Do You Really Need A Special Breastfeeding Diet?

Short answer: No, you don't need a special breastfeeding diet.

Of course, you should follow a sensible diet while breastfeeding. Even mothers who are severely malnourished or starving can produce nutritionally complete breastmilk, but you wouldn't want to be severely malnourished, right?

We usually think of malnourishment as something that's only a problem for people who do no have enough to eat. In fact, in most developed countries, malnourishment is the result of eating way too much packaged, processed or fast food, and not nearly enough fresh, unprocessed food.

So while your baby should be fine regardless of your eating habits while breastfeeding, your diet does influence your feeling of well-being, and the resilience of your tissues as well as your immune system. So if you want to feel better, have more energy, get sick less often, heal faster, then give this sensible breastfeeding diet a try. (If you have special nutritional needs or medical conditions, be sure to discuss any diet changes with your care provider first.)

Sensible breastfeeding diet

What's a sensible diet? Try cutting out processed foods for a start. Avoid foods that come in packaging. Go for foods that can be recognized as the plant or animal they come from.

Eat fresh fruits and vegetables for most meals of the day. Raw is good, cooked/grilled/baked is fine, frozen is okay, canned or processed is better avoided.

Eat actual meat and avoid processed meat such as cold cuts or hot dogs. If calorie restriction is an issue, then go for lean cuts of meat.

Eat whole grains like brown rice, and add other grains to your diet like quinoa, millet, and buckwheat.

Avoid or at least cut back on processed sugar, sweets, white flour, white bread and white pasta. Sodas and most fruit juices are particularly useless nutritionally. They pack tons of empty calories and the sugar found in them messes with your blood sugar levels, elevating it too quickly, then plummeting too quickly. Diet drinks are not much better. You avoid the calories, but the sweet taste makes you crave more.

Cravings

A lot of nursing moms report having serious carb cravings while breastfeeding. I've read that these cravings are actually triggered by a protein insufficiency. Whatever the reason, you can try to satiate these cravings with home-made treats from scratch. At least you know exactly what's in them, and chances are, if you have to make them yourself, you'll have less than if you just have to unwrap something from the store.

Foods to avoid?

Most cultures have some prohibitions and warnings against certain foods in the breastfeeding diet. Click here to read more about foods to avoid while breastfeeding.

Foods to increase supply?

Following these breastfeeding tips is far more effective at making sure you have enough milk than any sort of food.

With that said, most cultures have some old wives tales about what foods breastfeeding mothers need to have in order to produce enough milk. In Hungary, where I live, this usually includes foods with lots of milk and various high-fat soups. In the States, too, I've heard "you need to drink milk in order to make milk." Perhaps back in the old days when food was not as plentiful as today, these high-calorie, high-volume foods did help keep mothers nourished enough to produce enough breastmilk. These days, though, there is no particular reason to include them in the breastfeeding diet if the mother is otherwise well-nourished. Especially cow's milk, which is a common cause for infant colic and other food allergy symptoms through breastmilk.

While most of what you hear recommended for increasing supply is no more than old wives' tales, there are certain foods that actually do act as mild galactagogues, that is, they do increase supply.

There are herbal galactagogues, the most well-known include asparagus, fenugreek, brewer's yeast, blessed thistle, and alfalfa. An herb called torbangun has been found to increase milk volume by 65%, compared to 20% for fenugreek seeds.

There are also medications that can be used to increase supply. These include domperidone, metoclopramide and the antipsychotic medication risperidone. Of these, the drug of choice, according to Dr. Jack Newman, a renowned expert on breastfeeding, is domperidone. Domperidone is available by prescription, though its use in breastfeeding is not approved in all countries.

Common problem foods

Usually, mom's diet causes absolutely no problems for her baby. So go ahead and eat anything in moderation.

But sometimes, a certain food does cause a problem for the baby.

Hands down the best way to identify a food sensitivity in your baby (or in you, for that matter) is to keep a detailed food diary and match your symptoms to the foods you ate within 24 hours of getting the symptoms. If you suspect your baby is reacting to something you ate, eliminate it from your diet for a few days to see if your baby's symptoms improve. If you eat the food again and your baby's symptoms return, that means that your baby is sensitive to that food.

By far the most common problem food in the breastfeeding diet is dairy. Some infants may be sensitive to cow's milk even through breastmilk. The symptoms can be varied, but dairy can cause colic, eczema, rashes, excessive spitting up, reflux, bloody stools, or just a very fussy baby. If your baby is exhibiting some of these signs, try eliminating all dairy (including milk, cream, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, pudding, etc) from your diet for a week or two. You should see drastic improvement within a few days if dairy IS the culprit. If your baby's symptoms return when you start consuming dairy again, then your baby has a dairy allergy or sensitivity.

Other common allergens through breastmilk are soy, eggs, wheat, corn and peanuts.

What about dieting?

As a breastfeeding mom, you need to keep yourself nourished. Chances are, if you simply adopt the sensible breastfeeding diet described above, and eliminate processed foods and sweets from your diet, you will lose weight while breastfeeding. The one thing that is not a good idea is to fast while breastfeeding. Click here to read about losing weight while breastfeeding.

Click here to watch a video about a healthy breastfeeding diet.

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