Diet and taboos during breastfeeding

All foods/drinks containing alcohol, meat, eggs and seafood that are not thoroughly cooked, foods that are known to cause allergies to you or your baby, and foods that have gone bad. The rest of the so-called "taboos" are basically based on experience without scientific basis. Whether you should taboo or not depends entirely on the individual reactions of you and your baby.

I have seen too many mothers who have just given birth to be pinned down on the bed by their elders. Even eating an apple has to be steamed and heated, and drinking water has to burn the temperature of the mouth, let alone iced milk tea, hot pot, and crayfish. They say that eating the baby will cause diarrhea, get angry, and cause the milk to recharge. When I just gave birth to my baby, my mother-in-law tried to stop me from eating a cold cucumber, saying it was cold and the baby would have green stools. Later, I secretly ate it several times, but nothing happened to the baby, and she slowly let go.

Let’s first talk about the types of foods that are really untouchable. Don’t take chances. The first is alcohol. Don’t believe the old saying that confinement wine and fermented glutinous rice are good for breastfeeding. Alcohol will directly enter the breast milk, and newborns metabolize alcohol at only 1/10 of adults. Even a little bit of alcohol may cause drowsiness and abnormal crying in babies. Long-term intake will also affect neurological development. My best friend gave birth to a baby last year, and her mother-in-law cooked fermented eggs for her every day. She said she drank too much milk. She drank it for a week, and one day after feeding the baby, the baby slept for almost 7 hours without waking up. He was still dazed no matter how he screamed. It scared them so much that they went to the emergency room in the middle of the night. The doctor said it was just a slight reaction to alcohol intake, and she scolded her mother-in-law, and then she never dared to do it again. Now, whether it is the domestic maternal and child guidelines or the foreign pediatric association, it is clearly stated that alcohol must be completely banned during breastfeeding. No alcohol is allowed, and alcoholic foods such as wine-filled chocolate, drunken shrimps and crabs are not allowed.

Then there is caffeine, which is actually quite controversial. The older generation said that you should not drink it at all, and you should completely quit coffee and milk tea. Now the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that daily intake of no more than 200mg of caffeine (about one medium cup of American style, or 2 standard cups of ordinary milk tea) is safe and will not affect the baby. However, it is true that some babies are more sensitive to caffeine. If after you drink coffee, your baby cries obviously, doesn't sleep, or wakes up easily, then you should stop drinking it. If your baby doesn't have any reaction, it's perfectly fine to drink a cup occasionally to satisfy your cravings. When I was carrying breast milk at work, I would drink half a glass of iced Americano every afternoon to refresh myself. My baby should be sleeping and playing, and it had no impact at all.

There are also uncooked foods, such as sashimi, soft-boiled eggs, half-cooked steaks, and fresh milk that have not been pasteurized. Do not touch them. The main reason is that you are afraid of being infected with Listeria. If an adult is infected, it may just cause diarrhea, but if the baby is infected, the consequences will be serious. There is no room for negotiation on this. You must eat fully cooked.

The remaining "taboos" that are so popular don't really need to be taken seriously. For example, everyone says you shouldn’t eat cold food. In fact, cold food is just low in temperature and will heat up your stomach when it enters. It will not affect the temperature of the milk at all. If you eat iced food and you don’t have diarrhea, your baby won’t have diarrhea either. What’s wrong with eating popsicles and iced watermelon in the summer? I breastfed during the dog days of summer last year, and could eat half an iced watermelon a day. My baby's poop was always normal, and she rarely even had green stools.

It is also said that you should not eat spicy food. It is the same reason. Capsaicin will not enter the milk at all. If you eat spicy food, you will not get angry or constipated. Your baby will not have aggravated eczema or cry. He will be fine even if he eats spicy food. My friend from Sichuan who is breastfeeding even eats butter hot pot once a week. The baby is white and fat without any problems.

As for the "lactation-returning foods" that everyone is most afraid of, such as leeks, wheat germ, hawthorn, and celery, I specifically asked the lactation specialist for women and children. She said that in order to achieve the dose of these foods that can restore milk, you need to eat at least two or three kilograms at a time. Ordinary people only eat a few mouthfuls in one meal, and that amount of dosage will not have any impact at all. I was greedy and drank malt milk tea before, and ate a large plate of leek dumplings. The amount of milk was not reduced at all. On the contrary, I had more milk because I was happy with the meal. On the contrary, you don't dare to eat this or that every day. Only when you are in a bad mood will you really start to breastfeed again.

Oh, by the way, there is another pitfall that many people have stepped on: it is said that during lactation, you should drink more thick soup, such as pig's trotter soup, crucian carp soup, and old hen soup. Drink it every time to produce milk. I've been through this before. I drank pig's trotter soup every day for the first half month after giving birth. As a result, I didn't have much milk. I had lactation blockage twice. The pain made me cry and I gained 8 pounds. Later, the doctor said that the amount of milk mainly depends on the baby's sucking stimulation. If you drink so much thick soup, it is full of fat and purine, which does not have much nutrition. On the contrary, it is easy to block the milk and gain weight. Drinking more water, milk, and sugar-free soy milk is enough. As long as the diet is balanced, including cereals, potatoes, vegetables and fruits, meat, eggs, milk, and soy products. If you eat one more egg and drink one more glass of milk every day than before pregnancy, the nutrition will be enough for your baby, and there is no need to take supplements at all.

There is also a misunderstanding. Many people are afraid that their babies will be allergic, so they avoid eating highly sensitive foods such as eggs, seafood, and nuts during breastfeeding. In fact, the latest research shows that normal intake of these highly sensitive foods during breastfeeding can actually reduce the probability of future allergies in the baby. Unless your family has a clear history of severe allergies, or your baby obviously develops rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, or crying after eating something, then you can just avoid such foods next time, otherwise there is no need to limit the food in advance.

In fact, at the end of the day, the most important thing during lactation is the mother's mood. You feel uncomfortable every day and you don't even dare to have milk tea. Your mood is so bad that it will affect the amount of milk. As long as the food is not clearly harmful, if you eat it occasionally to satisfy your craving, what's the problem? When you are happy, your baby can drink happy milk.