I have a 2 week old baby and I am breastfeeding.?

Question

I was wondering if anyone would know of a website that could tell you about food that you should avoid while breastfeeding. I have apparently been eating foods that are gasey on her tummy and feel horrible. Please help!

Answer 1

Department of Health & Human Services has a hot line for breastfeeding mothers. A lactation consultant can answer this questions better. Because a lot of things people tell you might not be true.

Here is the number: 1-800-994-9662

Hope this helps. Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

I find personally that a lot of the things people will tell you about gassy foods affecting breastfed babies don't affect my own baby. I eat broccoli, cauliflower, TONS of legumes (I'm vegeterian) and haven't had a problem. The only thing I would avoid is raw cabbage. I have a friend who ate a tiny little bit of coleslaw and her baby screamed for 12 hours that night.

I often use Dr Jack Newman's website (he's a pediatrician in ontario who specializes and works exclusively with breastfeeding mothers and babies) as a reference for any breastfeeding questoins. Here's what I came up with (it's among a list of 'breastfeeding myths')

A breastfeeding mother has to be obsessive about what she eats. Not true! A breastfeeding mother should try to eat a balanced diet, but neither needs to eat any special foods nor avoid certain foods. A breastfeeding mother does not need to drink milk in order to make milk. A breastfeeding mother does not need to avoid spicy foods, garlic, cabbage or alcohol. A breastfeeding mother should eat a normal healthful diet. Although there are situations when something the mother eats may affect the baby, this is unusual. Most commonly, "colic", "gassiness" and crying can be improved by changing breastfeeding techniques, rather than changing the mother's diet. (Handout #2 Colic in the Breastfed Baby).

Answer 3

You can look at the La Leche League Web site. Most women can eat whatever they want, but *if* you notice your baby reacting to something you are eating, it is almost always dairy. Eliminate all cows milk products (including "hidden dairy"--foods with whey, casein, and any ingredient with "lact" in it), as well as sheep and goat milk from your diet for at least 2 weeks. You will probably notice a big diference. (If not, the cause probably *wasn't* an allergy.)

Other common allergens are soy, wheat, egg, and peanuts (if you live in the US or either parent is American). Less common but still pretty likely are citrus and berries, corn, tomatoes, chocolate, fish, and pork. A baby can be allergic to *anything*, but it is almost never beans (except for soy), or vegetables such as broccoli. It is hte carbohydrate in those foods that makes some adults gassy, and it is the *protein* that can pass into your milk and cause problems for the baby. Again, the most likely *by far* is dairy.

Research has shown that garlic in the mother's diet is *good* for babies; it does not cause problems. Mexicans and Indians eat spicy foods, and they nurse their babies. These are *not* often problematic for the baby (although it *does* flavor the milk--it actually works to get baby used to the family's typical diet).

Part of the problem with identifying allergens is that a baby can react to foods anywhere between 30 minutes and 24 hours after you first eat it. If you notice that your baby is gassy 2 hours after you eat any soy, and develops a rash 8 hours after you drink milk, you can be pretty sure there are allergies. But it's hard to notice this without keeping a food diary (you write down *every bite* of food you eat, and baby's possible allergic reactions for a week--then you compare and try to find patterns).

Caffeine will *sometimes* cause wakefulness in a baby, but usually only if you drink more than 3-5 cups of coffee (or equivalent) a day. It will not cause gassiness, though. And moderate drinking is not a problem. If you smoke, cutting down is a good idea, but it's healthier to nurse than to not nurse if you do smoke. Your baby is *not* lactose intolerant. An infant *cannot* have this condition; it usually only develops in early adulthood, but *never* before age 3-4. Your milk has lots of lactose; it is *good* for babies!! Fried foods are also not a problem...not unless you are serving your baby fried milk! :-) Neither are carbonated beverages, unless your blood is carbonated from drinking them (or else how would the bubbles get into your milk?). Some things *can't* pass through your milk; use some common sense...

For more information, please read _Is This Your Child?_ by Doris Rapp. It is an excellent resource on allergies in children.

Answer 4

pumping and nursing will both irritate the nipple, perchance attempt hand expressing some milk in the previous he latches on, so he gained't could suck as not straight forward to stimulate let down. attempt nursing in a diverse position so that you may diminish the stress on the sore spot. aspect mendacity, football carry, although feels maximum appropriate. Germany is an quite international usa, you may the the health center lactation nurse, as there's a probability that she would talk English, or a minimum of have a translator who can help. even only a actual demonstration of a thanks to achieve a competent latch is better appropriate than no help in any respect! save the nipple sparkling, prepare the breast cream after each and each feeding and save it dry. in case you're having problems with leaking breasts then replace pads frequently, do not let them get saturated. the hardest time is merely about over, breastfeeding receives a lot less demanding after the first 3-4 weeks!

Answer 5

I too am breastfeeding my 5 1/2 week old and she also is very gassy, some babies just have weak stomaches as I learned with my 21/2 yr old who couldn't handle anything and still can't. If you can't figuer out what is bothering your lil one try using Humphrey's #3 ask your pharmasists, it helps relieve gas in babies and is completely medicine free, I am using it now with the drs approval and my daughter is doing alot better.
Foods I noticed that really got her and i aviod are...spices, spicey, lettace, vineager, salad dressing, bacon, greasey anything, apples, caffine, chocolate, anything carbonated, sausage, ketchup bbq sc, tomato sc....by the time I eliminate all this stuff I have nothing left to eat lol that's why i use the Humpfreys it's easier. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Needless to say, you will need to eat healthy and drink lots of fluids.... specially water and milk. Avoiding alcohol and smoking is a must...

As to the question of food making your baby gassy...Spicy or gas-producing foods are common in the diets of many cultures, and these kinds of foods do not bother most babies. A few babies will develop gas or act colicky when their mothers eat certain foods. However, there are no certain foods that create problems for all babies. Unless you notice that your baby reacts within six hours every time you eat a certain food, there is no need to avoid any particular foods.

Answer 7

Sometimes it just depends on the baby. Different baby... different reactions. Both of my girls were not affected by anything I ate. However, my friend couldn't eat chocolate or onions or her baby reacted terribly!

You know your baby. If she has a reaction after you eat something, then eliminate it from your diet (i.e. fried, greasy food)

Check out the LaLeche League website... they might have some great information about this.

Answer 8

Don't eat onions, garlic, oranges and stuff like that. Your baby might also have a lactose intolerance, try to cut the milk products you're eating. Try to make her burp as much as possible, I don't know how much she's eating at a time, but take some break now and then. It'l help.

Answer 9

Try to avoid foods that are gas forming to you. Such as cabbage, apples, pinto or white beans; just look up gas forming foods on the net. Also if you eat something real strong tasting, it can go through your milk and make it taste bad to your baby. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

Try :

www.babycenter.com

It has a lot of inf not only about breast feeding. You can also go to :

www.lalecheleague.org

It really makes a bid difference in you baby what you eat, try to avoid caffeine it will keep you and you little one awake and spicy food will make him have stomachache.