question about breastfeeding?

Question

i am a breastfeeding mother I breastfeed my daughter that was 5 yrs ago and i have a son now. what are the best things to eat and drink besides milk, water, tuna, and peanut butter. I already have a healthy diet i would just like to eat more of the foods that help my milk. i have plent of milk over plenty but i just would like to hear from other mothers there ideas.

Answer 1

Your milk will pretty much be the same no matter what you eat. The key is really a well balanced diet. You will read a lot about certain herbs and things which supposedly help, but the truth is that your body will make the milk the same (for the most part). Make sure you have balance in your diet, and continue to take your prenatal vitamins!

Answer 2

I guess I'm echoing the other answers - no matter what you eat your body will produce stellar milk.

I'm nursing my son, he's three months, and have found that milk upsets him. So, I've had to lay off the cows milk and am using the Silk soy milk in plain or vanilla - vanilla tastes like ice cream I think. I guess this isn't surprising because I've always loved soy milk and drank it regularly instead of cows milk even while pg.

Also see if you can't avoid the canned or processed tuna. Fresh/frozen tuna is okay in moderation. The mercury levels are kinda high so be careful.

Any fruits and veggies you eat while give your baby a taste via your milk. So, essentially your forming his eating habits now. I have stopped the whole junk food thing. And, don't stock my pantry with snacks or sweets. I snack on fresh veggies and fruits. Be sure you are getting enough vitamins - when in doubt I reach for the green. Spinach is good as well as broccoli my favorite.

Peanut butter is great - I use all natural freshly made peanut butter. My local whole foods store has their own that is made fresh daily. I eat with a whole grain bread - four or more grams of fiber. You can eat anything you want - but you are his first taste of food...and he's developing his eating habits now...so just keep that in mind.

Be careful for gass inducing foods. Cabbage, califlower, green and red peppers...my son also has problems every time I eat shrimp -- so I just don't eat it that often anymore. Indian food will also upset him, so I just make it at home less spicy (since my hubby is Indian can't avoid that one). And, I also make homeade Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese foods. I just watch how much spice and soy/tamari/fish sauce I use. Usually water it down with water...and I've had absolutely no complaints from him. The key is moderation.

If you want to boost your supply the best advice I can give it to nurse more often. I noticed the more I nursed the better my supply got. And, the less problems I had with nursing. I'd also have to agree with the others that said drink lots of water. It helps when your properly hydrated.

Just eat as healthy as you possibly can and you should be fine!

Answer 3

My answer echos that of the others- eat plenty of fruit, vegetables, water, whole grains and proteins. Its true that Tuna is a good source for your Omega-3's which helps your baby's brain development but it does have heavy metals such as mercury which can transfer through your milk to your baby. Flaxseed Oil (make sure you get the oil with the Lignins, Barleens is a good brand) and nuts are two good alternatives for your Omega-3 intake.
Things to watch out for when breastfeeding that might upset your little guy are:
Dairy products- cow's milk, cheese, sour cream etc. Yogurt and cottage cheese are processed differently so may not be a problem unless your baby has a very sensitive stomach.
Caffeine – coffee, tea, soda
Soy products
Peanuts
Shellfish
Chocolate (sorry!)
Citrus fruits- orange juice included
Wheat
Nuts
Corn
Prenatal vitamins (The iron may be irritating to baby. Ask your OB for an alternative if you find your baby fussing after feedings.)
And the big No-No Gassy vegetables:
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Onions
Green peppers
Tomatoes

The trick to keeping your milk production up is to eat reasonable portions of food throughout the day (i.e. 4-6 times a day instead of 3 big meals), drink lots of water (at least 10- 8oz glasses instead of the typical 8), regular feedings 8-12 times a day depending on your neborn (less often as your baby gets older and eats solids) and finally get as much sleep as you can! I know this last one is a joke when you have a newborn, but try to get any amount of sleep when you can.

Congratulations on your new addition!

Answer 4

I looked for information such as this when I started breastfeeding my daughter as well. I looked and looked and found pretty much nothing. Milk isn't necessarily something you need to drink to produce more milk because...well....think of it this way : every other mammal mother produces milk. But only humans drink the milk of another species! I don't drink milk at all and I've always had more than enough milk.

