Foods To Avoid While Breastfeeding

For nine months, you battled your way through temptation and exercised strict discipline and self control over what you eat so that you can keep baby growing safe and healthy (oh the battle! oh, how I missed Sushi while I was pregnant!).

Of course, now that baby is finally here, so it’s normal to wonder if there are foods to avoid while nursing. After all, what a mamma eats can make its way through to breast milk and into baby’s system. But here’s the good news: You don't have to really avoid anything while breastfeeding. (Yes! You can now eat sushi, but be aware of portion control!) 

There are Two things to look out for:

Food passing into Breast milk

Sometimes eating certain foods while breastfeeding can cause some gas discomfort, or even expose certain dangers to our wee bubs.

Foods that reduce Breast milk Supply

sometimes too much of a good thing can be detrimental to your and reduce it supply.

So! We've come up with a list of Foods that a nursing mamma can look out for while Breastfeeding:

CAFFEINE

If you need a jolt after all those late nights you’ve been spending with baby, here’s the good news: You can drink coffee! As long as you limit your caffeine intake to no more than three cups each day. Just be aware that when caffeine enters your bloodstream, a small amount can be passed along to your baby through breast milk.

PEPPERMINT, PARSLEY, AND SAGE 

These three herbs are what’s known as antigalactagogues, meaning that in high doses they’ve been known to decrease breast milk production. 

ALCOHOL

After nine months of no drinking, you’d probably like to have a beer or glass of wine - and that’s totally fine. But keep in mind that alcohol can pass through breast milk into baby’s system, so remember to keep limits to 1 drink only and wait 2 -3 hours before nursing. Or pump and dump to be safe! 

FOODS THAT CAUSE ALLERGENS

Gluten, Eggs, Dairy, Soy, Nuts. All of these are allergen causing foods. When a breastfed baby has a food sensitivity or allergy, whatever mamma eats can make their way through breast milk into baby’s digestive system where they irritate the lining of baby’s gut and cause pain. It may be too early to take a allergen test so rule of thumb is if mamma has a allergy to these foods, best to avoid it while baby is still young.