When you get pregnant, one of the first recommendations that you receive is the food you should avoid like raw fish, non-pasteurized cheese… and of course alcohol and tobacco.
Because you are getting use to this situation, when you give birth and start breastfeeding you may think that you should continue with the same rules, but not. It’s not the same the food can pass through the placenta and arrive to your baby during your pregnancy, that the one that goes from your stomach to your blood, or from you blood to your breastmilk and from your breastmilk to your baby’s stomach.
Which food and drinks should you avoid?
The first thing to avoid is alcohol, it’s obvious that not drinking alcohol is the safest option for breastfeeding mothers, but an occasional drink is unlikely to harm your baby. Because I can write an essay about alcohol, I’ll do a separate blog to go into more detail.
The second thing is the caffeine, and by this I don’t just mean drinks like coffee and tea. We can find caffeine hidden in some energy and soft drinks like coke, or in some food like chocolate. It’s better to cut caffeine out while breastfeeding as it’s a stimulant which can make your baby restless. But, in a controlled way you can consume caffeine and thein, without the need to restrict them, but only if you don’t abuse. Pay attention with some teas that contains star anise because they can contain essential oils like anethol and in large amounts can be neurotoxic.
Third and last thing, it’s the recommendation of avoiding eating big fishes like marlin, tuna, swordfish, shark… because of the high levels of mercury found in them.
To summarise, food gives taste to your breastmilk but they don’t give a bad taste, that is very different. The fact is that, breastmilk is dyed with food flavours than, later on, when baby starts with solid foods they will recognize. So, there’s no prohibited food whilst breastfeeding (just only some considerations to be aware of).
