I have to admit, with my first kid I was super good about limiting caffeine, etc. but now that I'm on kid three, I drink tons of tea a day, and last night I even had a little beer with dinner. I find myself just so much more relaxed about it all. Baby seems happy and healthy, I feel great --but exhausted.
What did you avoid while breastfeeding and did you find yourself being more lenient with each additional kid you've had?
I had to limit my broccoli and cauliflower intake...other than that? Nope. No changes. I don't drink so that wasn't missed...
It was great after finishing breast feeding to be able to eat broccoli and cauliflower again!!
I limited coffee to about two cups a day. I didn't drink any alcohol until the boys were about six months and had stopped night feeding. Then I would have a beer or a glass of wine after I put baby to bed.
caffeine, alcohol.
I avoided nothing else and was determined not to unless baby proved to have reactions. My baby had no reactions to food I ate. I did't eliminate alcohol, just timed it strategically with a two drink limit.
And ya know, it also varies by cultures and what they eat.
Some cultures just inherently have very spicy foods, for example. And eat very "exotic" things. And they breastfeed.
I breastfed both my kids, and the only thing I avoided was coffee.
My kids did not have any food issues/allergies/reactions when I breastfed.
And I am not a drinker anyway. Alcohol that is.
I avoid caffeine, wait at least one hour after one glass of wine or beer, pump-and-dump after more than that or after hard alcohol and that's it. I ate everything and anything, spicy, gassy, sour, etc. and neither of my babies were effected in the slightest. :-)
Coffee, spicy foods and sushi.
I didn't avoid anything at all with any of my 3 unless I saw an obvious reaction, which I only think happened once or twice at most.
I had a varried diet while I was pregnant as well, allowing for what made me sick or something. One of my "go to" foods was curry from a favorite retaurant that was by where we lived. I ate it all through breast feeding and it became one of their favorite things to eat once they were old enough to do so on their own.
I use moderation when applicable of course. I am not really an alcohol drinker as it is but I did not let breast feeding stop me from having the once in a blue moon one of something.
I only have limited tea as far as caffeine goes.......so the only thing I removed was alcohol - and that was hard enough! LOL!
With number # 1 the caffine.
With number 2, a lot of things, Milk, spicy food, red saucse ... she had acid reflux so anything that made her worse, I avoided.
Just this week, I am done with an almost 3 year long breastfeeding stint. Here are the things I had to avoid...and this is just a representational list.
Bread. Cookies. Cake. Brownies. Waffles. Pancakes. Soft shell tacos. Gravy. Milk. Ice Cream. Yogurt. Cheese. Pizza. Fast food. Cereal.
...she has Celiac disease. I lived on her gluten free diet for over 2 years, and now that we're done (3 days with her not asking for it!!), I KNOW I can have those things...but I'm afraid to do it yet. Once I do it, there's no going back.
Caffeine and alcohol...yes, avoided entirely.
***I can't find a way to word this without sounding awful...I keep trying!! I didn't realize this was a piggyback to my question until I read your answer to my question. I didn't eat those things because of the above reasons, and didn't mean to say that you shouldn't eat pizza while breastfeeding.
I definitely grew more lax with each kid - I'm on #3. I didn't really avoid any foods but I limited my caffeine intake to one cup of coffee a day. As far as alcohol, I have a glass of wine with dinner on occasion - two if it's a long, heavy dinner - but any more than that and I wait to nurse until it's out of my system. Kids are smart, happy and healthy. Don't overthink it - you know the obvious things to avoid and everything in moderation :)
My friend had 2 kids. Each one of them liked and disliked different foods. She couldn't eat certain foods until she stopped breastfeeding them.
Other than limiting my caffeine intake, there was nothing I avoided eating, except, with my firstborn, curry. If I ate it, you could actually smell it in the milk, and she made it quite clear that she did not like the taste.
I avoided anything hot enough to hurt the baby if I spilled it on him ;-) But once I put him down, I ate anything I wanted. Seriosly, none of mine cared one little bit what I ate or didn't. I'm not a big drinker and caffiene affects me a lot, so those weren't a big concern.
I wasn't a coffee drinker when I was nursing, so it never occurred to me that I might have to limit caffeine. I DID limit it - severely - when I was pregnant, so as soon as the girls were born, I was excited to go back to a coke every now and again!
However, my first was allergic to dairy. Very. So I had to cut out everything dairy. I remember when a friend made a meal she usually makes with water, but used milk instead - "so it would be richer." Pump-and-dump, and baby STILL had an eczema flare-up. She knew baby had an allergy, too - but figured "it was just a little bit." Sigh.
The only thing I continued to limit dramatically after giving birth was medications.
I avoided alcohol and too much fish. The fish was because if I ate too much, DD spit up a lot. I didn't avoid spicy foods or my morning coffee.
