Nursng/Breastfeeding

It may not be the tomatoes. The dumbest thing I did was eat pasta with afredo. I request no shell fish. We found out that both my son and I allergic to shell fish that day. Many things can upset a babies stomach. Keep a food diary and she what she reacts to. There are many things such as you drinking milk, eating cheese, chocolate, peanuts, beard and many other things. Just try to find out which. Some one just told me a great website for all kinds of recipies and I cannot remember the name. Try lots of fruits and veggies and less animal and see if the baby does better. The website started with a z.

I've been nursing my daughter for 17 months and maybe I've just been lucky but I really don't think food bothers them like we think it does. She now has a very good appetite and will eat anything. Maybe it's just coincidence but when your one year old loves thai food, I think it has something to with already having tasted the flavor through breast milk. What has made you think that something is bothering your baby? Maybe you just have one of those babies who never seems to be content, mine was like that. Or maybe it's just a phase. It's so important to nurse your baby for as long as possible but don't stress yourself out about your diet.

http://www.kellymom.com/ is a great resource as well as La Leche League

I didn't really change my habits for nursing. At first I thought what I was eating was affecting my son (i have twins) but soon realized he had reflux issues. So it may be that or he is just colicky.

Good luck and congrats!

Well. My baby had gas, vomiting, rashes etc etc but we found out it was allergies. For us it was all dairy, egg, and soy. I would think that as long as you avoid tomatoe and heavy sauce (if its the last ingredient it probably won't do it if its just a gassy food). I used gas drops.I think there's a prescription you can use for babies with diagnosable issues such as gas reflux, GERD etc. OH. I'd avoid citrus, broccoli, beans, cabbage... the obvious gassy foods.

Usually once your baby is a bit older, they tolerate anything you eat. Mine could not handle when I ate onions, so I just avoided them for a month or two.

Generally, anything acidic will bother them, or anything that bothers you. It goes away in the first few months, though.

Breastfeeding babies are very gassy. They make gas you can hear from the other room. That's totally normal and you should NOT do anything for it. IF she is uncomfortable and bringing her knees up to her tummy, then you can give her some simethicone (not sure if that is the right name) gas drops. But otherwise, loud gas is TOTALLY normal and a good thing. The poops come out FAST and loud with breastfeeding, too. This is also totally normal.

I would recommend trying a challenge test. Eliminate all tomato from your diet very strictly for one week and see if her symptoms improve. If they do then try tomatoes again for a meal and see if that causes a change. If the symptoms don't improve during the week with no tomatoes then you know it is not the tomatoes.

You have to be very strict about everything else when you do this but it will tell you if the tomato is really bothering her or not. Most moms do not need to adjust their diet for nursing. In fact there was a study that found that babies actually prefer the breastmilk of moms who eat a lot of garlic- I guess they enjoy the flavor. Good luck and keep it up!

Try substituting olive oil & garlic flavoring for tomato sauce for your italian dishes -- though your little one might not appreciate the garlic, it's better for them than the acidity of tomato sauce. Or you can try plain butter noodles w/ some parmesan grated on top. Or you can make a bolognese sauce, which uses very little tomato. I know when I was breastfeeding, my little girl didn't much care for garlic flavor so I did cut down, and there were certain items that seemed to bug her more than others. You are smart to recognize this early on. Tomato sauce is so acidic, it turned one of my client's son's bum into a raging yeast infection from the constant diarreah he was getting (and yet the parents continued feeding him tomato sauce "because he loves it"...). Of course, he was actually eating the tomato sauce, not getting it thru b-milk, but nonetheless, it's good to be careful what we are putting in our own bodies for the sake of our wee ones. :) Good luck hon.

You can usually eat anything when you are nursing...the key is MODERATION...and not eating more than one serving. I know how hard that is, b/c I couldn't have hardly any garlic and I love to have garlic on almost everything. A nice thing is that this usually doesn't last more than a few months and you will be able to add more and more tomato based foods back into your diet as you baby gets older.

I didn't ever really change my diet while breastfeeding. Except that I noticed my son got very cranky after I ate cheap chinese food (but then, wouldn't you?) So I avoided that. As for things that are not tomato-based... (and I would try eliminating onion and garlic first)
- stir fry
- mexican - burritos, taco salad etc
- grilled stuff (burgers, corn, potatoes, kabobs etc)
- pasta salads
- falafel sandiwches
- indian food

As long as your baby isn't relaly cranky I would encourage you to eat a wide variety of foods. As another poster said, they all flavor your breastmilk and kids who are exposed to many flavors will be more likely to try and like them later in life. Good for you for breastfeeding!

The rule of thumb is whatever u ate when u pregnant didn't bother the baby it less likely it will bother them when there out. Have u changed ur diet recently different then when u were pregnant? I was worried about that too when I nursed my daughter but the doctor said they get use to whatever u eat when ur pregnant. Dark pop will do it or caffine coffee as well. If ur still concern any walgreen or health food store has humffers little pillets has chamolial tea in it that can relax his stomak or u can drink that tea or pepermint tea also may help

M.:

shy do you think that your food is upsetting your little one? everything you eat will flavor your breastmilk but should not upset your little one...

P., RLC, IBCLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
www.lactationsupportgroup.com

M.-
I'm no lactation expert like the last poster, but I can tell you that I ate everything -- even when my sister-in-law who has kids in their twenties and late teens told me not to because she said it would upset my son (times have changed). Garlic, spicy tomato sauce, hot salsa, you name it... I really don't think you need to change a thing (as long as you are getting a balanced diet). My son went through a spitting up stage, but I think it was more because he ate too much and didn't know when to quit. He outgrew it though. Good Luck!

Tomato sauce really upset my daughter when I ate it while I was breastfeeding. The first couple of times it happened I didn't think that was what caused it, but the third time convinced me. Everytime I had spaghetti sauce at dinner my daughter was up crying that night. So I cut out pizza, spaghetti, tomato soup, etc. I didn't cut tomatoes out of my diet completely. I would have a slice on a salad or a sandwich but just cut out the really potent stuff.

It is just trial and error. I cut out caffeine when I was pregnant and just kept it up until I finished nursing.

I also cut out Indian food, which is one of my favorites because I worried about the spiciness.

That was the only way I altered my diet. I tend to eat a lot of bland food anyway, a lot of chicken and rice and pot roast and potatoes.

Good Luck.

Hi M.,

The only thing I found that I had to change in my diet was having soy milk (!) I was told by my Ped that usually any food that upset my stomach would probably upset baby's too! One of the caregivers told me to illiminate beans from my diet as that could be causing my little one's stomach problem - and it never occurred to me that it was the soy milk I was having - yep, that's how tired I was!!! Once I eliminated that he was fine. (I had soy all during the time I was pregnant with him too).

Apart from that I eat exactly what I want and he is fine too :)

Good luck,
A..