BF & Poor Diet

[Mummy Bean]

I was just wondering how much my diet affects the milk i produce? As i really want to give BF a go this time but to be completly honest I am not the healthiest of people.

I would say on scale on 1-10 (10 being couch potato and 1 being super health freak) i am about 7.

I have a couple of take aways a week, drink fizzy pop, addicted to choc. Most meals are trypical spag bol, curry, chilli - made with fresh meat - but i am queen of jar sauce - so high salt content.
I do try to make some healthy choices in taking vitamins and trying to have at least 2 pieces of fruit and veg a day....but in no way would i say i get the daily requirments.

So knowing that is breast still best??

 

[snowfia]

Definitely.
I BF DD and will BF this one and I am the same. I don't eat healthily, I do try lol but seem to fail. I cut down on caffeine and didn't drink it before bed as it would affect her sleep and didn't drink alcohol but apart from that I didn't change anything in my diet tbh. Nothing I ate affected her and she's one healthy little girl

ETA: I also made sure I drank loaaaads of water as BM is mainly water so water's important.

 

[Bevziibubble]

The food you eat won't impact on the quality of your breastmilk. You should drink water as it can help with supply and sometimes breastfeeding can make you feel thirsty

 

[Rachel_C]

You could be living off take-away chips and BF would still be the healthier option for your LO. In terms of the right nutrients for LO, if you are lacking anything in your diet your body will take the nutrients from your body and give them to LO, so you might suffer but LO wouldn't unless you were really malnourished. You could look at taking a multi-vitamin or something more specific if you think you might be lacking in anything but that would be for your benefit more than LO's. Your body is also an amazing filter for bad stuff like salt. A lot of salt in your diet doesn't mean a lot of salt in your milk. Kelly Mom is quite reassuring - https://kellymom.com/nutrition/mothers-diet/mom-diet/

 

[optimistic1]

I'm a junk food junky and still bfing with zero supply problems and LO is a very healthy girl. My cousin told me she didn't bf because you have to change your diet and I told her she was giving false advice because if that was the case I wouldn't have been able to bf.

I'm the 10 on your scale!!!!

 

[Dragonfly]

The food you eat won't impact on the quality of your breastmilk. You should drink water as it can help with supply and sometimes breastfeeding can make you feel thirsty

Yep I drink like a fish now. At one point I was worried about the amount I was drinking there. I dont drink fizzy stuff only water, fruit Joice. No fake sugars. No gluten , no wheat, no dairy, well sort of no dairy I eat chocolate and I still eat take away. I dont get why people think you have to have a super diet for breastfeeding I assume that rumor was started to turn woman off. Many in the third world manage it on much less than we have. There are certain herbs that decrease your milk though.

 

[summer rain]

A lot of the ' you need a perfect diet to BF' nonsense has been deliberately put out there by formula companies, they even publish studies on their websites about this, especially their sites aimed at health professionals, but they neglect to mention these studies were funded by them and completely contradict other more reliable studies.As well as taking any nutrients to put in your milk, breast milk also contains antibodies, various long and medium chain polyunsaturates, many different probiotic strains and other 'ingredients' that aren't in formula nor will they ever be able to be replicated. If you're really worried you could take a multivitamin but no need to take a special BF one, any general multivitamin is fine xx

 

[misspriss]

Your diet has little effect on breastmilk, however, your body suffers more from poor diet while breastfeeding than it does when not.

The nutrient makeup of your milk rarely changes with diet, but if you are not ingesting the right food, your body will rob you to make the milk. Milk is #1, top priority for your body when breastfeeding.

I have been eating horribly and was worried about my milk, but except for a few vitamins the body doesn't store well, your milk is pretty stable no matter what you eat. Your body, on the other hand, will suffer somewhat, depending on how long you breastfeeding.

 

[Mummy Bean]

thanks ladies...tis good to know. i just know last time in them early days it was me the couch and the takeawy menus.

will just stay away from caffine/alcohol.

 

[summer rain]

Even caffeine is totally fine, research indicates you'd need to drink 7 strong cups of coffee a day before even trace amounts of caffeine get through to your milk-and even then there is no evidence of harm. Where caffeine is concerned the guidelines in the UK are not the same as those issued in pregnancy. I wouldn't be able to cope without caffeine! In some rare cases it may affect individual babies but no need to cut it out by default. Xx