Foods Foods to Avoid While You’re Breastfeeding

As you can probably guess, the foods that you should avoid while breastfeeding will vary from mother to mother. This is one reason why you don’t see a lot of advice about this topic. However, there are some foods that you should avoid in any situation for the health of you and your baby. There are also some things that generally – though not always – cause problems, and you may want to avoid them as well just to be on the safe side.

First, you’ll need to watch your baby carefully when you breastfeed for any adverse reactions he may have to your breast milk. If he does have a bad reaction, don’t automatically assume that you won’t be able to breastfeed. Just be aware that your baby may not like, or may be allergic to, something in your diet. You’ll need to visit your pediatrician for advice in this case to make sure that any allergies are identified early on.

The most common foods to cause allergic reactions in breast milk are lactose from cow’s milk and peanuts. You can avoid peanuts easily enough if you don’t want to take the chance of your baby having that allergy. Calcium is important to your diet, however, so drink plenty of cow’s milk and other dairy products, unless your doctor informs you that you baby is lactose intolerant.

If your baby becomes fussy or gassy after feeding, you need to determine which food is causing that as well. Think about what you had to eat before that feeding and try to identify the offensive food. Don’t eat it for a few days and then try it again to test and see if that was what caused the problem. Once you identify a food that makes your baby fussy, avoid it at all costs. The most common foods that cause fussiness and gas post breastfeeding are spicy foods, citrus fruits, and chocolate.

Remember that everything you put into your body winds up in your breast milk. For this reason, there are several things that you should avoid having too much of. Sugar is one of those things. If you raise your blood sugar high enough, there can be an abundance of sugar in your milk which can cause insulin imbalances in your baby. This can cause problems later in both diet and health, and should be avoided. Some sweets are okay – just don’t overdo it.

In addition, a little bit of caffeine is okay, but too much caffeine can cause your baby to be just as wide awake and cranky as you are. You also should avoid having more than one alcoholic beverage, and even then only occasionally, otherwise alcohol will wind up in your milk. If you’re going to be in a situation where you want to have more than one drink, you need to make sure you have some milk pumped and ready to be bottle-fed, as you won’t be able to feed your baby again yourself for two hours per drink after you stop drinking alcohol. If your breasts fill before that time is up, you’ll need to pump the milk and discard it to avoid passing on any alcohol to your baby.