Breastfeeding: What Not to Eat?

I breastfed my 1st for 13 months and my twins for 12 months. I didn't change my diet, and we had no problems at all. I ate a variety of foods and generally tried to eat well. I do LOVE spicy food, too, and I didn't stop eating it or experience any problems. My pediatrician, lactation consultant, and LaLeche friends never commented on my diet while breastfeeding other than to pay attention to my babies!

Sigh . . . yet again a medical professional getting breastfeeding information WRONG. Drives me crazy . . . THIS is why I started the Cape Cod Breastfeeding Moms club!

Eat whatever you want. Eating shellfish and peanuts has no weight on your child developing an allergy to either. Think about it - if this was true then evolution would have picked off anyone with a shellfish or peanut allergy long ago! I live on Cape Cod and love shellfish - ate it while pregnant and while nursing. I also am a full blow peanut-butter addict and ate tons of it. If anything, doing so allows your child's immune system to adjust to the proteins in each through your milk in super small quantities and therefore lessens their chance for an allergy. The breast is an amazing filtration system and incredibly complex.

There is a definite rise in allergies, but most doctors point to our toxic earth and chemicals, not booby-juice. Breastfed babies have a lower risks of allergies and diseases BECAUSE they get their immunity from mom (just like vaccines).

I would tell your pediatrician you would like to see their lactation consultant certificate. Bet you a million bucks they don't have one! I bet they can't even name the structures of the breasts of a lactating mother!

Good job nursing!!!
:)

Your pediatrician is definitely the best person to ask (breastmilk affects the baby, not the mother, so your pediatrician should advise on the baby's well-being), but I believe the information you received with your first child is out of date (especially if they're older than 2 years).

The guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics changed in 2008 regarding food allergies. Currently, the statement reads that babies shouldn't be exposed to foods if they are a choking hazard (not an issue here) or if there is a known family food allergy.

The current thought is that the longer the child is not exposed to a food, the more likely the body will react with an allergy.

Here's what their parenting website says about your nutrition while breastfeeding: http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/b...

There's much more on their site, if you enter "Breastfeeding" into the search field, you'll be able to find more information if interested.

Never heard that one. My kid is in for it bad because i eat a half pb&j about every other day because i end up running out of time to make myself something to eat. the lactation consultant told me to avoid sushi. alcohol is another avoid item and that is really the only i am aware of. la leche league is a great resource for questions about breastfeeding

I read about it too. None of our health care providers told us I had to skip the Skippy. :) Also, my mother didn't restrict her diet. I have no food allergies.

With the seafood, it's not so much allergies as mercury that I'd worry about. Just to be safe, I avoid large fish like tuna steaks and sharks. I was told tilapia and light tuna are okay.

Anyway, so far I eat peanut butter and seafood and my baby has never had any problems. I try to vary my diet so he gets used to the tastes. But no strong spicy flavors.

I never heard anything about foods to avoid while breastfeeding. I would ask your OB/GYN if s/he has ever heard of that.

If you have a history of allergies in your family then maybe you want to limit your exposure to these and I thought it was during pregnancy that you should aviod shellfish. But that being said food allergies run high in my family and I didn't avoid anything. My daughter was breastfed for 17mo and she has shown no signs of allergies to anything.

I would say to stick with your veggies,fruits,pizza,(light on the sauce) yogurt, meats being chicken, beef. Dairy products (cheese,ice cream) Fish is good as well. Just don't get into the more seasoned stuff such as peppers',chili powder,garlic etc. as it could get into the breastmilk and upset the little one's tummy. Good luck and congratulations!!

I was going to tell you exactly what Dana said. They have been trying to figure out what the deal is with the increase in food allergies, and for a while they were saying to delay exposure to foods. That advice has been retracted and they actually think it may be the opposite. Other countries that have diets very high in typical allergen foods that give them to their very young babies do not have the allergy issues that we have here. My son was born shortly before they changed the guidelines and when we were starting solids I did a lot of reading on it. I tend to agree that delaying is unnecessary. I did not avoid any food at all, and we have had no issues with allergies. I ate peanut butter throughout my pregnancy and breastfeeding and gave it to my son around a year, I ate shellfish and everything else, spicy, dairy, everything. Unless your child shows a sensitivity, they are saying you do not need to avoid anything at all now while breastfeeding. Some things I read said that babies exposed throughout pregnancy and breastmilk to a wide variety of foods and spices actually eat them easier when it you introduce them to the babies. So enjoy your fresh seafood! I wish we could get it here. :)

Anything in moderation is ok, if you notice your baby gets particularly fussy you might want to think about what you ate and see if the next time when you eat it that happens again...it is all about baby and they are all individuals.
I could eat spicy food or pizza or broccoli anything really and the only person who seemed to suffer was me with occassional heart burn= ) Good luck!

My midwife and lactation consultant specifically told me to eat anything that sounded good and was reasonably healthy without a bit of worry (they said even a little beer or wine was absolutely nothing to worry about). I think the thinking in long run a happy moms nurse for longer than ones that are confined to strict diets...and for me no peanut butter would be the worst! I also at a ton of spicy foods--I don't know if really matters, but my son has LOVED spicy foods from the time he started tasting solids!

I think it is recommended to avoid those things if you have a family history of allergies to a certain type of food like peanuts or shellfish but if you don't have those in your family history there is no reason to avoid them. I exclusively breastfed both my kids till 16 months and 20 months and have done lots of reading on the subject. Also, I was able to eat anything I wanted and it never bothered my kids.