Is there anything I should or shouldn’t eat while breastfeeding?
A healthy diet keeps you feeling good, but your milk is always right for your baby no matter what you eat. In general, no food is off-limits for a breastfeeding parent. Just use common sense: if you notice that your baby reacts badly after something you’ve eaten, it may be best to leave that food out of your diet for a while.
Coffee and Caffeine
The amount of caffeine in five or fewer five-ounce cups of coffee doesn’t usually cause a problem for most moms and babies after the first month or so. You’ll know that you’ve had too much or your baby is especially sensitive because a baby who is being over-stimulated with caffeine will be wide-eyed, active, alert, and fussy. Energy drinks and similar high caffeine drinks are not recommended.
Alcohol
Alcohol is not good for babies, but most mothers can drink in moderation while breastfeeding. Alcohol does transfer into the milk, but it also passes out of the milk so that there’s no need to “pump and dump.” It takes a 120-pound woman about three hours to eliminate the majority of the alcohol from her blood (and thus her milk) in each serving of beer or wine, so multiply the number of drinks you have by three to know how many hours it will take until your milk is mostly alcohol free again.
You can’t rush the process by “pumping and dumping” or drinking a lot of water or coffee. If you’ve had so much to drink that your baby needs to be fed before your milk is mostly alcohol-free, it’s better to used previously pumped (alcohol free) milk than formula. Even a little bit of formula reduces your baby’s immune system and may have other harmful effects.
Marijuana and Recreational Drugs
Recreational drugs pass into the milk and can be dangerous to your baby. Depending on the drug, it may take quite a long time for it to pass out of the milk and your system. During this time, you may not be alert enough to care for your baby. For these reasons, it’s best not to use recreational drugs while you’re breastfeeding or caring for children.
If you use marijuana or cannabinoids to manage a medical condition, talk with your doctor before using it while lactating.