Tuna, as well, is questionable since many farmed and wild-caught fish carry very high levels of heavy metals which can carry through to your milk. (heavy metals can build up in your system and cause other chronic conditions that are hard to trace back to them).

I remember being told to avoid broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and spicy foods. I did for a while, then I ate them and had no problems! Except raw cabbage, I can't stand it anyway and have heard some real horror stories about moms eating coleslaw and their baby screaming for 12 hours nonstop.

The best thing you can do for your son is to eat as many whole foods as you can, so that your milk is as nutritious as possible. Lots of green leafy vegetables and other fresh fruits and veggies. Congrats!

Answer 5

When you say help your milk I don't know if you mean supply or quality. What you eat actually has very little impact on the nutritonal content of your milk, but it will have an impact on you. If your diet is not nutrious your body will actually take minerals vitamins from your bones etc. to produce milk so it is in your best interest to eat a well balanced diet. You also have to be careful about consuming things that are known to enter your blood supply and be excreted in breast milk such as some herbal supplements.

If your question is about increasing milk supply, the herb fenugreek works well.

Answer 6

I found the best foods for me, when I was nursing, were whole foods: period. (Fruits, vegetables, whole grains.) As a child grows we feed them these things in any event (check the Baby Food Ilse in your local grocery store) and it is also proven that these are the best foods for the human body in general, even the changes in the food pyramid reflect this. I must say though, that I believe ALL foods, whether they are healthy or unhealthy, "help your milk" but what has to be determined is their overall effect on your growing infant. Not everyone can afford to eat healthily nevertheless you must eat. Poor food choices will not "stop your milk" from flowing but they will affect the overall health of your child, their bone, cell and teeth, etc. development. I have found that those foods that were more predominant in my diet when I breast-fed, are the foods my kids now eat the most of today. So eat healthy for your kids overall health. They will thank you for it later (and you won't have to end up on the TV show "Honey, We're Killing the Kids". One final comment: WATER. Drink lots and lots of it, this will definitely help your milk flow. Drink it whilst you're nursing as well, it makes a difference.

Answer 7

I see people telling you not to eat tuna, which according to WIC (women, infants, and children) a division of social services that helps pregnant women and new mothers get the proper nutrition that they need to support their bodies while pregnant and also helps with nutrition guidelines for breastfeeding, newborns and young children to age five, you should eat just watch how much and what kind because the canned is higher in mercury.The only other things that they suggest that you could possiblely add to your diet are eggs, cheese and carrots. Otherwise it looks as if your diet pretty much contains already what they reccomend a breastfeeding mother to consume.

Answer 8

You need to eat a variety of foods not just tuna. Fish have a high trace of mercury..be careful ( one to two servings of fish a week max). I was loosing weight like crazy when nursing and my doctor advised me to drink whey protein(from a nutrition store) with milk once a day to help keep the milk up for the baby. Also most teas are bad for nursing... it can actually dry you up.

Answer 9

The only thing I can really add is be careful how much tuna you eat. Tuna carries some off the highest levels of mercury in it. Especially canned. Metals play an important role in human biology, and trace amounts of some metals -- manganese, for example -- are essential to life. At higher concentrations, however, these same metals are toxic. In addition, some metals -- lead, for example -- do not occur naturally in the body, and their presence, usually as a result of occupational or pollution-related exposure, is detrimental to health. A number of potentially toxic metals have been reported in breast milk, including lead, mercury and cadmium. Unlike the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), metals do not accumulate in fat, and so do not usually achieve higher concentrations in breast milk than in blood. As a result, infants are likely to be exposed to higher levels before birth than during breastfeeding. Nonetheless, learning about metals in breast milk is important for two reasons: first, as a pathway of exposure, and second, as an indicator of likely prenatal exposures.

Answer 10

Here's the deal. No matter what you eat your baby is going to get what he needs. That's the amazing thing about the breast. It will not let your child go malnourished and so many women need to learn to trust their bodies. The only thing you can change about your breastmilk is the fat content. You eat more fat and your milk will be more fatty, less fat and your milk will be less fatty. As long as your baby is gaining weight and growing properly you don't even need to worry about that. It sounds like your diet is just fine.