Let’s be clear though — breastfeeding is wonderful for babies with food allergies. Do not interpret these results to mean that breastfed babies are more likely to have food allergies, because in fact the opposite is true! To learn more about the protective effects of breastfeeding, read “‘A’ is for Food Allergy Prevention and Reduction.”

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Oatmeal is popular with North American mothers. Steel-cut or rolled oats are more nutritious and likely to be more effective than instant. Oats are also high in fiber, as is brown rice and most other whole grains and dried beans.

p. 173. So, given that oatmeal is nutritious and easy to incorporate into a healthful diet, it looks like we file this one under “Can’t hurt and might help.”

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Breastfeeding women need not feel they have to consume a special diet in order to provide the right nutrients in their breast milk. It’s true though that breastfeeding women need to consume extra calories (and don’t we all celebrate that fact!) But what about water? Shouldn’t you force extra fluids when you’re nursing, especially if you’re having trouble with low milk supply? Drinking extra water can actually hurt milk supply.

Are there any rewards for eating well? One study suggests that eating organic dairy and meat boots the beneficial fatty acids in breast milk. Mothers who eat fish also pass benefits on to their nurslings (but it is true that breastfeeding and pregnant women should follow the recommendation to avoid shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel due to their high mercury content.) Some women have noticed that eating oatmeal can help boost milk supply.

What about allergies? Shouldn’t a mother avoid certain highly allergenic foods like dairy? Fortunately, breastfeeding helps prevent or reduce the severity of allergies. There’s no need for all breastfeeding mothers to eliminate allergenic foods as a matter of course. If there’s a family history of severe allergies (such as an allergy to peanuts), the mother should talk to her doctor about eliminating the offending foods during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Certainly if a mother notices symptoms of allergies in her baby, she could undergo an elimination diet to determine what if any foods are affecting her nursling. If a baby has colic, it’s a good idea to investigate food allergies as a culprit.

In fact, the baby is the best source of guidance for what a nursing mother should or should not eat. Some babies are bothered by chocolate or coffee (and other sources of caffeine) in a mother’s diet, but many are not. Garlic and spicy foods are fine for nursing mothers, and might actually help the nursling develop a taste for a variety of foods when it is time to start solid foods! Surely eating gassy foods like beans, cabbage, and onions, will make the baby gassy? Nope, such a belief is not founded in research.

What about other things that affect breast milk, like smoking or alcohol consumption? While it’s true that a mother who smokes should make every effort to quit, it’s still better to smoke and breastfeed than to smoke and formula-feed. And while the new home test kits for alcohol in breast milk might scare some women into abstaining from alcohol altogether, breastfeeding women can enjoy the occasional drink, and certainly do not need to “pump and dump” their milk.

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CLA is a type of fat that is believed to have anti-carcinogenic, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-diabetic and immune-enhancing effects, as well as a favorable influence on body fat composition. For newborns specifically, CLA is believed to especially aid immune system development.

“These findings provide scientific support for common sense, by showing that organic foods are healthier,” says Dr. Lukas Rist, who is the lead author of the study….

What does this mean for the average breastfeeding mother–is this good news or bad news? What I don’t want to happen is for women who have poor nutrition and/or cannot afford organic foods to think that their breast milk is somehow inferior or inadequate. Breast milk is always superior to f*rmula; it is always better for a mother to breastfeed her baby rather than switch to f*rmula. The Breastfeeding Answer Book notes:

Research from developing countries and other parts of the world indicates that even mothers who are mildly malnourished produce an adequate supply of good quality milk for their babies and that only under famine or near famine conditions will a mother’s nutrition affect her milk supply or the composition of her milk.

So, the good news from this research is that mothers can enhance the already superior nutritional value of their breast milk by choosing organic dairy and meat products over conventional. Lucky for us that Carrie at Natural Moms Talk Radio just wrote a helpful article with money saving tips for eating more organic foods without busting the budget!

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Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

When my baby was ready for solid foods, I learned even more about nutrition. I naturally gravitated away from jarred baby food because I found it easier and more appetizing to offer her freshly-prepared whole foods. She would eat bits of mashed banana or avocado. When she could pick foods up by herself, she enjoyed eating small pieces of steamed broccoli. After a wide variety of foods had been safely introduced, she graduated to eating everything the rest of the family ate.

My husband enjoyed the changes we were making in our diets. Once he realized that he felt better and better with each change, he whole-heartedly supported my efforts. He discovered that organic foods often taste better than their conventionally-grown counterparts, and we chose organic options whenever we could afford them (but particularly for the milk, meat, and those fruits and vegetables on the top 10 lists for pesticides). We joked about Operation EMV, also known as Operation Eat More Vegetables!

Recently I discovered the existence of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm that delivers locally-grown, fresh-picked organic produce. Each week over the summer I received another box of goodies. I was happy to be getting organic foods, and I enjoyed trying a wider variety of fruit and vegetables. When I tried a new recipe for creamed summer squash, my four-year-old commented, “This is so yummy. It must be the patty pans!” I had to laugh because just a week before that I hadn’t even known what a patty pan was!

Has your diet changed since you became pregnant or started nursing? Do you choose organic options for some foods?

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