How long until mum's food shows up in breastmilk?

silja

I have a 7 week old little girl and she has same gas issues (we call her "Farty McFart"). She is exclusively breastfed so I am thinking it is something I eat that does not agree with her, but I am not sure what. I am a vegetarian and have a varied diet, especially a lot of bread/ crackers and similar, vegetables and also a reasonable amount of milk.

My question is, when I eat something, how long does it take for that food to affect my breastmilk? And then, how long from a baby drinking this milk to it affecting her "output", especially gas (her stools and urine are normal)?

cynder

not quite sure but i would say a couple of hours, maybe 2 hours...

one thing i would advise is dont drink alcohol if your breast feeding.

Sleepy

As a vegetarian is it not more likely to be something you don't eat that's causing the problem? Where are you getting your protein from? Are you getting enough of it and complete protein sets?

Might be worth contacting a dietician if including some meat in your diet isn't something you'd consider.

Nevyn

Depending on what it is your eating it can take from 24 hours to 3 days for it to work it's way from your digestive system and into the breast milk.

and congrats, hope you are managing to get some sleep

xzanti

grindelwald wrote: »

one thing i would advise is dont drink alcohol if your breast feeding.

I'm sure she knows this already

deisemum

All babies fart and some would put the biggest beer drinkers to shame. Better out than in

Is it distressing her? If she's not bothered then just let nature take it's course.

simu

Some say it's ok to drink small amounts of alcohol whilst breastfeeding... Personally, I haven't researched it more because I simply have no urge to drink but it's not a complete no no afaik.

nesf

simu wrote: »

Some say it's ok to drink small amounts of alcohol whilst breastfeeding... Personally, I haven't researched it more because I simply have no urge to drink but it's not a complete no no afaik.

Yeah it's only bad if you're getting drunk iirc.

cynder

nesf wrote: »

Yeah it's only bad if you're getting drunk iirc.

nope, i a very long time ago i had a few baileys (9) and wasnt even tipsy and breast fed my lady, she slept for a week.

i never did it again.

cynder

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Question: [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]How long does it take for what I eat to get into my breastmilk? If I have chicken, rice and a salad for dinner, then when would I expect to have that get into my breastmilk? [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Answer:
I can't tell you exactly how long it takes for the food you eat to affect your breastmilk, because there are so many variables involved, including how often you nurse, the type of food you eat, and your individual body chemistry and metabolism. An average (and this is only an average) is about 4-6 hours, but it can reach your milk as soon as one hour or take as long as twenty-four hours. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I can tell you that if you are like the vast majority of nursing mothers, then you can eat just about anything you want to while you're nursing, and it won't adversely affect your breastmilk. It is rare for a food that you eat to cause problems, but if your baby is highly sensitive, he may have an allergic response such as continuing colic, runny eyes, asthma, or stubborn skin rashes. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Babies are not "allergic" to their mother’s milk, but the occasional highly sensitive baby can have mild to severe reactions to the foreign proteins in the milk. Proteins from the foods you can be absorbed into your body from your intestines and passed to the baby via your breastmilk.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]During the first six months of life, the lining of the baby’s is immature, so allergens that appear in the milk can get into the bloodstream and trigger allergic responses in some extremely sensitive babies. The lining of the intestines is also more sensitive during the early months, and is more easily irritated than it would be later on by the same substances.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]After six months, the lining of the intestines matures so that allergens can’t get through as easily and
your baby will be much less sensitive to foods in your diet. That’s one of the reasons that babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life. If solids are introduced before that time, then the baby is more likely to have an allergic reaction to something that might not affect him later on. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The most common problematic foods are dairy products, eggs, wheat, shellfish, peanuts, corn, and citrus, and (surprisingly), soy. Rather than worrying about limiting your diet when you’re nursing, go ahead and eat anything you want, and if you have reason to think your baby has a problem, then try eliminating that particular food. The first thing to try eliminating is always dairy, because the protein in cow’s milk is the most common allergen for babies. Because of this fact, I recommend that mothers with a family history of allergies try to limit their dairy consumption starting during their pregnancy, and continuing after the baby’s birth, and to delay the introduction of solids until at least six months. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Some mothers who develop yeast infections while they are pregnant or lactating find that they benefit from dietary changes including limiting or eliminating alcohol and foods containing sugar, dairy, and yeast. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Other than these unusual situations, you really don’t need to worry about the foods you eat affecting your baby. Just enjoy your food, and don’t start stressing about whether that pizza you ate last night is what made your baby spit up today. All babies have days when they are gassy, fussy, or spit up more than usual, and chances are that it has nothing to do with your diet. Nursing mothers rarely have to make any dietary modifications.[/FONT]

Das Kitty

grindelwald wrote: »

nope, i a very long time ago i had a few baileys (9) and wasnt even tipsy and breast fed my lady, she slept for a week.

i never did it again.

Well I had two glasses of wine and breastfed James and it had no effect on him whatsoever. It's just circumstantial evidence both yours and my anecdote.

Scientific studies have shown that less than 2% of the alcohol consumed by the lactating mother reaches the breastmilk and that it leaves the milk in the same way as it leaves the blood. There's no need to "pump and dump" unless it's for comfort.

To be honest I've seen nothing conclusive that foods appear in breastmilk, I could see that certain things could affect the hindmilk/foremilk balance but knowing how the milk is made I can't see how things like chilli or cabbage would get in.

MoonDancer

Babies will get gas bottlefed or breastfed. There's nothing to be worried about or nothing to 'solve'
If they were screaming with pain then I would be worried about it.