gas WE experience is caused by the fibers and our adult bacterial gut flora (neither of which would be present in breast milk and babies). I think it's more likely due to forceful let-down and/or milk overproduction. I had both with my youngest, and it was the worst around 5-6 weeks. The milk production calmed down and he got big enough to handle it after that (I also did some things to help). Kellymom (kellymom.com) and LLL are both great resources.

Good luck... I had to limit dairy, give up spicy, and any gas inducing food while nursing my baby for 7 months. It was hard at first but just became second nature after a little bit. If I slipped up.. I paid for it with a very unhappy baby.

spicy foods would do it. how important is breastfeeding to you? how important is the comfort of your child? these are choices you have to make. i loved green peppers while i was pregnant, but the first time i ate them after my son was born, i KNEW i would have to lay off of them for a while.

the longer you breastfeed, the more flavors and foods you can introduce via breastmilk. so though you might have to cut out some spicy foods now, taht doesnt mean you cant add them in little by little over time, and get your child to be able to be used to them.

however, you do not need to have a bland diet.

fruits veggies in their natural states (its harvest time!!) are absolutly tasty! eliminate the spices at all at first, then start adding little bit by little bit. if it bothers baby again, back off a little, then move forward again. you can get to where you can eat whatever you want, but you are really going to have to decide what is important to you, and i hope breastfeeding and your child come first.

i dont know why the doc would say green leafy veggies are out. i know broccoli wouldnt be great... and green peppers. but spinach or salad... no problem

get ahold of someone near you who is involved in or leader of a la leche league group! they will have really good experienced information for you.

just have patience you know? its only for a little while. and chances are, adding it little by little you wont have any problem in a couple months. :)

i really honestly think its the spicy foods doing it, but theres a slight chance of a hindmilk imbalance. make sure that you nurse well on both sides, and massage the edges of your breasts; that means all the way up to your collarbone, and all the way under your armpit. this will help the more fatty hindmilk get released and let down during nursing. its also a big deal if you do any pumping, because a hindmilk imbalance can be pretty common with pumping, but you are a sah mom... so that shouldnt be something you are doing a whole lot of... but thought i could mention it anyway.

What I always told myself.....it is just a season and making sure your little one is breastfed and comfortable is more important than anything else. Eventually their little digestive systems will be able to handle stuff, but for now.....don't eat the stuff that makes them gassy.

You may want to try giving him a little bit of fennel tea. It is very commonly used in Europe against gas in babies, but in the US many people are opposed to giving anything other than breast milk to little babies. If you feel that way too, you can drink the tea yourself, so it goes to the breast milk. I actually did both, and it seemed to help with the gas. I was surprised that my baby seemed to enjoy the tea more than I did :-D
You can find organic fennel tea packets at Whole Foods. I am sure other health stores should have it too.

;

I have read that it doesn't matter what you eat as far as your baby having gas. It could be that he is sucking a bit of air while he is nursing...so after nursing 2 children (smallest is 5 mo.) I would NOT change my diet if I were you...in fact, I would continue to eat the leafy greens. The great vitamins go to the breastmilk. This is one of those times I WOULDNT listen to your doctor. Also, just make sure your baby is burping at least twice after each feeding. This will help get that air out the faster way! Also, your baby is a tiny, new one....their body is getting used to lots of things. I eat whatever I want and just make sure my baby burps a lot after eating....I rub his back lots and then pat it and use different positions to get the burps out. I also pass him off to my husband for that job! Good luck!

You could keep a food journal and see what really sets him off. My oldest was fine with whatever I ate, but my youngest couldn't handle anything tomato, which meant no spaghetti, no tomato's on salads or sandwiches, and no pizza, etc. When he was about 3mos old, I added some things back in and he did just fine.

Babies systems are so immature, and there are certain thins that they can't handle, which is why breastfeeding is best, his body is able to use what it needs and discard the rest, its meant for his body, and his body can naturally sort through the milk. His system will take a couple months to mature, so if you have to cut out leafy greens or extreme spices, it will only be for a short time, then you can gradually add them back in

How are his poops? With an exclusively breastfed baby, they should be yellow and seedy, like dijon mustard. That is how you know he is getting the right amount of hindmilk to grow. If his poops are green, mucousy, and stringy (like wet lettuce almost) he's not getting enough hind milk, and that will cause MAJOR gas and fussy baby, as his body can't suffice and grow on just fore milk, which is like water to quench thirst. Babies need the hind milk, which is full of fat, and also full of everything he needs to stay full longer and grow. Nurse him on one breast only per feeding, no switch hitting. One breast only per feeding ,and then use the other breast for the next nursing session, and soon. I used a stretchy bracelet to remind me of which breast to use at the next feeding, just switching it from wrist to wrist after a feed.

Also, if you have a forceful letdown (milk spraying out, he's dribbling it out his mouth, can't keep up, gulping, you can HEAR the milk spraying out, etc) then that will cause major gas as well. You may have to unlatch him while your milk sprays out during letdown. When it slows or stops, then re latch him to nurse. This allows the milk out but doesn't stimulate your body with suckling, so it tells your body to slow the letdown down alot.

