Foods to Avoid While Nursing

remember whatever makes you gassy will make the baby gassy. Everything you eat passes through your breast milk. I had to stay away from very acidic foods (tomato based products and citrus) Broccoli and cabbage, spicy foods. Another friend had a problem with whey and dairy. It's hard to pinpoint it exactly until you keep the log. I realized that spaghetti really upset all three of mine. Good luck stick with the nursing you will miss is once it's gone.

BROCCOLI!!!! I couldn't figure out why my son didn't sleep at all during the night after I ate it. I wouldn't even chance it.

Just my personal experience, but if I ate french fries or chocolate, it gave gases to my baby. Sometimes it's a matter of trial and error since each baby can react differently.

I also noticed my baby reacting to certain foods - milk and tomato-based products. She never seemed to be able to tolerate those two foods as long as I nursed and even now at 20 months, she seems to have a food sensitivity whenever she herself eats tomato-based products and she won't even touch milk. So I don't know when their digestive systems develop more - I think it all depends on the particular food and the individual child.

What I did, is I would make sure there was at least a couple of hours in between eating the offending foods and nursing - I say a couple of hours bc that's how long they always said to wait after having alcohol so I just applied it to food as well. I'm not sure how long it really takes to metabolize and get in the milk, that was just the time period that worked for me.

Just as for adults and older children, some babies are just more sensitive to others. It also has to do with how "leaky" the mom's gut is in terms of the amount of proteins and other substances from the food end up in the milk supply. Whoever said food doesn't impact breastmilk is wrong. I've talked to several knowledgeable doctors about this and the mother's diet does impact the breastmilk. Why on earth else would medications and alcohol?

Anyways, dairy is the most common culprit. The others seem to depend upon the mother. My youngest couldn't tolerate me eating any fruit with small seeds or pulp - thus no berries or orange juice. Also, broccoli. I couldn't personally tolerate beans, but those are another common culprit.

Another often hidden issue is the mother's intolerance to gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley and oats). That's often the reason the mother will have a leaky gut.

I will note that if dairy is the culprit, the child may well never be able to tolerate dairy - neither of my kids could and it really doesn't have to do with "growing out of it" as human bodies aren't designed to digest cow's milk.

I nursed all three of my kids and I noticed that after eating certain foods it made them extremely fussy. When I noticed it, I kept a log of the foods so I would not eat them the entire time I nursed. Even pumped milk affected them after I ate the foods. Just my opinion....to be safe I would avoid the foods all together till your done nursing or get some tummy medicine for the baby.

When I was nursing, if I ate any kinds of beans, or foods with beans in it, or drank anything with caffine in it, my son got extremely fussy. My lactation consultant told me that what I eat does effect my breast milk, so just watch what you eat. Some babies are just more tolerant than others. Don't eat broccoli, onions, or spices for a bit and see if the fussiness subsides. If it doesn't, then you can rule out the food being the cause and look for something else.

Hope this helps!