Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 9/13/2004

Question
what is the best diet while breastfeeding?  I'm constipated and my 3 wk-old is very gassy and grunts as if she is hurting or has an uncomfortable tummy. I have 2 1/2 yr-old that I breastfed for 14 months and did not have this problem, so I want to change my diet to see if that helps some.  

Answer
Dear Lydia,

First, congratulations for giving your children the best start in life by breastfeeding them!

As far as your diet is concerned, I wouldn't make any radical changes yet. Speak to your own doctor about your constipation. Generally, fruits & vegetables rich in fiber are good for getting things going, so maybe add more of them to your diet. Also, it's good to drink several glasses of water a day. And to do some moderate exercise.

Your baby is still very young and is still adjusting to the outside world -- her system may straighten out on her own. If you have not already spoken to her doctor about her discomfort, however, you should give him/her a call.

I devote almost an entire chapter to diet in THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING (Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books), which is available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters. Meanwhile, I'll just append a short excerpt below, which may be helpful.

Good luck!

Sally Wendkos Olds
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SHOULD YOU AVOID ANY FOODS WHILE YOU'RE NURSING?
If you have no food allergies yourself, most of the foods you eat won't cause problems for your baby. Some foods eaten by a nursing mother do, however, seem to affect her baby adversely.
  Cow's milk is an offender for some women. Some nursing babies who have shown symptoms of colic (more about colic in Chapter 10) experienced fewer symptoms when their mothers stopped drinking cow's milk or eating cow's milk products for a while. The same kind of result has shown up in babies who've shown symptoms other than the typical signs of colic: inconsolable crying and apparent sharp intestinal pains, usually accompanied by gas. Such symptoms as vomiting, diarrhea, runny nose, wheezy bronchitis, and eczema have all, in some cases, disappeared when their breastfeeding mothers gave up dairy products.
  If your baby is colicky and you stop drinking cow's milk for a while, try it again a couple of weeks later. It's possible that your baby's digestive system will have matured, and you will no longer need to deprive both of you of the good nutrients in milk. If you do give up dairy products for a while, you may want to check with a nutritionist to be sure that you are still receiving adequate nutrients from other foods, or if necessary,from supplements.
   Other foods that are implicated to a lesser extent include eggs, citrus fruits, wheat, and chocolate. Some allergists have commented that the foods babies react to are often those that the mother had eaten in large amounts while she was pregnant, giving rise to the possibility that the baby may have been sensitized to them in the uterus.
   Nursing babies sometimes suffer from gas after mothers eat foods from the cabbage family, such as broccoli or brussels sprouts. Others become crampy after their mothers drink herbal teas, or wakeful after their mothers drink coffee or other foods containing caffeine such as tea, cola drinks, or chocolate. One nursing mother found that her baby got sick whenever she had eaten something with garlic in it, and then she remembered that her husband suffered cramps after eating garlic, making her think that they both might have the same kind of reaction.
   One case reported in the medical literature was that of a three-month-old baby whose urine was periodically a bright pink. After the mother noticed that she had trouble removing an orange-pink stain from a plastic glass from which she had drunk orange soda, she tried abstaining from this drink -- and then trying it and watching the baby's urine. There seemed to be a definite connection, and so the mother eliminated the soda from her diet.
   All foods eaten by a mother flavor her milk, and an occasional baby with a discriminating palate may or may not like the distinctive taste. He may either nurse happily -- or reject the breast milk. However, as you'll find throughout your parenting career, children are unpredictable. In one study, a group of infants nursed longer, sucked more, and drank more when their mothers' milk smelled like garlic, compared to when that flavor was absent. These pint-sized gourmets may have become accustomed to their mothers' garlicky diets while still in the uterus.
  It takes an estimated four to six hours between the time you eat a food and the time it affects your milk. If you can establish any relationship between certain foods that you eat and reactions from your baby, it's easy enough to avoid these foods.
  You'll also want to avoid certain foods to minimize the risk of passing on any environmental pollutants in your milk (as detailed in the section, "Protecting Your Baby and Yourself from Pollutants"). For the most part, however, you can eat any nourishing food you want without fear that your baby will be affected.