So I would try only using one breast per feeding and watching your letdown for a few days before cutting out any foods. I'm willing to bet that doing these two things alone (one breast per feeding only and allowing the letdown to spray into a towel or cup instead of your baby nursing during it) will help his gas tremendously.

And too remember that his body is learning how to live outside your womb, and it takes time for it to adjust to everything. My boys were both gassy for a few months, then seemed to outgrow it.

I think it's truly up to you. You seem not-so-inclined to give those things up, so perhaps the gassiness is not so bad? My babies both got gassy after hugely garlic meals, but I love garlic, so I did not give it up and it sure didn't last long. I think babies seem to be susceptible to what you eat when they're very little, but that seems to go away soon. They say babies learn to eat diverse foods based on what they taste in breastmilk, and I would think leafy greens would be a great thing to expose baby to. Anyway--for what it's worth, my babies outgrew, very quickly, gassiness based on foods. I did not alter my diet at all (I'm a very light drinker and had like 3 half-drinks when I was nursing...they slept well those nights!) and my "babies" are healthy, smart, and burp well...of course, they're 2 and 5 now, but anyway--they turned out fine! If it's bugging you a lot, changing your diet is maybe worth a shot, but there is proof it doesn't matter, too.

try gripe water, it seems to work better than gas drops.

If you ate the foods while you were pregnant then it shouldn't be a problem while you are breastfeeding. Did you do any food changes? If so start with eliminating one change at a time to see if it helps. Some babies are just naturally more gassy than others. Pressing the baby's knees in toward the tummy helped for one of my girls. The gas does go away as they mature a little.

Amy,
I too would be hesitant to cut out veggies, they are a huge source of nutrients. Wheat and dairy are more likely the culprit. I would try an elimination diet first to see what you're baby is responding to. If you need help, let me know. I'm a nurse and lifestyle educator, I help people with nutrition and lifestyle programs to help them with weight loss, chronic illness, food sensitivities and addressing disorders like ADD/ADHD nayurally through diet. My website is www.justonebite.net

I would GUESS that your problem is more likely to be a very active let down than something you're eating (it's impossible to tell over the internet, so LLL woud be a GREAT idea, you can find a meeting by going to http://www.llli.org/WebUS.html and picking you state) and if it IS something you're eating it's more likely to be dairy than veggies.....

And spicy never bothered my son (although he's probably not a good example, NOTHING ever bothered him) and now at 20 months he likes his food WAY spicier than I like mine! (My brother gave him a taste of some Firehouse snack mix, thinking he was being mean-- the joke was on him, Isaac ate his whole bag of it!)

Keep in mind that there are tons of vegetables other than leafy green ones! Explore your grocery store or, better yet, head to the farmer's market and try some new stuff. There's also old favorites of mine like squash, zuchini, carrots, etc. Also, fruit is good for you and shouln't cause any trouble for breastfeeding.

First of all, you're only 5 weeks postpartum - it took 9 months to put the weight on. You should only be concerned about losing the weight faster if you're going to be on a New York runway any time soon. :) Take it easy - don't worry about the weight, it will start to come off by itself, you can go on a 'diet' after baby has started table foods.

Second - you're not destined to a diet that you can't taste. Right now, you're still establishing your milk supply, so bump up on the fats (good fats!) and calcium. For spicy foods, maybe just dial it down a bit. Your babe does get a taste through your milk, so letting babe experience the different flavors now will help give him/ her a wide palate when older. And maybe dial down the greenies as well, just for a bit, until babe's digestive is a bit more mature. Around 3 months, when they start drooling, is when digestion starts kicking in and the stomach starts making bile. Babies start creating more saliva to coat the esophagus and help neutralize bile - helping baby get ready for table foods. Sorry for the tangent. Hope this helps!

My middle child was very gassy and fussy. He was on Zantac, which helped a lot but the problem didn't really go away until he was about 7 months old and eating regular food in addition. We have come to find out that he is allergic to nuts and sunflower seeds and I have this incredible guilt that even though I ate healthy for the most part, I was craving Nestle's peanut butter treasures and ate them like crazy for the first year of his life. Poor thing. He was probably allergic back then and I caused his problem! :(

I guess you could cut out some of that stuff for a week and see if there's any improvement? Ever since my last pregnancy I have found that I can no longer eat broccoli without horrible stomach cramps. Disappointing, as I love it. But I know how bad it feels to have those gas pains, and your baby will appreciate everything you do to help him out.

Hi Amy,

Try having lots of dill weed in your food. It will be incorporated into your breastmilk and will help the baby with the gas.

Traditionally in my country we give babies dill weed extract and that always helps, but since yours is spitting so much, another way to introduce it into his system would be through your breastmilk.

What we do is put lots of fresh dill weed into anything - soups, mixes with mayo into sandwiches, salads etc.

Wish you luck :)

I had the same problem and the only way I found to remedy it was to cut back to a very simple plain diet for like a week. Then slowly add new foods to see what it was that was aggravating my little guy's tummy. It turned out to be diary and tomatoes. BTW the he is fine with diary now (18 mo) and still doesn't like tomatoes.